Eva Mozes Kor

Eva Mozes Kor
File:EvaKor2011.jpg Eva Mozes Kor in 2011
Born	Eva Mozes (1934-01-31) January 31, 1934 Porț, Romania
Residence	Terre Haute, Indiana
Nationality	Romania
Other names	Eva Kor
Citizenship	United States
Known for	Founded CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center and speaks nationally and internationally on the topic of the Holocaust and Medical Ethics
Spouse(s)	Michael Kor
Children	Alex Kor, Rina Kor

Eva Mozes Kor is a survivor of the Holocaust who, with her twin sister Miriam, was subjected to human experimentation under Josef Mengele at Auschwitz. Both of her parents and two older sisters were killed at the camp; only she and Miriam survived. In 1984 Kor founded the organization CANDLES (an acronym for "Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors"), through which she located 122 other living Mengele twins, as the experiment survivors came to be known.

Kor founded CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center in 1995 to educate the public about eugenics, the Holocaust, and the power of forgiveness. Kor received international attention when she publicly forgave the Nazis for what had been done to her. This story was later explored in the documentary Forgiving Dr. Mengele.

Early life

Eva Mozes was born in 1934 in the tiny village of Porţ, Romania. Through the first four years of Eva's education, she and Miriam attended a one-room schoolhouse. Eva's father, Alexander, and mother, Jaffa, had four girls: Edit, Aliz, and the twins Eva and Miriam. Though the Mozes family enjoyed a comfortable living as landowners and farmers, the family lived under the spectre of the Nazi takeover of Germany and the everyday experience of prejudice against the Jews.

When Eva and Miriam were six, a Hungarian Nazi armed guard occupied their village, where the Mozes family was the only Jewish residents. In 1944, after four years' occupation, the family was transported to the regional ghetto in Şimleu Silvaniei. Just a few weeks later, they were packed into a cattle car and transported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. After 70 hours without food or water, Eva and her family emerged onto the selection platform at Auschwitz.

Eva has described her experience on the selection platform as "pure chaos" and soon realized her father and two older sisters were gone. Her mother held tight to Eva and Miriam's hands, hoping she could protect them. When approached by a Nazi guard who asked if Eva and Miriam were twins, Eva's mother asked "Is that a good thing?" The guard replied that it was, indeed, a good thing. When Jaffa confirmed that Eva and Miriam were twins, the girls were immediately ripped from their mother. Eva remembers seeing her mother's arms, outstretched in despair. Eva and Miriam soon became and unwilling part of a group of children used as human guinea pigs in genetic experiments under the direction of Dr. Josef Mengele. Approximately 1500 sets of twins—3000 children—were subjected to these practices, and most died from them. Eva herself became deathly ill, but she lived, and she helped Miriam to survive.

When they were in Block 1 at Auschwitz I, Eva recalls hearing a woman call out, "We are Free! We are Free!" It was then that Eva realized the Soviet Army liberated the camp. It was January 27, 1945. Found alive were approximately 180 children, the majority of whom were Mengele twins, including Eva and Miriam Mozes. As orphans, Eva and Miriam were first sent to a Katowice, Poland, convent which was being used as an orphanage. Each day they would leave the orphanage, and explore a nearby displaced persons camp, hoping to locate Mrs. Rosalita Csengeri. Mrs. Csengeri was a friend of their mother who also had twin daughters used by Mengele. Mrs. Csengeri took responsibility for Eva and Miriam, taking care of them as they were sent to three different refugee camps over the next nine months before returning to live with their aunt in Cluj, Romania. Although free from Auschwitz, Eva faced new oppression as Communists took over Romania.

Eva and her sister emigrated to Israel in 1950, landing at the port in Haifa, Israel. Over the next 10 years, Eva attended an agricultural school, and went on to attain the rank of Sergeant Major in the Israeli Army Engineering Corps. In 1960, Eva married Michael Kor, an American citizen—and a fellow Holocaust survivor—whom she met when he was a tourist in Israel. Eva joined Michael in the United States.

CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center

In 1965, Eva became a US citizen, and the couple raised two children, Alex and Rina. In 1978, after NBC's miniseries The Holocaust aired, Eva began to wonder what had happened to the children after the liberation. Where had they gone? What had they done? How had the trauma of Auschwitz and the experiments affected their lives? These questions motivated her to search for surviving Auschwitz twins.

