YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → The Grauer School: Great Conversations with Dr. Edith Eger

The Grauer School: Great Conversations with Dr. Edith Eger — Transcript

by Grauer School Online · 5,780 words · 798 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:15good evening our school was founded for
0:20those of you who are new here we were
0:24founded in 1991 to give teams real
0:27voices real choices and the mentors that
0:30they really trust we eventually started
0:32our a great conversation series so we
0:35could bring great educational issues and
0:37thought leaders to our community in a
0:40region we're especially honored with
0:42tonight's great conversation because
0:45it's where the person who has been such
0:46a dear friend of our family and school
0:49dr. Edith eager we're honored to name an
0:59emeritus faculty member of e at the our
1:04school at a ceremony here in this room
1:06some years ago because of these many
1:09appearances here and because she's been
1:12giving teams a voice since well before
1:151991 so welcome here we thought be the
1:23host of the book signing anyway look
1:24what have you done as a child
1:28Edie was one of 70 out of 15,000
1:31inhabitants of her hometown and hungry
1:34to survive the Great War and her book
1:37the choice you'll learn how an orphaned
1:40Hungarian Jew with a broken back and
1:42PTSD winds up with a PhD various
1:46prestigious university present positions
1:49becomes a student of both Carl Rogers
1:52and Viktor Frankl and at least as
1:55important you learn how you can overcome
1:57even overwhelming on us to have a happy
2:00of the purposeful life EDA is overcoming
2:03our deal so on and incomprehensible so
2:06shocking so surrealistic that we can
2:09only commit to a permanent effort to try
2:12and understand it her book will be
2:15violent or generate
2:16to come the choice is a gift to humanity
2:20he has an almost unbelievable gift of
2:23making everyone she knows even though
2:25she can't though she counsels tilith as
2:28though they were in her family he and I
2:31share one period Bruce she was one of
2:34the last people to visit my own mother
2:36when she was struggling with independent
2:38living in Austin Texas I have never seen
2:41any balance day to eat his compassion
2:43she also has a gift in writing and
2:46storyteller the choice would be a must
2:49read because of who he is and what she
2:52went through as the and Frank who lived
2:53but edited that the public stories of
2:56astonishing things she has done as a
2:58therapist while engaged with clients
3:01reclaiming their lives by the first
3:04other paper you will want this book to
3:06be in a movie by the time you're
3:08finished you'll want it to be to be at
3:11least three movies you want it to be at
3:18least three movies so we congratulate
3:20you on this brilliant long -
3:22mind-blowing and powerfully needed book
3:26already translated into several
3:28languages already a New York Times best
3:31seller who writes their first major book
3:34at 19 years old that hasn't turned into
3:35a best-seller
3:37how's that for empowering role model
3:40Edie once again welcome back to the
3:44growler school and welcome everyone here
3:46tonight to the growler school a place of
3:48the deepest student engagement and thank
3:51to each of you for attending another
3:53great conversation here thank you also
3:56to the talent of talented at loving for
3:59our staff members he puts us ahead
4:01together
4:02we do not have a long evening plan
4:04we'll start the conversation out with a
4:06couple questions or conversation between
4:09me and Edie and then we'll open up the
4:12Florida just pay about three questions
4:14or so then after the Q&A we can have
4:18some book signing going on and hope the
4:20events are less around an hour well you
4:23have a beautiful evening doing something
4:48differently so the children will look
4:51forward to come to school something that
4:54they really wanted to see how they can
4:58like school and I know your students and
5:05I know your teachers and they can't wait
5:08to get you in the morning and hope that
5:11time tonight is it's not September than
5:16America
5:17new beginnings and I think you have to
5:21be old to be young me because I'm being
5:26not me I feel much younger than when I
5:31met I give up my need for a boy everyone
5:35I give up my need to please everyone
5:38and so think about that I think yeah and
5:43I'm giving a present and it's wonderful
5:46for you to show up tonight I hope that
5:50we can have a very meaningful evening I
5:52can tell you that being 19 is wonderful
5:57just wonderful life is full of surprises
6:00when I came to medical penniless and I
6:04didn't speak a word of English I didn't
