Edith Eger

Edith and her sister Magda achieved what seemed impossible: to get out of Auschwitz alive. They survived the most lethal Nazi concentration and extermination camp, where nearly one million people died. But they were not free. Not yet. When Nazi Germany was on the verge of defeat, the SS organized “death marches”, forced evacuations of concentration camps over long distances under guard and extremely harsh conditions. Edith and Magda were moved to other concentration camps like Mauthausen, where prisoners were made to hack and carry granite to construct Hitler’s desired new capital for Germany....

Right after arriving at Auschwitz, Edith and her mother and sister were waiting in the selection line. They didn’t know it, but this would be their last moment together. While Edith and her sister Magda were sent to the left, their mother was sent to the right. When Edith, just sixteen, entered the camp and asked where her mother was, one of the women dressed in striped dresses pointed to the smoke rising up from one of the chimneys in the distance....

When I started university, I met a girl. She was funny, pretty, and kind, and I completely fell in love with her. It was an amazing feeling. The problem was that I was very shy and introverted, and sometimes connecting with others wasn’t easy. Because I didn’t have confidence in myself, and I was the only one who seemed to have this issue, I assumed that something was wrong with me....

Edith Eger is a hero of mine. She was born in 1927 and grew up in Nazi-occupied Europe. When she was sixteen, Edith and her family were sent to Auschwitz. She and her sister Magda survived, but their parents and nearly everyone she loved did not. When the Nazi concentration camps were liberated, she was discovered under a pile of dead bodies. Edith was severely malnourished, and had a broken back, pneumonia, and typhoid fever, among others....