Eva Kor: We’ll never forget
Terre Haute, Indiana, is one of the last places on Earth you’d expect to find a Mengele Twin.
The heinous Angel of Death nearly killed Eva Mozes back in Auschwitz when she was just 10 years old. But she and her identical twin sister, Miriam, not only lived to tell about it, they thrived for decades. Eva even came to forgive her tormentors.
Eva married fellow Holocaust survivor Michael Kor and settled with him in Terre Haute, where they raised a family. (Among Mr. Kor’s concentration-camp liberators was an American colonel who was from Terre Haute.)
When our Thomas started college at Rose-Hulman, he told us there was a Holocaust museum in Terre Haute, which he hoped to visit. Within months, though, it was destroyed in a late-night firebombing. Eva was quoted in the media as saying,
“I’ve had better days. I’ve had worse days.”
Gary and I met Eva a year ago, and heard her speak at her reopened museum. She told her story simply, and with wry humor. Afterwards, Gary remarked on the museum photo of her milking a cow in Israel. He made her laugh with his dairy-farmer expertise: Everyone says cows give milk. They don’t. You have to take it from them.
Eva’s talk was spellbinding. She remembered standing in line at Auschwitz with her twin, as each waited to have her identification number tattooed on her left arm. When it was her turn, Eva was overcome with a fury that took multiple guards to contain. She was told later that she’d bitten one of the guards.
“I’m the only person I know who bit a Nazi!” she told us.
Eva Kor received world renown when she forgave the Nazis – even Dr. Mengele – for their atrocities. She shook hands and even hugged a concentration-camp guard who was brought to trial just a few years ago. She thanked the 90-year-old man for telling the truth. Some criticized her harshly, but Eva did what was right for herself. Forgiveness did not come easily, but it relieved her heart. Her life story now included a message to heal yourself by finding a way to forgive.
That amazing woman passed away one month ago, on July 4. She was 85 and in Poland with an American tour group. She returned to Auschwitz each year with groups, doing her part to be sure we would never forget.
We’ll never forget Eva.
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hey, Paula! Love your Eva story! I was lucky enough to visit Eva last year also. After telling my bookclub about how amazing she was, I went again this summer in June along with a few from my bookclub. I could tell she was a little weaker than when I had seen her before, but thought it was because she had had heart surgery in Jan. She was still so interesting & we all had a great time listening to her story. It was a full house on that day.
I was soooo sad to hear of her passing, but glad she was doing what she loved. She had told us she was making an extra trip & going back again in Jan for the 75th liberation celebration. She would have loved that. Wouldn’t have been an amazing trip to go with her to Auschwitz?
Hope you are doing well & enjoying your much deserved retirement! 😊betsy
Thanks so much, Betsy. I’m so glad you got to hear her speak, as well. Eva was an amazing person. She spoke at Rose-Hulman this spring, so James heard her, too. By the way, there’s a docent who tells an amazing account of his family’s escape from the Nazis – Walter Sommers. He speaks twice a week at the museum.