6:06realize that this is going to happen and
6:09you can so you have questions right I
6:11have to just because I do it - I should
6:17- now a question I've been thinking a
6:18lot about this is kind of personal for
6:21me that the the Buddhist monk non-han
6:23says yeah I smile even to my suffering
6:26and your right to heal we embrace the
6:29dark and make an amazing promise that a
6:33man who has nothing left in this world
6:34they still know this and heating that
6:38there's so much suffering and I'm
6:39wondering about smiling and the blissful
6:42embrace and if this is something that
6:43that really always is makes sense in the
6:46choice one sentence you write is we can
6:50choose what horror teaches us to become
6:53bigger in our grief and fear or to hold
6:56on to the childlike part of us a
6:58liability in the curious part the part
7:01that is innocent beautiful beautiful
7:03writing but my question is this
7:06there ever a time when to give up on
7:08optimism on our innocent summit on the
7:11childlike part of ourselves that is the
7:16difference between being childish and
7:18make childlike I think it's good to be
7:23worked at childish part because they
7:26were clever earlier the child is I want
7:29I need I gotta have you're not gonna
7:32make me and I'm not gonna you don't
7:37release like that totally wrong so that
7:40is the difference between childish and
7:44childlike parties that part of me that
7:51even Jesus felt only chosen to go to
7:54heaven I think the child was like part
7:58is what kept me alive that I was able to
8:02somehow talk to myself in a way that I
8:09never ever gave up hope and I think
8:13every morning I would say to myself if I
8:18survive today that tomorrow everything
8:21so I think people March our life are
8:25killing us and that curious part of me
8:29that kept me alive and at the age of 90
8:33I'm still killing us I don't have any
8:36answers I have a lot of questions but
8:39I'm hoping to be a good runner or mother
8:41to our children because they are the
8:45and children don't do what we say they
8:49do what they seem so I love to talk to
8:53parents especially the father who is
8:58really showing the children how he is
9:02adoring that Monday because love is not
9:06what you feel is what you do that you
9:08commit yourself to someone else's
9:11welfare because all we had was each
9:14other in Auschwitz and what we have is
9:17each other now so there is hope in all
9:21presidents and everything in life is an
9:24opportunity the way I see yet not
9:28recovering but discovering and Auschwitz
9:32was the place that everything was taken
9:36away from us and the question comes up
9:40how do you find from within that nothing
9:43comes from without because the more you
9:47wait for someone else to make you happy
9:50you're never gonna be happy happiness
9:53comes from the outside love and joy
9:56comes from the inside so I think looking
10:00for answers from the outside that kind
10:04of dependency can breed depression
10:14question that was beautiful thank you in
10:18the choice you're revealing in
10:21personal things they won't choices
10:24remember us to feel like a victim
10:27yeah I was victimized I'm not the victim
10:31and stepped what was done to me it's not
10:35who I am and I never story but I'm not
10:39my story I know what I am I can change
10:43the woman to moment by hour day by day I
10:47like change because it's anonymous to
10:49Detroit so we wanted to test our stories
10:53but I just wanna be no monthly what we
10:55want to Eva I like to make that whatever
11:01are there any stories that you will
11:04never tell and are there I mean you
11:08reveal so much in in the children and I
11:10wonder if all of us have dark corners
11:13and shadows that we really shouldn't
11:15tell or is it just best to get
11:17everything out there at some point with
11:19the right person if I would live my life
11:27to be trying to figure out reduction
11:32then I would miss the present so I think
11:40it's a very good question
11:41your answer is in the nose yes I'm
11:49asking because Emily the choice was so
11:52revelatory and so just so much
11:55disclosure in it
12:00if you look up your words birth
12:02certificate that doesn't say that it is
12:04a guarantee there's one thing I can tell
12:06you in the school because I'm a former
12:09school teacher and I still have a
12:12blackboard in my office I think that you
12:16cannot teach anything anyone unless they
12:19have the desire to learn and I think
12:23would teachers do that they become a
12:26kind of a mystery and it gives never
12:29know what she is gonna come up with
12:31today you see so so you make a
12:34difference as you come in and that's
12:37what I did with my students I told them
12:41what has to happen in this class to make
