It's not every day a 93-year-old concentration camp survivor gets to dance with a King but that's exactly what Anne Frank’s stepsister has done at a community centre in Finchley Road.

Dr Eva Schloss has survived Nazi concentration camps, spent decades promoting peace among humanity and now has danced with King Charles during a celebration of Chanukah.

Eva, who lives in St John's Wood, said: “He was sweet, he really took part, he seemed to enjoy it but it is unusual for him not to make a speech. But he was very relaxed and he enjoyed it, I was trying to get a dance with him.

“They are so easy to talk to, they are not standing on a higher level where you have to make an appointment, they are human beings and want to be part of the community and part of the British people and help everybody.”

 

The King toured the JW3 community centre on Finchley Road on December 16 speaking to school children packing presents and food hampers for families around Camden, refugees baking ginger bread biscuits and survivors of the Holocaust.

In a speech during which she presented the King with a Chanukiah of eight candelabras, Dame Vivian Duffield said she founded JW3 to give the Jewish community in London a place to gather to protect and celebrate their heritage.

Through talks, books and co-founding the Kentish Town-based Anne Frank Trust UK, Eva has dedicated her life to making sure the Nazi atrocities are never forgotten.

After fleeing Austria following the Nazi Anschluss, Eva, her parents Erich and Fritzi, and older brother Heinz moved into the same Amsterdam apartment block as the Frank family in February 1940.

Born a month apart, Anne and Eva were playmates from the ages 11 to 13. But in 1942, both families went into hiding to avoid the Nazi round up of Jews. Eva's family split up, as her father explained, to give them a greater chance of survival.

However like the Franks the entire family were betrayed by an informant in 1944 and deportedto Auschwitz Birkenau. 

Eva added: “Unfortunately, there is still antisemitism, people say Jewish people should go to Israel, this is England, but I hope we are getting over these prejudices.

“England is one of the rich countries in the world and we have to struggle with poverty and I hope King Charles will be able to manage this situation a little bit.

“I hope he will help make things easier for everybody and fight racism. I think he is a very good King.”

King Charles was calm as he visited the centre, the day after the final episodes of son Harry's documentary with wife Meghan hit Netflix.

Ham & High: King Charles chatting to staff and volunteers at JW3 Centre in Finchley Road King Charles chatting to staff and volunteers at JW3 Centre in Finchley Road (Image: PA)

He visited the kitchen where a group of young refugees were baking biscuits for the Christmas hampers, one of the cooks, Sefinat, fell to her knees with giddiness, PA reported.

She said afterwards: “To be honest, I can’t explain the feeling. To see him live, I was like oh my god, it was a nice feeling and I’m happy I was able to meet him.”

JW3’s chief executive Raymond Simonson, who accompanied the King on his tour of the centre, said the monarch turned up with a car boot full of rice and tinned tuna to go into the donation packets.

He said: “The volunteers came and took it out the car and packed it up. That will stay with me for a while.

“There are 200 households we support around the Camden area and they don’t have enough food at Christmas and now they have food from the King as well as from our volunteers.

“Most people in the British Jewish community come from refugee stock and the fact of being accepted and meeting the Monarch, it’s an endorsement of the community’s place in British society.

“When you see the King visiting and saying happy Chanukah it says to people that the person in the highest seat accepts us.

“It has been 365 years since we were readmitted after being expelled and to know that we are secure here and not in danger… That means so much to people.”