Eva Mozes Kor, who survived Nazi doctors’ experiments, shared her memories – and her remarkable forgiveness of those doctors – during her Wayne County appearances.
Now, her son keeps telling his late parents’ stories.
Dr. Alex Kor will describe his family’s Holocaust legacy and explore some medical ethics topics at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 24, in Richmond.
Kor’s talk, “A Blessing, Not a Burden,” will take place in Earlham College’s Landrum Bolling Center Room 105. Admission is free for the public.
Kor’s appearance coincides with the Holocaust Day of Remembrance, Yom HaShoah.
The Terre Haute native is the son of Mickey and Eva Kor, who were imprisoned in concentration camps as youth.
During World War II, Eva and her sister Miriam participated in what have been described as horrific pseudo-science experiments on twins, led by Dr. Josef Mengele. The girls entered Auschwitz in 1944 at age 10, where their parents and siblings died.
Mickey survived four years of forced labor in four different camps and was liberated by U.S. soldiers from the 250th Engineer Combat Army Battalion. Mickey served as the battalion’s translator, through which he became close friends with a lieutenant colonel from Terre Haute, who found a sponsor for Mickey to move there. After studying at Purdue University, Mickey became a licensed pharmacist.
Eva and Mickey met in Israel in 1960 when Mickey was there visiting family. They were engaged within weeks, and after their marriage, they moved to Terre Haute and raised two children.
Before her death at age 85 in 2019, Eva became a renowned teacher and activist.
She founded an organization called Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors and opened the CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute in 1995. Thousands have visited the center, which the Kors rebuilt after an arsonist destroyed it in 2003.
In 2017, Eva received Indiana’s highest honor, the Sachem Award, from Gov. Eric Holcomb, and the Eva Kor Peace Garden was planted at Newfields in Indianapolis in 2018.
She gave talks around Indiana, speaking in Richmond in 2009 and 2016. Young actors in a Stage One Youth Theatre show set during the Holocaust were among those moved by her words.
Eva’s story of meeting Nazi doctor Hans Münch and forgiving the Nazis was featured in the “Forgiving Dr. Mengele” documentary.
Alex continues teaching and advocating for Holocaust remembrance and learning from the lessons of the past. With Graham Honaker, Alex wrote the book “A Blessing, Not a Burden: My Parents’ Remarkable Holocaust Story and My Fight to Keep Their Legacy Alive.” It was released in 2024.
Discounted books are available at Earlham’s store in Runyan Center, which is open from 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. weekdays, and at the event.
A version of this article appeared in the April 16 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.