12:44Annie and the only excuse is best used
12:57when I miss myself very interesting and
13:00very interesting so I don't read their
13:05students as they are I delete them as if
13:08they were what I would like them to
13:10become and they leverage to the occasion
13:13yes and I know your your students don't
13:16see them as they are but you treat them
13:19the way you want them to be and believe
13:21me they rise to the occasion beautiful
13:24and that actually leads me to my my
13:27third question but before I get to it I
13:30just want to ask you something really
13:32quick
13:32is that we made you an emeritus faculty
13:35member years ago even though you weren't
13:38on our full-time faculty so I just want
13:41to seal that deal by making sure is it
13:44okay if I always call you my teacher you
13:56see I am NOT a strong woman I am a woman
14:00of strength and I think that strength
14:05comes from the end Sun and 90 I can also
14:10say that it's not only being a strong
14:15woman but also being wise and I just
14:20want what wise and I can ask you the
14:24last year Sarah before you say anything
14:28is it kind and it is not don't say it I
14:36am dreaming of a kinder world I want us
14:41to empower each other little differences
14:43I like to see how you can be you and I
14:47can be I and together we're gonna be
14:50much stronger so I'm very much wanting
14:54to unite they then they are send them
14:57and
14:58and 7/8 so that's what I spend thank you
15:04man could I just asked one more thing
15:06about distinction in education what I
15:09want to know is and this is important to
15:12me because we're here is this is a
15:15school how many only like teacher's name
15:18oh thank you oh that's pretty pretty
15:21good showing so what I want to know is
15:23on page 166 of the book and elsewhere
15:26you describe what drove you out of the
15:29teaching profession even after being
15:31named Teacher of the Year and you know
15:34this is the sentencer like the sense of
15:36purpose I felt at the beginning of my
15:38profession began to be eroded by the
15:42bureaucracy of schools the huge class
15:44sizes and caseloads
15:46the inability to work effectively with
15:48individual students it's essential the
15:53teachers facing all these conditions
15:55will will stay in this work we need
15:58great teachers but we need to stay
16:00authentic if everyone takes a moral
16:03stance against bigness and in
16:05personalization either the schools will
16:09change or else there'll be very few
16:11teachers that are in the profession so
16:13thinking back to your teaching days when
16:16you are facing what so many large big
16:19school teachers are facing none do you
16:21have words for those teachers who are in
16:25big systems where they're out of control
16:27or they might feel like victims you have
16:30words for the students who feel like
16:32they have no manners do you have
16:34thoughts about creating the healing
16:36schools we need evening is a very
16:40different thing of computing especially
16:45when I could quit cancer
16:46patience I tell me to survive you never
16:49gonna be the same
16:50you gonna be better but there's a
16:55difference between a job and your life's
16:58work teaching is not a job when you want
17:03to make the most amount of money with
17:05the least amount of work it is your
17:08ministry it is your life's work I think
17:14that you deserve all your teachers a
17:17standing ovation because every day every
17:22day you come in and you create the
17:25future here and you get in touch also
17:29with you wrong feelings that some
17:34children are easier to love but the most
17:37obnoxious one is not a real best teacher
17:43so what do they like in someone it's
17:48time to look at that they do so I
17:51respect the stitches I am a teacher
17:54myself but I like to call myself a guide
17:57I like the guide concept and that I was
18:05not really free until I started to work
18:08with post-traumatic stress disorder and
18:11I had two pair of lyrics coming from
18:14Vietnam with the same symptomatology the
18:17same diagnosis but to become different
18:20responses one of them would curves then
18:23count
18:24we and why me and conversely the other
18:26one said to me hey the heart it's very
18:31interesting that God gave me a second
18:33chance syllabi and I can see two
18:38children sighs much closer and I'm hit
18:43with the white coat they've got the
18:45legal department of psychiatry and I
18:49felt like the biggest imposters because
18:55I never told anyone I was in a place I
18:58had a 16 year old girl in me that I
19:02gotta be a clone and I just wanted to be
19:05any dude of any like you and I just
19:07wanted to speak English without an
