How Holocaust Survivor Edith Eger Finds Her Strength | Goalcast — Transcript

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1. 0:00nothing short of extraordinary in 20
2. 0:03years you never even spoke of it i
3. 0:05didn't know how
4. 0:06it's a hell of a story 16 year old girl
5. 0:08in auschwitz
6. 0:10forced to dance for the evil doctor
7. 0:12known as the angel
8. 0:14of death i was just like you at 14.
9. 0:17i was in love too from the security of
10. 0:20family life
11. 0:21to a place of nightmares my boyfriend
12. 0:24said i never forget
13. 0:26your beautiful eyes and beautiful hands
14. 0:28the nazis deported her and her family
15. 0:30people were selected to die i did not
16. 0:34understand a horrible mistake was made
17. 0:37is this your mother
18. 0:38or is this your sister 30 minutes my
19. 0:41whole family was gone
20. 0:42i don't believe that i'm here i could
21. 0:45never forgive myself
22. 0:47i had my secret and the secret had me
23. 0:49and i became
24. 0:50very very ill not a situation that was
25. 0:53survivable
26. 0:53and i said well here i'm gonna die it
27. 0:56felt like a scene out of a movie if i
28. 0:58survived today then tomorrow i'll be
29. 1:01free
30. 1:02dr mengele came to me and said she's
31. 1:04just gonna take a shower
32. 1:07i still have nightmares all of a sudden
33. 1:10there was a knock on my door
34. 1:12to go to auschwitz i was just like you
35. 1:16at 14.
36. 1:18i was in love too
37. 1:22just before the train pulls away i hear
38. 1:24my name
39. 1:26it's eric he's calling through the slats
40. 1:29of the train
41. 1:30i shove my way toward his voice i'm here
42. 1:34i call as the engine starts the slats
43. 1:36are too narrow for me to see him or
44. 1:38touch him
45. 1:39i'll never forget your eyes he says
46. 1:42i'll never forget your hands
47. 1:46i repeat those sentences as we board a
48. 1:48crowded car
49. 1:50if i survive today then i can show him
50. 1:53my eyes
51. 1:54then i can show him my hands
52. 1:58my mother held me and she said
53. 2:02we don't know where we're going we don't
54. 2:03know what's going to happen just
55. 2:05remember
56. 2:06no one can take away from you what you
57. 2:08put in your own mind
58. 2:10we arrived in auschwitz i saw the sign
59. 2:14i didn't know where i was my father was
60. 2:17separated
61. 2:19and i stood in front of dr mangala
62. 2:25the angel of death my mom was in the
63. 2:28middle
64. 2:29and my sister meg there on one side and
65. 2:31i on the other side
66. 2:33and then he asked is this your mother
67. 2:36or is this your sister
68. 2:40i told him it's my mother
69. 2:43he pointed to the left and i followed my
70. 2:47mom
71. 2:48and then he grabbed me and looked me in
72. 2:50the eyes
73. 2:52i never forget those eyes and he said
74. 2:55that i'm going to see my mother very
75. 2:56soon she's just going to take a shower
76. 3:00and promptly through me on the other
77. 3:02side which meant life
78. 3:05when we arrived at the other side i
79. 3:07asked an inmate
80. 3:08when will i see my mother and she
81. 3:11pointed the chimney and fire was coming
82. 3:13out of the chimney and she said your
83. 3:14mother is burning there
84. 3:16you better talk about her in past tense
85. 3:21i could never ever forgive myself that i
86. 3:24said
87. 3:25it's my mother my sister and i hugged
88. 3:30each other and she said
89. 3:31the spirit never dies the spirit never
90. 3:34dies
91. 3:36dr mengele appeared in our barracks
92. 3:41searching for talented inmates to
93. 3:42entertain him
94. 3:45and my friends volunteered me
95. 3:49but my limbs are heavy as in a nightmare
96. 3:52when there's danger and you can't
97. 3:54run away dance he commands again
98. 3:58i can hear his voice over the music he
99. 4:01discusses with the other
100. 4:02officer which ones of the hundred girls
101. 4:05present
102. 4:06will be killed next if i miss a step
103. 4:09it could be me i close my eyes
104. 4:13i hear my mother's words come back to me
105. 4:16just remember no one can take away from
106. 4:20you
107. 4:20what you've put in your own mind
108. 4:27and now i can hear tchaikovsky's romeo
109. 4:29and juliet
110. 4:31the barracks floor become a stage at the
111. 4:33budapest opera house
112. 4:35i dance for my fans in the audience
113. 4:38i dance within the glow of hot lights
114. 4:42i dance for my lover romeo as he lifts
