THE stepsister of Anne Frank is giving a talk in the region at the end of this month, to tie in with a new exhibition.

Eva Schloss - herself a Holocaust survivor - will speak on October 23 about her experiences.

The talk ties in with the internationally-acclaimed exhibition, Anne Frank - A History for Today, which has been seen by more than two million people around the world and opens tomorrow at the Hartlepool Art Gallery.

It tells the story of how 13-year-old Anne and her family were forced into hiding in 1942, following the Nazi invasion of Holland, and later betrayed.

Anne died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945, but her story lives on through the famous diary in which she recorded her two years in hiding.

The exhibition features photographs, extracts from Anne's diary, personal accounts from those who knew her and survivors of the Holocaust.

Also featured is a scale model of the secret rooms where Anne and seven other people hid for two years.

The exhibition runs at the Gallery, in Church Square, until October 30. Admission is free, and it is open from 10am to 5.30pm Tuesdays to Saturdays and 2pm to 5pm on Sundays.

To book a place for the free talk, call the gallery on (01429) 869706.

The Anne Frank exhibition is one of a range of events in Hartlepool this year, to mark the 800th anniversary of the granting of the town's Royal Charter by King John.