Kor carries messages of hope, forgiveness to Auschwitz

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) - Eva Kor, a dauntless Holocaust survivor and co-founder of Terre Haute's CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center, stood Tuesday where she had stood seven decades earlier, at the site of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Poland.

It was 70 years ago, on Jan. 27, that Soviet forces liberated the camp. Kor and her sister, Miriam, stood astonished that they were finally free after nine months as "guinea pigs" at the hands of Nazi medical experiments on twins.

As she has for years, Kor has taken a group with her to Poland to visit Auschwitz. This trip she brought along about 80 people.

But the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the camp was different. Kor was one of 100 Holocaust survivors invited to commemorate the anniversary by the World Jewish Congress and the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation. Kor is leading a tour group at Auschwitz-Birkenau and will share memories of her experience, the Tribune-Star reported (http://bit.ly/1wAPWuf ).

Speaking after a full day late Tuesday night in a telephone interview with the Tribune-Star, Kor said she was "exhausted," but spoke for several minutes about the importance of survival and forgiveness.

Kor preaches a form of forgiveness that she says lets go of resentment and anger, thus freeing the victim from the burden of hatred.

Sadly, Kor said, she was not permitted to share her philosophy in a public statement Tuesday. Frustrated but undaunted, she will continue to push her message, she said.

"I think it's important to carry the message, the hope," she said. "It is important to me to make every effort to be back (in Poland) and take with me 80 people," she said.

Kor founded the CANDLES, a movement to help twins exposed to Nazi experiments, in 1984 with her sister. She founded the museum in 1995, oversaw its recent renovations and continues to take her message all around the country and the world.

And what does the 70th anniversary of the liberation mean to her?

It means she survived yet another year to continue with her mission, she said.

"With every year that passes, I hope to take people (to Auschwitz) in the hope that they learn that every human being can work to improve the human condition."

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Information from: Tribune-Star, http://www.tribstar.com