Forgiving a Nazi, especially one as notorious as Dr. Josef Mengele, may seem inconceivable. Yet that’s what Holocaust survivor Eva Kor did. Not only did she forgive Mengele, known as the “Angel of Death” for his brutal experiments on prisoners, but she also forgave Dr. Hans Münch, a Nazi doctor who worked alongside Mengele and eventually extended his pardon to all Nazis, whether Nazis or not. alive and dead.

His ability to forgive is one of the most notable aspects of his life. His son, Dr. Alex Kor, a podiatrist, now carries on his legacy through his new book, “A Blessing Not a Burden.” In it, Alex recounts the extraordinary survival stories of his parents, Eva and Mickey Kor, and the profound lessons their lives offer about resilience, strength, and the power of forgiveness.

Dr. Kor’s life itself is often considered a miracle. Raised in Terre Haute, Indiana – a place known for its Midwestern charm but also marked by a history of prejudice – Alex recounts his unique upbringing. While many children of Holocaust survivors grew up in homes marked by grief and parents overwhelmed by trauma, Alex Kor’s parents took a different approach. Even though they didn’t protect him and his sister from the harsh truths of their past, they emphasized the power of forgiveness.

Kor’s mission, as detailed in his book, is to preserve his parents’ inspiring legacy. Drawing on his mother’s example of forgiveness and his father’s boundless optimism, Alex reflects on how these qualities have shaped him, guiding him through his own struggles, including his battle with cancer when he was in his twenties. He attributes his survival, in large part, to the lessons he learned in resilience. “My mother’s infinite optimism gave me the strength I needed to beat cancer,” he said, reflecting on the profound impact of her vision on his own life.

Eva Mozes was born in 1934 in the small village of Portz, Romania, into a family of Jewish farmers. In 1940, when she and her twin sister Miriam were just six years old, their village was taken over by a Hungarian Nazi armed guard. The Mozes family, the only Jewish family in their village, lived under occupation for four years. In 1944, the family was forced into the Şimleu Silvaniei ghetto and, soon after, onto a cattle car to be transported to the Auschwitz extermination camp. After 70 harrowing hours without food or water, the family arrived at the selection platform at Auschwitz, a place Eva would later describe as “the most tragic and cruel piece of real estate in the world.”

Upon arrival, Eva’s father and two older sisters were taken away and never seen again. Shortly after, Eva and Miriam were forcibly separated from their mother, whom they also never saw again. The two girls became part of a set of twins used as human guinea pigs in Dr. Josef Mengele’s horrific genetic experiments. Of the 1,500 pairs of twins – 3,000 children in total – used in these experiments, most perished. Eva herself fell seriously ill, but she survived – as did Miriam.

Mickey Kor, born in 1925 in Riga, Latvia, was the youngest of four boys. His father, a shoemaker, had neither the resources nor the possibility to escape during the Nazi invasion. The family was forced to go to the Riga ghetto, where Mickey’s father was murdered the same day he was arrested. Left alone, Mickey’s mother struggled to keep her sons safe. During the liquidation of the ghetto, she saved Mickey’s life by pushing him into a group of older boys selected for slave labor. It was the last time he saw her; she and the others not chosen for the job were murdered in a mass shooting. Mickey endured four years of forced labor in several camps before being liberated by American soldiers of the 250th Engineer Combat Battalion in 1945.

After the war, Mickey moved to the United States, while Eva made aliyah to Israel, where she served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The two met in Israel after Mickey placed a personal ad in the Maariv newspaper, looking for a wife. Alex recounted their courtship: “My mother responded and three weeks later they got engaged. » The couple moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, where they raised two children, Alex and his sister, making their home a place where stories of the Holocaust were openly shared.

Unlike many children of Holocaust survivors, who grew up in homes where the horrors of the past were kept quiet, Alex was immersed in these stories from a young age. “At the age of seven, I could tell you many stories that I heard from my mother, but they were tailored to my age,” he said. “I grew up in a neighborhood where 200 non-Jewish families lived. No one talked about the Holocaust there. I remember one time my sister was playing at the neighbor’s house and I noticed her mother didn’t have a number on her arm. She ran home and asked our mother, “Ms. Baker doesn’t have a number.” How is it done? And my mother said, “Do you remember? We told you people hurt us.’

When Alex was 24, his mother took him to Auschwitz for a reunion of the Mengele twins. Many survivors suffered serious health problems, lingering consequences of the cruel experiments carried out on them. Alex described the gathering: “We were all about the same age and we were playing together. But years later, I went to Colorado for a reunion of children of Holocaust survivors. I was the youngest at 32; everyone was between 40 and 50 years old. Each person shared their story and ended with, “And that’s why I tried to kill myself.” »

He said it was an eye-opener for him, realizing for the first time how his experience differed from that of other children of survivors. “When it came time to tell my story, I said, ‘Everything that happened to me growing up was positive.’ My parents’ survival gave me extra strength and it helped me beat cancer. They looked at me like I was the crazy one.

“When it came time to tell my story, I said, ‘Everything that happened to me growing up was positive.’ My parents’ survival gave me extra strength and it helped me beat cancer. They looked at me like I was the crazy one. -Alex Kor

Eva Kor, known for her relentless optimism, dedicated much of her life to educating others about the Holocaust and advocating for forgiveness. In 2001, she was invited to speak at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, the very institution responsible for overseeing the experiments that were conducted on her. In her speech, she spoke of her journey toward forgiveness: “Fifty-seven years ago, I was a human guinea pig in Auschwitz. Much progress has been made to get us here…I hope we can all learn from the past and begin to heal our pain.

One of his most memorable quotes was: “Anger is a seed of war. Forgiveness is a seed for peace.

In 1993, she contacted Dr. Hans Münch, a Nazi doctor acquitted of war crimes because he took action to save the lives of prisoners. In her speech, Eva recalled her first meeting with Dr. Münch: “As we sat down to talk, I said to him: ‘Here you are, a Nazi doctor from Auschwitz, and here I am, an Auschwitz survivor, and I am here. like you. This seems strange to me. » Eva eventually asked Münch to return with her to Auschwitz in 1995 for the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the camp. She asked him to sign a document on the ruins of the gas chamber, confirming the horrors that had taken place there. Dr. Münch agreed.

It is at this time that Eva has a revelation: she has the power to forgive. “I thought about how to thank Dr. Münch and realized that I could write him a letter of forgiveness. Then a friend asked, “Would you forgive Dr. Mengele?” I thought about it and decided I could. Well, if I forgave Mengele, I might as well forgive everyone.