19:09accent and those two paraplegic make up
19:15or difference in my life because then I
19:18decided to go back to Ashley's and
19:21that's the one thing that I do now how
19:30to hold your precious hand and go back
19:34to the clients then I look at the light
19:36in the face and reclaim the innocence
19:39and the sign mishima give to the
19:41perpetrator and then begin to forgive
19:44myself that our survival so instead of
19:48running away or fighting fear to face it
19:55and those two paraplegics with my
19:58restrictions I wish I could see them now
20:02and let them know that they gave me the
20:07permission
20:08to be birth to the me that that was
20:13meant to be free however my sister make
20:19them who was with me lovelies I call her
20:25Robinson Macbeth we lost our family and
20:28I never been to a funeral I want you to
20:33come so we can go back to our streets
20:37which is the because cemetery and
20:40analogue transom and she says to me
20:44you're an idiot
20:46we went through the same experience two
20:50entirely different responses so that's
20:53why you know you cannot make someone
20:55want to do anything unless Melanie
20:59Melanie and I did the very clever school
21:05practices that which students could do
21:08we become the future leaders and
21:11residents of the United States we're
21:16more concerned with having to be
21:17children right now I think that's the
21:20best path between Future Leaders a
21:23little bit of time for playfulness
21:25joining that childlike selves that
21:27you're talking pitch that night fine I
21:29think that some of the schools are
21:30taking that away so we're gonna make
21:33sure that stays acknowledged that there
21:45is no forgiveness without age
21:54it's not good to cover garlic with
21:57chocolate it doesn't taste good it's not
22:02an overnight process when I think
22:05forgiveness gives you the spiritual
22:07freedom that they repent remember - will
22:13you give us all kinds of information we
22:17have time for on the floor as well hi my
22:39name's Ryan I am a junior at the grammar
22:42school and on behalf of the student body
22:46we just wanted to present you these
22:48flowers as they thank you for coming
22:50today to yourself more than thank you
22:57it's wonderful to to think about us that
23:03what we planned
23:05that's what's gonna grow if I two years
23:11I'm not gonna get them roses Sam and I
23:16think if you can collect the seed after
23:18tonight and let's see how you order it
23:21so you will know no matter what each one
23:25because the best thing you can do to
23:28your children is prepare them to enter
23:32the world without you that they can
23:37become good parents to themselves
23:40sometimes we balance discipline too much
23:44very too much and we don't have to do
23:48that
23:50children don't do what we say they do
23:53what they see so find that there girl
23:57and that little boy in you and that
24:00little boy a little girl will probably
24:02tell you I wasn't belonging parent that
24:05you say I'm showing love for you so when
24:11you see when you see all the chocolate
24:14and when you see all the booze and then
24:18you ask yourself is this really good for
24:21me
24:22Isabella give me a few minutes of
24:25pleasure or you see that you constantly
24:29engaging in yourself dialogue as to how
24:34you can be able to parent to you and
24:37that's what I'm doing because I have a
24:39bad back but I can also tell you that
24:43when I was liberated and I was in a
24:46hospital and they put me in a cast and I
24:50had five times of typhoid fever my love
24:53was filled with water I got up in the
24:57morning I didn't say what I said what
25:01for
25:02I had no meaning in my life idea was my
25:07parents are not coming back and I was
25:11very suicidal and I think gun has told
25:18me that if I die I probably will be just
25:23a coward what if I
25:26I'm going to before something and so I
25:31am in a really got profession you see
25:34and so I hope that maybe tonight you can
25:41also make a decision as to what are you
25:45willing to carry with you because when
25:49you are angry
25:50you're probably frustrated that you
25:53prefer we have pain and you probably
25:55have a lot of fear so maybe tonight I
26:00can be your little guide and see what
26:05you can do everyday that you can see and
26:08a going to give yourself a lot of yeses
26:14yes I am and yes I can and yes I hear
26:18that an act on that and I don't want the
26:22positive the positive and I think that's
26:26too big a builder so he could live a
26:30very very meaningful life and that's how
26:33I got in touch with Victor Franco
26:35because I kept my secret until somebody
26:40hand me the book man's search for
26:42meaning me and so my book is the female
26:47who is a victim
