[Baking Typewriter] Memoir of a Young Dancer Who Survived Hell

Surviving Auschwitz to Become a Renowned Psychologist

A Memoir Written by Edith Eva Eger at Age Ninety

"The train car we boarded was a type I had never seen before. This was not a passenger car. It was meant for transporting livestock or cargo. We were human cargo. Around 100 people were packed into a single car. An hour felt like a week. One loaf of bread was given to eight people. A single bucket of water. Another bucket for waste. The air was thick with the stench of sweat and excrement. People died during the transfer. We all slept standing up, leaning on our family members, shoulder to shoulder with the dead."

This is an excerpt written by Edith Eva Eger, a Hungarian Jewish girl born in 1927 in Kosice, Slovakia, recalling her journey to Auschwitz at the age of ninety. Until the end of World War I, Kosice was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In those imperial days, it was known as "Kassa," a city within the Hungarian cultural sphere. Edith Eva Eger, the girl who was taken to Auschwitz, passed away last month on April 27 in San Diego, United States, at the age of 99.

'The Dancer of Auschwitz' is Eger’s memoir, published in 2017. The original title is 'The Choice: Embrace the Possible.' In Korea, the book was published under the title 'The Dancer of Auschwitz' because Eva survived the concentration camp thanks to ballet.

Josef Mengele was a German officer who conducted genetic experiments on humans at Auschwitz during World War II. He was infamously known as the "Angel of Death."

In her book, Eger describes Mengele as both a meticulous murderer and an art lover. Every evening, Mengele would scour the barracks looking for prisoners who could entertain him. One day, Eger herself was dragged before Mengele as he stormed into the barracks.

"Little dancer, dance for me."

At the entrance to the barracks, Eger danced to the orchestra’s performance of Johann Strauss I's 'The Blue Danube' and Tchaikovsky's 'Romeo and Juliet.' As she danced, Eger thought, "Mengele is discussing with his subordinates which of the hundreds of women here he will kill next. If I make even a single misstep, if I do anything to upset him, I could be the one to die. I am dancing in hell."

Fortunately, after Eger finished dancing, Mengele threw her a loaf of bread. While Eger’s mother lost her life in the gas chamber, Eger survived. After the end of World War II, she married in 1946, lived in Czechoslovakia, and fled the communist regime in 1949 to move to the United States. After turning fifty, she earned a Ph.D. in psychology and became a world-renowned psychologist studying human trauma and recovery.

Upon its publication in the United States in 2017, this book became a bestseller and continues to be a steady seller to this day. In concise and restrained sentences, Eger vividly depicts the hell she endured as a child. At the same time, as a psychologist, she shares what kind of mindset one must have to overcome adversity, drawing from her own experiences. For example, while dancing in front of Mengele, she constantly recalled her mother’s words: "No one can ever take away what you have engraved in your heart."

Eger says that bad things can happen to anyone and that no one can completely avoid them. However, she emphasizes that experiencing misfortune does not immediately make one a victim. It is only when you imprison yourself in the belief that you are a victim that you truly become one—trapped in a prison of your own mind. Eger stresses that, just as she survived Auschwitz, humans can choose their attitude and direction in life, no matter the circumstances.

The Dancer of Auschwitz | Written by Edith Eva Eger | Translated by Ahn Jinhee | Book Moment | 516 pages

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.