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while other prisoners turned to cannibalism. When the U.S. military liberated the camp in May 1945, according to Eger, she was left for dead among a number of dead bodies. A soldier is said to have rescued her after seeing her hand move. The soldier quickly sought medical attention and saved her life. She weighed 32 kilograms (5 stone / 70 pounds) at the time, and had a broken back, typhoid fever, pneumonia, and pleurisy.
283:"People said where was God but I always say that God was with me," she says. "The Nazi guards were prisoners too. I prayed for them. I turned hatred into pity. I never told anyone that they were spending their days murdering people. What kind of life was that for them? They had been brainwashed. Their own youth had been taken away from them."
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Edith and Magda recovered in
American field hospitals and returned to Kassa where they found their sister Klara. Their parents and Edith's fiancé Eric did not survive Auschwitz. She married Béla (Albert) Éger, whom she met in the hospital. He was also a Jewish survivor who had joined the partisans
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While in the camps Eger guided those close to her to look at life from the inside out, as in to be reflective of their inner world. Her belief is to never wait for someone to make you happy, but to go within and seek happiness within oneself, as this will then alter the way the world around you is
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concentration camp, a distance of about 55 kilometers. When she couldn't walk further due to exhaustion, one of the girls with whom she had shared
Mengele's bread recognized her and carried her onward together with Magda. Conditions in Gunskirchen were so bad that Eger had to eat grass to survive,
354:(2020) she encourages the reader to change the thoughts that, according to Eger, imprison us and the destructive behaviors that would hinder us. What happens to us in life is not the most important thing in the end, she says. Rather, the most important thing is what we do with our lives.
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perceived. To be realistic and not idealistic, is also one of Eger's practices. Her deep faith in the camps encouraged her to pray for the guards that kept her in the camps, understanding that they were brainwashed. In her words:
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and she was removed from the gymnastics team. Her elder sister Klara was a violin player and was admitted to the
Conservatory of Budapest. During the war Klara was hidden by her music teacher. Her sister Magda was a pianist.
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249:, Eger was forced to live in the Kassa ghetto with her parents and Magda. In April they were forced to stay in a brick factory with 12,000 other Jews for a month. In May of that year they were deported to
261:. In her memoirs, Eger relates that the same evening Mengele made her dance for him in her barracks. As a "thank you", she received a loaf of bread that she shared with other girls.
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during the war. In 1949, after threats from the communists, they fled together with their daughter
Marianne to Texas, United States. There she suffered from her war trauma and
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In her work as a psychologist, Eger helps her clients to free themselves from their own thoughts, and helps them to ultimately choose freedom.
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and took ballet lessons. She was a member of the
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758:"'They sent my mother to the gas chamber and I blamed myself': How Auschwitz survivor Edith Eger rebuilt her life"
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The Eger family had two more children after moving to the United States. Their daughter
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in 1978. She also received her license to practise as a psychologist. She opened a therapy clinic in
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UC San Diego, Holocaust Living
History Collection: After Auschwitz: Choosing Life - with Edith Eger
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791:"NYT Bestselling Author and Holocaust Survivor Edith Eger on Her Self-Help Book 'The Gift'"
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In 1990, Eger returned to
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Edith Eger is the youngest daughter of Lajos (a tailor) and Ilona Elefánt born in
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Elefánt, born
September 29, 1927) is a Czechoslovakian-born American
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According to her memoirs, Eger stayed in various camps, including
610:"Oprah's SuperSoul conversations: Dr. Eith Eva Eger – The Choice"
549:"What a Survivor of Auschwitz Learned From the Trauma of Others"
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520:"Holocaust-overlevende Edith Eger vertelt over donkere tijd"
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377:, Nobel laureate in economics. Béla Eger died in 1993.
726:"Mind power in Auschwitz – and healing decades later"
441:"Mind power in Auschwitz – and healing decades later"
327:, she published her experiences in her first book
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669:"Dr. Edith Eger: 'A dialogue with Edie'"
316:and was appointed to the faculty at the
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253:. She was separated from her mother by
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387:The Choice – Embrace the Possible
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638:Antoinette Scheulderman (2017).
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208:The Choice: Embrace the Possible
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204:post-traumatic stress disorder
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272:with her sister Magda to the
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640:"De ballerina van Auschwitz"
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206:. Her memoir entitled
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357:Eger has appeared on
350:. In her second book
68:Clinical psychologist
470:Lifehacker Australia
314:La Jolla, California
306:Clinical Psychology
89:Clinical psychology
824:. 17 February 2019
554:The New York Times
389:. Scribner, 2017,
363:Oprah Winfrey Show
200:Holocaust survivor
51:September 29, 1927
579:"Eger, Dr. Edith"
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331:The Choice
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270:death march
259:gas chamber
166:bestseller.
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29:Native name
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828:8 November
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775:2023-11-10
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705:(in Dutch)
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675:. May 2019
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589:6 November
560:7 November
530:2020-11-07
526:(in Dutch)
501:9 November
476:2020-11-07
451:2020-11-08
414:References
340:The Choice
266:Mauthausen
179:son-in-law
156:The Choice
64:Occupation
47:1927-09-29
33:Edith Éger
23:Edith Eger
770:0307-1235
738:0261-3077
342:became a
335:in 2017.
308:from the
251:Auschwitz
235:gymnasium
218:Biography
171:Relatives
158:became a
114:self-help
84:Education
524:KRO-NCRV
361:and the
352:The Gift
120:Subjects
614:YouTube
87:PhD in
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369:Family
224:Košice
145:(2020)
139:(2017)
110:Memoir
106:Genres
91:(1978)
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