26:59how is your experience and how is there
27:02life as a whole affected your worldview
27:04today can you repeat the question please
27:09how is your life affected your worldview
27:12my third viewer I think there is a gift
27:16in everything I'm always looking for
27:19exists and everything that you always
27:22find what you look for and I'm looking
27:26for hope and I want to be more realistic
27:30rather than ideal mistake because when
27:34an ideal has come and they don't find
27:38exactly what they're looking for
27:40I've seen them being very sarcastic
27:42whereas cynical Romanians are very
27:45cynical and and I like philosophical
27:50humor and my view is that what I am Here
27:57I am going to do everything in my power
28:02to see to it that your children and
28:05grandchildren and I have to be great
28:08when sons will never experience what I
28:11did so we're not gonna be my deathbed
28:14I'm gonna be so satisfied that I was
28:18healed at the grammar school
28:20and that I suck
28:22my 90th birthday and turn life into a
28:26constant celebration but to be a realist
28:29rather than idealist
28:32don't confuse romanticism with realism
28:37yeah that was good question we can't do
28:56that
28:57you said you wanted to come it back you
29:01tell me that question because I'm 14
29:18well why don't you make a card and could
29:24you mean and then put under the
29:26president the necklace if you practice
29:35makes it perfect what in fact
29:44[Music]
29:48go back to where it started her sister
29:52said that was crazy I thought my sister
29:54to come with me to honor my parents yes
29:57did you ever honor them yes I did go
30:00back
30:02that's a gradient question that is so
30:07brilliant so brilliant when I went back
30:16to Auschwitz
30:17I was so scared because I've saw the
30:25weather it may have not been the one
30:29where I was dancing for dr. Michael and
30:33the man who was responsible for my
30:36penance then I never could do anything
30:40in the therapists room I have to go back
30:44to that lineup stand and look at that
30:46lion in her face it was one of the most
30:50positive thing I have done in my life
30:54for me but as you can see going to the
30:59same experience even bigger than
31:02responses
31:03it doesn't mean that I'm right and my
31:05sister is probably Allah it of course
31:08our guy but the Holy right of me I
31:11cannot be right with anyone else that
31:14was a brilliant question and this is
31:17really so important but you see when I
31:20was coming out I saw a man in a uniform
31:24and for a moment I thought I was back
31:30with an action and the realization that
31:36I had a blue American
31:38in my pocket I never could have
31:43experienced that anywhere else except
31:46going back to that place it was a
31:49polished somebody there who was there so
31:53I am hoping that I can be a witness to
32:03let people know what can happen when
32:07good people do bad things if I would
32:11have lived in Vienna if I would have
32:14been born in Germany and Hungary to ever
32:19tell me that to be Germany and tomorrow
32:21to all world children are very
32:24impressionable I wonder if I would have
32:28been a very enthusiastic member of them
32:32it will him so sometimes she tried to
32:38figure too much you see and just live
32:43life for the fullest that we can all the
32:47diets and none of that is going to do
32:50you some good unless you become a good
32:54parent to you so see if that you can the
32:58body and the mind is very important but
33:02the third dimension is the spiritual
33:06because I know when I fly I know that
33:09the pilot goes back and forth back and
33:11forth and then I see the blue sky the
33:14blue skies meant that all alone see how
33:17you can let hold of some of your
33:22unrealistic expectation some of your
33:25chronic anger because nothing blocks
33:28intimacy war and low level chronic anger
33:33so that is a lot and that may be going
33:36on tonight in your mind and I hope that
33:40I can be the midwife to you the
33:43spiritual midwife they to give birth to
33:46the you that was elementary because God
33:49doesn't make junk and I love them you're
33:52beautiful just the way you are and if
33:55you leave his room no one can ever
33:58replace you
33:59this is the wet school this is the best
34:03school when the children's one of the
34:06kindness uniqueness is being celebrated
34:09every day in every every every class so
34:14congratulations to you thank you for
34:18telling us about the blue sky and that's
34:20something that we can spend all the rest
34:21of the year talking about anything else
34:29more question
34:32I'm just needed to begin good work
34:38I have my love to see do you know that I
34:45do not have my ID show Maya Angelou was