115. 4:45me high above the stage
116. 4:47i dance for love i dance for
117. 4:50life
118. 4:51[Music]
119. 4:54he must be impressed by my performance
120. 4:56because he tosses me a loaf of bread
121. 4:59i shared the bread with magda and our
122. 5:01bunkmates
123. 5:03we had to be committed to each other
124. 5:06otherwise we never would have made it
125. 5:09because all we had was each other then
126. 5:14they took me out of auschwitz i became a
127. 5:16slave labourer
128. 5:18to enter a death march and in the death
129. 5:21march
130. 5:22when you stopped you were shot right
131. 5:24away
132. 5:26when we were walking up the steps
133. 5:29i saw nothing but body parts and blood
134. 5:33and
135. 5:33and i said well here i'm gonna die
136. 5:36when i was about to stop that the ghosts
137. 5:39i shared the bread with
138. 5:41they formed a chair in their arms
139. 5:45and they carried me so i won't die
140. 5:48isn't that amazing that the worst
141. 5:51conditions
142. 5:52can bring out the best in us
143. 5:56i was liberated may 4 1945
144. 6:01i was a nurse i ended up in a hospital
145. 6:06my teeth were separated from my gums
146. 6:10i had five kinds of typhoid fever
147. 6:13i could hardly breathe i was filled with
148. 6:15water
149. 6:16they were going to amputate my legs and
150. 6:19really to hit me
151. 6:22i realize my parents are not coming back
152. 6:25i know my mother and grandparents are
153. 6:27dead and surely my father too
154. 6:30to go home without them is to lose them
155. 6:32again
156. 6:34i allow myself to hope maybe eric
157. 6:38when i have been home a few weeks
158. 6:40although i am barely strong enough
159. 6:42i make a journey on foot to eric's old
160. 6:45apartment
161. 6:47no one from his family has returned the
162. 6:50apartment is empty
163. 6:52i vow to go back as often as i can
164. 6:55one afternoon i learn about ellie
165. 6:59eric was sent to auschwitz he died in
166. 7:01january
167. 7:03the day before liberation i had nothing
168. 7:06to get up for
169. 7:08because i had no meaning and purpose
170. 7:12i suffered so many years from survivor's
171. 7:15guilt and shame
172. 7:18wondering why me
173. 7:21i was blessed to be able to go back to
174. 7:23school
175. 7:24i graduated with honors i never showed
176. 7:27up for my graduation
177. 7:29because i had so much survivors guilt
178. 7:33i didn't need a nazi out there i had one
179. 7:36in me
180. 7:38when i began to work with vietnam
181. 7:41veterans
182. 7:43i had two paraplegics same
183. 7:45symptomatology same diagnosis
184. 7:48and one of them was kind of in a fetal
185. 7:51position
186. 7:52why me angry cursing god
187. 7:56country conversely the other one
188. 7:59says to me you know doc
189. 8:02i'm sitting in a wheelchair and i'm so
190. 8:05grateful
191. 8:07that god gave me a second chance in life
192. 8:10and i am with the white coat
193. 8:13dr eager department of psychiatry
194. 8:17and i fear like the biggest fake
195. 8:22realizing that i cannot take them
196. 8:24further
197. 8:25than i have gone myself
198. 8:28and i decided to go back to our streets
199. 8:32recognizing i had my secret and the
200. 8:34secret
201. 8:35had me i was able to go back to that
202. 8:39lions then and look at the lion in the
203. 8:41face
204. 8:42i was able to somehow reclaim my
205. 8:44innocence
206. 8:45assign the shame and guilt to the
207. 8:48perpetrator and finally
208. 8:50forgive myself that i survived
209. 8:55i regained that power
210. 8:59that was the most positive thing
211. 9:03not only i have three children i have
212. 9:06five grandchildren
213. 9:07and three beautiful great grandchildren
214. 9:12perhaps the biggest concentration camp
215. 9:16is right in your own mind and the key
216. 9:20is in your pocket
217. 9:23so my healing took many many years
218. 9:27that's why i feel so fortunate to let
219. 9:30you know
220. 9:31not to ever ever give up to find hope in
221. 9:35hopelessness
222. 9:36because suffering gives you strength
223. 9:40no i won't be that girl anymore that
224. 9:43little girl
225. 9:45she's gonna be better she's going to be
226. 9:48stronger it's not what happens
227. 9:52it's what you do with it
228. 9:54[Music]
229. 9:56just remember no one can take away from
230. 10:00you
231. 10:00what you've put in your own mind
232. 10:06[Music]
233. 10:31you