Auschwitz Survivor and Psychologist Brings Her Story and Message to CMC

The Choice is the story of Dr. Edith Eva Eger, a vibrant and hopeful 91-year-old Psychologist and survivor of Auschwitz. This memoir will have you reflecting on the historical atrocities of the holocaust while at the same time appreciating the resilience of victims of trauma, providing a hopeful message of triumph.

About Dr. Eger

Edith Eger was 16 years old when the Nazis came to her hometown in Hungary and took her Jewish family to an internment center and then to Auschwitz. Her parents were sent to the gas chamber by Joseph Mengele soon after they arrived at the camp. A few days later Edie was asked to dance to for Mengele. She danced to the Blue Danube waltz and was rewarded with a loaf of bread that she shared with her fellow prisoners. Read more...

See Dr. Eger's Biography and about "The Choice"

On countless occasions, Dr. Eger has been the clinical expert brought in to treat soldiers, including Special Operation Forces, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries. She was the go-to presenter during the atomic stress of the Cold War to train six hundred Army chaplains about hope and forgiveness.

"Dr. Eger's life reveals our capacity to transcend even the greatest of horrors and to use that suffering for the benefit of others," said Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Desmond Tutu.

"Personally, I have learned from this gifted human being, this indomitable survivor, this accomplished therapist more about humanity — and suffering — and resilience, than all my advanced degrees put together.... This effervescent, brawny [nonagenarian] has more than a story to tell, a therapy to offer, a journey to guide; she brings us to a new way of being."

-- U.S. Navy Captain Robert Koffman, MD, former director of
Deployment Health/Psychological Health at the
U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery

Read with us

Participate in Colorado Mountain College’s Common Reader program and explore “The Choice,” along with your community. The Common Reader program is designed to encourage learning conversations among staff, faculty, students and community members.

Explore the book on a deeper level through CMC discussion groups, classes, and at the author visits at the following locations. New this year, Dr. Eger's Spring Valley talk will stream live.