Last week in Dublin there was an event called, International Safe World Summit. This was a 2 day summit. It took place in a lovely old building called, The Mansion House, in Dublin city centre on October 22nd and 23rd. It dealt mainly with, domestic violence and surviving it. It was attended by world leading speakers, pioneers and activists. One of those speakers was Doctor Edith Eger, a Holocaust survivor and now a renowned psychologist. Although I did not attend the summit, I did watch Edith’s interview on Irish television and I was very moved by her, courage, strength, forgiveness and fight to survive.
Here is some of Edith’s story…
At aged 16 years old, Edith arrived at Auschwitz concentration camp along with her Mother and her sister Magda. On arrival her Mother was pushed to the left and she and her sister pushed to the right. Edith would later ask another woman where her Mother had gone and the woman pointed to the chimneys and said, your Mother is burning in there.
Once Edith had to dance at Doctor Josef Mengele’s orders, one of the girls told a guard that Edith was a ballerina. Edith felt so intimidated by his eyes and was not sure if after she danced that she would die as he was selecting those to die as she danced. Edith closed her eyes and transported herself to, The Opera House in Budapest, dancing to Romeo and Juliet. She survived this day
Much of her time in Auschwitz, Edith imagined spending time with her boyfriend and this she says kept her alive, the thoughts of being with him again. She would later find out that he had died in another camp. During those years Edith and her sister were moved from camp to camps and ended up in a camp called, Gunskirchen before it was liberated in 1945 . Edith was found by an American soldier from the 21st Infantry. The soldier saw Edith’s hand move as she lay in a pile of dead corpses. She had a broken back and weighed 60 pounds. After the war Edith met her husband Bella
After the war, Edith and Bella emigrated to America. For many years Edith suffered with post traumatic stress disorder and survivors guilt. Edith and Bella went on to have a family of their own. They had 3 children. After her 3rd child was born, Edith went to University in America where she lived today. She became a world renowned, psychologist and an author of books.
Edith says she does not hate the Nazis who tortured her and murdered her family, she says that only gives them power and only hurts her not them. ( photos from Eger family collection)
So now to quote, Doctor Edith Eger
" There is hope in hopelessness "