Eva enlisted the help of Miriam, who was still living in Israel. Together they began locating other survivors of Dr. Mengele's deadly experiments. In 1984, Eva founded CANDLES, Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors, and named her sister Vice President for Israeli Survivors. Eva liked the acronym CANDLES because she wanted to shed some light on this hidden and dark chapter of the Holocaust. Miriam died in June 1993, after a battle with cancer.

Fifty years after the liberation of Auschwitz, Eva returned to the site and stood where so many were tragically murdered. At her side was Dr. Hans Münch, a Nazi doctor who knew Dr. Mengele, but did not work with him in Auschwitz. Eva read Dr. Münch's signed witness statement to contradict those who denied the Holocaust. To the surprise of many, she then freed herself from her victim status and announced to the world that—in her name alone–she forgave the Nazis. An incredible weight of suffering was lifted and she felt strong. Offering her forgiveness healed Eva, but it did not mean she would forget or that it changed what happened.

File:EvaMozesKor-Liberation.jpg

A photograph of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops in 1945. Eva and Miriam are shown holding hands in the very front.

Forgiving the Nazis drew mixed reactions and controversy. Throughout each subsequent conversation about forgiveness, Eva remained insistent that the act was for her well-being alone and not intended to dismiss the Holocaust. Eva's forgiveness was the catalyst that broadened CANDLES' focus to include peace on both a personal and societal level.

Over twenty-five years later, Eva remains an integral part of the CANDLES organization. Her lectures and guided tours are key elements of CANDLES' educational mission. Kor and the CANDLES organization have developed a wide circle of followers, including Hollywood personalities Ed Asner and Elliott Gould. She has returned to Auschwitz on numerous occasions, often accompanied by friends and members of the community so that they can share what they have learned with their students and future generations. This pilgrimage now takes place each summer and is next planned for July 2016. In October 2016, Eva will guide a tour group through her Romanian homeland for the second time.

In 2007, Eva worked with state legislators Clyde Kersey and Tim Skinner to gain passage of an Indiana law requiring Holocaust education in secondary schools. Now Eva and CANDLES are the leaders of a new statewide grassroots committee called IHELP, formed to provide resources and curricular support for Indiana educators who teach the Holocaust. In the summer of 2009, Eva taught a course at Indiana State University on the value and philosophy of overcoming adversity in life using the Holocaust as an example.

In September 2014, Eva was a featured speaker at ONE, the first inaugural event of because I said I would, where she spoke about the power of her promise 70 years ago. Eva commemorated the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz in January 2015 as she led a group of 75 in Poland. It was during this trip that CNN aired the documentary "Voices of Auschwitz" in which Eva was featured.

April 2015 was an especially eventful month and year for Eva, as she first traveled to Germany to testify in the trial of former Nazi Oskar Groening. During this trial, Eva and Mr. Groening shared an embrace and a kiss, with Eva thanking Groening for his willingness, at age 93, to testify as to what happened more than 70 years ago. Also in April 2015, Eva was celebrated at the Wabash Valley 2015 Women of Influence Awards celebration, sponsored by the United Way of the Wabash Valley.

The highlight for May 2015 was Eva's moving and inspirational commencement speech at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. During this commencement, Eva was also presented with an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University.

In September 2015, Eva traveled to Boise, Idaho, to accept the Anne Frank Change the World Award from the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights and in October 2015 was the first speaker in the Celebration of Diversity Distinguished Lecture Series at Butler University. In November 2015, Eva was again honored, this time with the Mike Vogel Humanitarian Award, in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Works

• Echoes from Auschwitz: Dr. Mengele's Twins: The Story of Eva and Miriam Mozes (1995) with Mary Wright — ISBN 978-0-9643807-6-9
• Surviving the Angel of Death: The Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz (2009) with Lisa Rojany Buccieri — ISBN 1-933718-28-5
• Little Eva & Miriam in First Grade (1994) Eva Mozes Kor - OCLC 33324155
• Forgiving Dr. Mengele (2006) First Run Features - Bob Hercules and Cheri Pugh

External links

• CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center