34:50raped but she was seven years old and
34:54she says her babies died a couple of
34:58days later and she thought she said she
35:01caused his death and she said for seven
35:06years I went to deflect like already and
35:09I read everything and then I went to the
35:12white library and read everything for
35:16seven years
35:17and when I opened my mouth I had a lot
35:20to say I am very much identifying with
35:24that too and that I never thought I
35:27could catch up with you that I learn
35:30more and studied more and professor says
35:34we won't book I read ten books and when
35:37I opened my mouth I have about to say
35:39thank you this woman is brilliant
35:46because she keeps him of your body and
35:49the mind and the soul and she teaches
35:52elderly people how to exercise sitting
35:56down amazing women for many years I have
36:09a question I can ask questions all day
36:11long right better question about how to
36:15best deal with the unknown of the future
36:20there's sometimes arteries
36:22in particular my daughter's where the
36:29questions are unanswered you've been
36:30through that many times of course what
36:32what do you say that will touch all of
36:35us and help us to be peaceful with that
36:40you know what you're thinking closer to
36:43the feelings so I said think about you
36:47thinking and pay attention what to pay
36:50attention to because anybody where you
36:53pay attention to you reinforce that
36:56behavior
36:57parents need to learn that I told you
37:00100 times you be comfortable local
37:03record and what I like to also say to
37:07you that I go dancing works to be and
37:11that is my dancing partner well his name
37:14is Jean courage and he picks me up every
37:18Sunday and
37:23[Applause]
37:26[Music]
37:27[Applause]
37:28[Music]
37:40[Music]
37:41I love the big band and it's my kind of
37:45music
37:46so anyway any any anything you pay
37:49attention to you have to be very careful
37:51that you always read wait until your
37:55child does something that you would like
37:57and then you leave for that behavior
38:00thank you for being kind of thank you
38:04for being considerate and so on why
38:09don't you do this oh why thank you
38:11so I asked you not to ask questions how
38:14are you and don't say why don't you do
38:16this so why did you do because every
38:20time what you do when you give advice
38:23you tell that other person that I'm
38:27smart and used to pretend I know what's
38:29good for me so I think I did love except
38:33for that word T IME time take your time
38:40and just say I wanted about that myself
38:44is a very good question just ask me very
38:48good question and the hand and that's
38:53what it is that you don't have to have
38:55an answer why is the best oriented well
38:59for is the problem orient why did you do
39:02that or why don't you do that I think
39:04the parents give too much advice and
39:07they're not very good listeners I
39:11for men just to say that me more I would
39:16like to hear more about it because when
39:19I was 14 I had a very different
39:23situation than you do and that's why we
39:26don't have answers but we're there to
39:29keep the feelings company to Steve the
39:35feeling any feeling you can't heal them
39:40what you don't feel okay so yeah it's
39:45alright thank you very much thank you so
39:53much I wanted to say well we're looking
39:55for the next question that as the
39:58program is is just a very few minutes
40:00we're going to move this table around
40:03here and crank up the big band music
40:07again we have about 20 votes only I'm
40:10afraid that we can sell but if you
40:13brought your own equal sign notes as
40:15well than one make sure that you're all
40:17welcome to do that so it seems that any
40:22more questions you know this is the
40:26evening time of my life and I'm very
40:31very careful who I want to be remembered
40:35and it's just so wonderful I'm just
40:41curious what advice would you give
40:42that's what's your name you can make a
40:57difference wherever you are wherever you
41:03are the libraries are open as long as
41:07you make up your mind that you want to
41:10go to Stanford and if you do you start
41:14studying when you're 12 years old that's
41:18what you do
41:20and my efficient electorate Philip
41:23Zimbardo professor at Stanford and we go
41:29to a place like Flint Michigan is the
41:32poorest city in America and guiding
41:35young people to stay in school stay in
41:40school and stop bullying and I think
41:43that you can be that person you can be
41:48the wise young men who are saying you
41:52have a choice to be miserable or you
41:57look for something that you can describe
41:59others so why don't you go and talk to
42:05the little children who woulda told you
