Edith Eger, known as the "Ballerina of Auschwitz", died on April 27th 2026 aged 98. Born in Hungary, she trained as a ballerina from age five and was chosen at 16 for the Olympic gymnastics training team before being kicked off because of her "background". After Nazi soldiers came and deported her family to Auschwitz, the camp orchestra played to greet new arrivals. Her mother was sent to the gas chambers on arrival; the camp doctor Josef Mengele picked her out and ordered her to dance to "The Blue Danube". On a death march at the war's end she nearly died, weighing about 30kg when an American GI offered her M&Ms.
Of the more than 15,000 deportees of her Hungarian hometown, 70 survived. She moved to America, eventually settling in Baltimore as a wife and mother. She trained as a psychologist and became a bestselling author, teaching that one cannot change the past but can choose how to respond to it. Her message: "you can choose happiness."
A man's best friend is his dogma.