Dr. Alex Kor will present on how his parents, both survivors of the Holocaust, learned resilience and the power of forgiveness as he shares their extraordinary stories on April 14 on the Cornell College campus.
The Thaler Holocaust Education Trust, in collaboration with the Cornell College Chaplain and Spiritual Life Office, welcomes the Cornell and eastern Iowa community to the lecture at 6:30 p.m. in the Hall-Perrine Room of the Thomas Commons. The event is free and open to the public.
Forgiveness of Nazis may not be a concept associated with those who experienced the horrors of the Holocaust, yet Eva Kor did just that. It was not easy. Alex Kor finds his mother’s ability to forgive to be one of the most striking aspects of her life, and is committed to carrying on her legacy.
Eva Mozes Kor and her twin sister, Miriam, were born in 1934 in Portz, Romania. In March of 1944, their village was taken over by a Hungarian Nazi armed guard. The family lived under occupation for two months. They were forced into the Simleu ghetto and then sent to Auschwitz in May of 1944. Eva’s family was taken away, and she and Miriam never saw them again. Because they were twins, they were taken to be used as human guinea pigs in Dr. Josef Mengele’s horrific experiments.
Alex Kor’s father, Mickey Kor, was born in 1925 in Riga, Latvia. Mickey Kor endured four years in multiple camps and was liberated by Lt. Colonel Andrew Nehf, from Terre Haute, Indiana, and the 250th Engineer Combat Battalion, in 1945.
After the war, Mickey and Eva met, married, and moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, where Alex Kor and his sister were raised. Children of Holocaust survivors often grow up in homes marked by sorrow and trauma. Alex Kor’s parents took a different approach, not shielding him and his sister from the hard truths of their lives, while emphasizing the power of forgiveness. His parents had enabled him and his sister with strength and positivity.
Eva Kor dedicated much of her life to teaching about the Holocaust and forgiveness. She maintained a busy speaking schedule, and in 1995, she opened the Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors (CANDLES) Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute.
Later in life, due to the experiments performed on them, many of the twins began having medical issues. Eva Kor donated a kidney to her sister Miriam. For the health of the Survivors, it was important to learn about what happened at Auschwitz. Eva Kor met Dr. Hans Munch, who had been at the camp with Mengele. Munch shared his story and his valuable information. She convinced him to share his knowledge in order to combat Holocaust deniers. She asked him to sign a document confirming the horrors that had occurred at Auschwitz.
She wanted to thank him and realized that she had the power to forgive. So, she forgave him in her name only and soon realized what a gift she had given herself. It took Eva Kor 50 years to rid herself of the pain caused by others.
Thank you to Alex Kor for sharing the stories of his remarkable parents and their journey to forgiveness.