Author of “The Choice,” Will Speak on September 7
Dr. Edith Eva Eger, a World War II concentration camp survivor and author of “The Choice,” will speak here on September 7 about her experiences.
Audience members will learn that rather than let the past destroy her, she transformed her experiences into a powerful gift in order to help others heal.
Eger writes, “Though I could have remained a permanent victim – scarred by what was beyond my control – I made the choice to heal.”
She was born in Hungary, and was a teenager in 1944, when she and her family were sent to Auschwitz. Her parents were sent to the gas chambers, but she and her sister were spared. In May 1945, an American soldier noticed her hand moving slightly among a number of dead bodies and summoned help.
After the war, Eger moved to Czechoslovakia where she met her husband. They emigrated to the United States in 1949. Twenty years later, she received a degree in psychology from the University of Texas, El Paso, and then completed her Doctoral internship at the William Beaumont Army Medical Center at Fort Bliss, Texas.
Eger’s book was selected by Oprah as her choice for World Book Day for 2019.
“I’ll be forever changed by her story,” Oprah said. “It’s a reminder of what courage looks like in the worst of times. And that ‘We all have the ability to pay attention to what we’ve lost, or to pay attention to what we still have.’”
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu wrote: “’The Choice’ is a gift to humanity. One of those rare and eternal stories that you don’t want to end and that leave you forever changed. Dr. Eger’s life reveals our capacity to transcend even the greatest of horrors and to use that suffering for the benefit of others. She has found true freedom and forgiveness and shows us how we can as well.”
In 2017, the book won the National Jewish Book Award and a year later Eger won the Christopher Award.
Sponsored by the Ronald Reagan American Legion Post family, the lecture will be at 5 p.m. on Saturday, September 7, at the Post, 15247 La Cruz Dr. The cost is $25 for the program and dinner. A limited number of complimentary copies of “The Choice” will be available.
Please RSVP to (310) 454-0527 or nilesj2@gmail.com. One may pay at the door or in advance at the Post.
For more about Eger, visit dreditheger.com.