Dr. Edith Eger, a clinical psychologist, international bestselling author, sought-after speaker and Holocaust survivor, has died. She was 98.
Born Edith Eva Elefant in Hungary in 1927, Eger was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp in occupied Poland along with her family at the age of 16. She and a sister survived, and Eger went on to become an expert in working with trauma victims and to pen three books detailing her experiences and the lessons she’s learned. She has also shared her story of survival widely, including in recorded testimony with the USC Shoah Foundation and the JFCS Holocaust Center in Northern California.
Following the publication of her first book, “The Choice: Embrace the Possible” in 2017, Eger was interviewed widely, including by Oprah Winfrey and on CNN.
A resident of La Jolla, California, Eger was a dear friend to many in Beverly Hills, including former mayor Lili Bosse. Bosse met Eger during the COVID-19 pandemic after connecting through a mutual friend. Bosse, who was about to begin her mayoral term, soon invited Eger to be a speaker for her Mental Wellness Series, a mayoral initiative that debuted in 2022.
“Everybody was carrying a lot from that experience of having to be separate from one another [during social distancing], having to be apart, dealing with pandemic, and we had over 1,000 people come and watch and listen to Edie,” Bosse told the Courier. “Even to this day, people come up to me and say that listening to her was one of the biggest gifts of their life.”
The youngest of three sisters, Eger was a dancer and gymnast in her early years. After she and her family were taken to Auschwitz, Eger’s parents, Ilona and Lajos Elefànt, were killed in the gas chambers. Eger and one of her sisters were later sent, in a death march, to another concentration camp in Austria with other prisoners. When the camp was liberated, an American soldier discovered Eger barely alive and saved her.
After the war, Eger moved to Czechoslovakia where she met her husband, Béla Eger. They moved to the United States in 1949 with their daughter, Marianne, and soon had two more children.
Eger received her degree from the University of Texas, El Paso in 1969 and pursued her doctoral internship at the William Beaumont Army Medical Center at Fort Bliss. She went on to run a highly successful clinical practice in La Jolla and hold a faculty appointment at the University of California, San Diego.
“The Choice” details the ways that Eger faced the horror she and her family endured, overcame her trauma and learned how to define her life on her own terms. Her memoir was followed by two more books: “The Gift: 12 Lessons to Save Your Life,” published in 2020, and “The Ballerina of Auschwitz,” published in 2024.
In addition to her many media appearances following the publication of her books, Eger was the primary subject of a Holocaust documentary that appeared on Dutch National Television. She also served as a consultant for the U.S. Army and Navy in resiliency training and the treatment of PTSD.
When she spoke as part of Bosse’s mayoral initiative in Beverly Hills in 2022, Eger told the Courier she was “honored” to be given the opportunity to spread her message throughout the city.
Bosse noted that Eger’s message will resonate for generations to come.
“Her greatest message is that we can’t allow what happens outside of us to determine how we live our life,” Bosse said. “For somebody who survived Auschwitz, was in the greatest horror of mankind and still chose to find light and to survive, and not only survive, but thrive — that is her greatest lesson. She truly has left a legacy that is going to live on. Anybody who has listened to her, watched her, read her books has shifted how they view life and how they treat one another.”
Funeral services for Eger were held on April 29. Her message and legacy carry on through The Edith Eger Foundation.
