Thursday, November 16, 2017

[166] Death camp, Nazi experiment survivor to promote forgiveness Nov. 14


MURFREESBORO — A woman who survived a World War II death camp and sadistic genetic experimentation by the Nazis will tell her story in an MTSU-sponsored event.

Eva Mozes Kor, co-author of “Surviving the Angel of Death” with Lisa Rojany Buccieri, will speak at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14, in the auditorium of Central Magnet School, 701 E. Main St. in Murfreesboro. The event is free and open to the public, but it is recommended for ages 13 and up.

Kor and her identical twin, Miriam, were held captive in the notorious Auschwitz death camp from 1944 to 1945, when they were liberated by the Soviet army. They and other twins were subjected to experiments under the direction of Josef Mengele, the so-called “Angel of Death.”

Mengele’s gruesome treatment of twins in the name of science included amputating limbs without anesthesia, stitching twins together and injecting chemicals into their eyes to change their eye color. While Kor and Miriam survived, their parents and two older sisters died at Auschwitz. Miriam died in 1993.

In 1984, Kor founded Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors, or CANDLES. Through her efforts, 122 other living Mengele twins were located. In 1995, she returned to Auschwitz 50 years after her liberation to sign a “declaration of amnesty” officially forgiving all Holocaust perpetrators and Nazi sympathizers.

Now 83, the Romanian-born Kor lives in Terre Haute, Indiana. In 2007, she worked with state legislators on a law to require Holocaust education in Indiana secondary schools. She lectures nationwide on the power of forgiveness.

Kor will sign free copies of her book, “Surviving the Angel of Death,” following the presentation. This event is sponsored by the MTSU Jewish and Holocaust Studies Program and the Tennessee Holocaust Commission with additional sponsorship by the MTSU Department of English.

For more information, contact Elyce Helford, professor of English and director of Jewish and Holocaust Studies, at 615-898-5961 or elyce.helford@mtsu.edu.


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