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The ballerina of Auschwitz

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  Obituary | The ballerina of Auschwitz Edith Eger danced for Josef Mengele The “Ballerina of Auschwitz” died on April 27th, aged 98 Save Share Photograph: Edith Eger Foundation May 21st 2026 | 6 min read Listen to this story “D ance!” That was what he said to her on her first night in the camp. Edith Eger could dance, of course: she had been learning ballet since she was five years old. In her leotard and tights, she had practised her stretches. Down she would go: spine straight, tummy taut, breathe in, breathe out…She knew how to use her breath to control her body. She knew an entire routine to “The Blue Danube”. She thought she was imagining it when she heard that being played in the camp on her first night. Then he had appeared in her barracks. “Little dancer,” he said. “Dance for me.” That was what he would call her: “My little dancer.” They would call him the “Angel of Death”. Later, after she moved to America, she didn’t want to call that place anything at all. She didn’t...
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Why the Best Writing Advice Is Often the Weirdest

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  Under Review Why the Best Writing Advice Is Often the Weirdest “Three six five,” a new collection of writing exercises, belongs to a venerable tradition of goofy, esoteric, and avant-garde guides to unlocking the creative mind. By  May 20, 2026 Illustration by María Medem Save this story In “ Thirty Recommendations for Good Writing Habits ,” an essay published in 2013, the writer and translator Lydia Davis offers a cardinal rule: “work on your character.” (She happened on a variation of this maxim, by Stendhal, in her copy of the “ New Basics Cookbook .”) Davis is famously precise, and the way she uses “character” has multiple dimensions: it could mean a writer’s habitual gestures and ethical traits, their quirks and turns of phrase. Or it could mean, simply, the character in a story. This is advice that feels like a dare, if not a rebuke: your writing will become interesting only if you spend your days becoming witty and wise. It’s not calculated to put anxious writers’ mi...
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