Edith Eger will be the first speaker in the Mayor’s Mental Wellness Series in Beverly Hills. (photo courtesy of Edith Eger)

Spearheaded by Beverly Hills Mayor Lili Bosse, the Mayor’s Mental Wellness Series will feature guests handpicked by Bosse who have inspired her and changed many lives by their words of wisdom and action.

The first event will feature Dr. Edith Eger, a trauma expert, Holocaust survivor, bestselling author of “The Choice: Embrace the Possible” and frequent guest on media outlets across the globe.

A native of Hungary, Eger was a teenager in 1944 when she experienced one of the worst evils the human race has ever known. As a Jew living in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe, she and her family were sent to Auschwitz, the heinous death camp. Her parents were sent to the gas chambers, but Eger’s bravery kept her and her sister alive.

Toward the end of the war, Eger and other prisoners were moved to Austria. On May 4, 1945, a young American soldier noticed her hand moving slightly amongst a number of dead bodies. He quickly summoned medical help and brought her back from the brink of death.

After the war, Eger moved to Czechoslovakia, where she met the man she would marry. In 1949, they moved to the U.S.

Eger is a prolific author and a member of several professional associations. She has a clinical practice in La Jolla and holds a faculty appointment at the University of California, San Diego.

The event is free and open to the public. It will be held from 10:30 -11:30 a.m. on Friday, July 15, on the Crescent Drive side plaza of City Hall, 450 N. Crescent Drive. For information, visit beverlyhills.org/mentalwellness.