42:09you do that yeah and have them be there
42:15older and she see how the children would
42:19want to become not just boys but men and
42:25I think you would be one of the kind
42:28wonderful giant who can do
42:30I have faith in you thank you thank you
42:34so no don't call me shrink call me
42:38stretch your mind I think I loved about
42:53your book was out the people that you
42:55have been giving therapy to and
42:57counseling to have been in the craziest
42:59situations and felt trapped in so many
43:01ways and you've always discussed how
43:04many how to find choices in the craziest
43:07darkest places are all these choices so
43:18I'm gonna take you back I think all of
43:20us are interested in the stories so you
43:25were 14 which they can't write I was 16
43:29the imagines 16 so I was just curious
43:33today we give our kids support groups
43:36gods if there's books internet you were
43:40just 16 years old you have nothing and
43:43we can't even imagine experience but I'm
43:46just curious when you were in the camp
43:49then you knew you have to survive how
43:54what was your support or how did you
43:56even think about you said you would just
43:58try to survive to the next day but when
44:01you came in you had no survival skills
44:03how what was that like if you could just
44:06take just a little bit how what was that
44:09like and maybe how that served
44:12I had the boyfriend my father told me
44:20I'm glad that you have brains because
44:24you have
44:28you know we give them a name you play
44:31the game I became a pair do that
44:33teenager he turned up just like Anna
44:36Frank and my father boy Fred told me
44:40that I had beautiful eyes and beautiful
44:43hands
44:44and in Auschwitz I could come to
44:47everyone tell me about my eyes tell me
44:51about my hands because if I survive
44:55today then tomorrow I'm gonna see my
44:58boyfriend addict
45:01and then I came home he was the first
45:05person I was looking for and I was told
45:08that he was shocked and they before
45:11liberation so in Auschwitz that what
45:15kept me somehow that I have to survive
45:19so I can show him my eyes and my hands
45:24that's what I remember that if I survive
45:29today then I'll be free tomorrow never
45:32once I even imagined even though I was
45:37told every day that the only way I will
45:39get out of here as a course they took my
45:43blood at least twice a week and I asked
45:46why do you take my gun and he said to
45:49eat German soldiers so we can take over
45:54America I can hang my arm maybe like I
45:59could reach what was outside of me and
46:02I've said to myself with my dad you
46:06never gonna win the war was another
46:08vision you know the humor that humor see
46:14they beat me and they torture me they
46:17could throw me in a gas chamber but I
46:20couldn't
46:21my spirit and that's what I think you
46:24here tonight I kind of a defiance that
46:29kind of a cold spot in my spirit yes
46:35I'll show you you know whatever you say
46:38you can talk whatever you want and I'm
46:40not going to allow you to get to me and
46:45believe me you are powerful you are
46:48powerful you have a power to choose the
46:52way you respond to any not react because
46:55when you react
46:57you don't think now hard-sell v8 that
47:00the Nobel prizes stress early studies he
47:03says I am stressful that come to you you
47:07have to automatic responses you either
47:09fight or fee I can fight in our streets
47:13I could open and shut right away and
47:15many people I can't see because if I
47:18would have touched about wires I would
47:21have been electrocuted so I have to
47:24learn how to find some kind of comfort
47:28in discomfort and recognize the
47:31reputation and even then I ate the soup
47:37and saved the bread because my sister
47:42was heavy and I was skinny and she was
47:45more concrete enough we have choices
47:47when cannibalism cloaca before we were
47:51liberated today I tell people go see The
47:55Sound of Music
47:57because I didn't wanna touch human flesh
48:00and I started to choose between one
48:03blade of grass over and against the
48:05there and then someone says I can't I go
48:09to your classroom and I take the
48:12apostrophe and I take the T and I say I
48:15can
48:16why because I think I came just like the
48:21truth train I think I can I think I can
48:24I think I can is what you think that's
48:28how you're gonna be promised that if I
48:47helped her out
49:11[Music]
49:20[Music]
49:23you
49:32you

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of The Grauer School: Great Conversations with Dr. Edith Eger by Grauer School Online, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 5,780 words across 798 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.