Inge Auerbacher
Holocaust Survivor and Author
2023
Inge Auerbacher is an author and Holocaust survivor. An American chemist of German origin and Jewish descent, Auerbacher was born a year after the Nazis came to power. Her early life was to be defined by the Nazi regime and its persecution of Jewish people, and Auerbacher and her family suffered deportation to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. Of the 15,000 people imprisoned, Inge and her parents were among the 1% that survived, and they emigrated to New York City to begin a new life. After training and working as a chemist for 38 years, Auerbacher decided to share her childhood experience with the world through a series of memoirs. In 1986, Auerbacher published her first book called ‘I Am A Star’, and has since written five further books, including three memoirs about her experiences in Terezin and recovering after the war. Her first book has also been the subject of a play, “The Star on My Heart,” which premiered in Ohio in November 2015. Auerbacher has also won several awards, such as the Doctor of Humane Letters in 2005 from Long Island University, and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 1999.
The inaugural Eradicate Hate Summit was a truly impressive gathering of leaders dedicated to finding lasting and effective solutions to violent extremism. I was particularly moved by the prominence given to survivors and family members of victims of hate and violence throughout the event. Their stories and those of so many others must be at the center of what we do and why we do it.
