Eva Kor, Forgiving Doctor Mengele

The Malleable Mind of a Child

The mind of a child is malleable, like a hunk of clay. Numerous factors throughout the development of a child can influence the outcome of that individual. The amount of love that a child receives, social interaction, parenting style, and the environment in which he or she is raised are all crucial elements. In the case of a developing child, those in positions of authority hold significant control over the end product of the child's morals, ethics, and behaviors. However, there are strong-willed children, those whose own sense of identity surpasses those who influence them. Eva Mozes Kor was one such individual who managed to rise above her harsh environment during childhood and grow up to be a woman with a shocking agenda. Eva Mozes Kor was one of four children in her family, growing up in Romania in 1934. Her once quiet childhood was soon turned upside-down when she was six years old, and her family was forced to be transported to Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp. This was only the beginning of young Eva's journey, a journey of resisting the influence of her childhood experiences and allowing her own morals to conquer.

Eva Kor, Forgiving Doctor Mengele

At one time, Auschwitz was Germany's “dirty little secret.” People went in, and when the gates locked behind them, they were done. Black smoke and ash from human remains littered the surrounding areas, yet people chose to be blind to what they didn’t want to believe or perhaps conditioned themselves to accept what was society’s norm. When Eva and her family stepped off the train and onto the platform at Auschwitz, it was just her, her mother, and twin sister Miriam. Her other family members were separated among the train. That day was the last time she ever saw her mother again, because Eva and Miriam were soon spotted and taken away for Dr. Josef Mengele's twin experiments. The two girls were only one of 1,500 sets of young twins under Dr. Mengele's tight grasp.

Dr. Mengele would use the children as lab rats; he would sew twins together and inject them with substances still unknown to this day. None of his findings, research, or information regarding the twin experiments were ever found. Many child twins died as a result of the man also known as “the angel of death.” In fact, Eva came very close to death; however, she refused to give up and persevered because she knew she had to live for her sister. The girls witnessed many traumatic events during their stay at Auschwitz. On their first day, Eva and Miriam saw two twin boys lying on the ground dead, with their cold eyes “staring at them” covered in flies. Whereas many children would run and scream, perhaps Eva took this as a sign—a sign that she had to be strong and push through whatever Dr. Mengele did to her, or she was going to end up like them.

Survival and Forgiveness

On January 27, 1945, the nightmare in Auschwitz was over. The Soviet Army had liberated the camp; she and Miriam were finally free, although not completely. Throughout the years, Eva felt a mixture of sadness and hatred inside of her due to her traumatic childhood experiences. However, she was able to progress regardless in adulthood. Eva married, had children, and even searched out and formed a group for the other surviving “Mengele Twins.” As the years passed, she made one of the two most controversial decisions in her life. That decision was to publicly announce that she, and she alone, forgave the Nazis for what they had done. Instead of reacting with “I hate all Germans, for what they did to me and my loved ones,” she had the complete opposite reaction. She realized that forgiving them was the only thing that could put her soul at ease. Also, she believed in forgiving but never forgetting. This decision caused a great deal of controversy because the other twins felt it was impossible to forgive without forgetting.

The Loss of Miriam and Further Forgiveness

As time went by, the most devastating blow to Eva Kor's life occurred. Her only blood relative, Miriam, her twin who had been through so much with her, died. Her sister had been facing complications with her kidney due to the experiments as a child. Her kidneys never grew beyond the size of a ten-year-old girl's. After her sister's death, she was very upset; Miriam had been there with her through it all. Eva may have hated, detested, even loathed Dr. Mengele before, but after the death of her sister, the anger was prevalent. Despite her pent-up hate, sadness, and anger, Eva then made the second of her controversial decisions—to forgive Dr. Mengele. The man who had caused her so much trouble throughout her childhood, the cause of her nightmares, the cause of her sister's death; she decided to forgive him. Eva Kor said:

I believe with every fiber of my being that every person has the human right to live with or without the pain of the past, and that is a personal choice. My question is, “How many people would choose to live with pain when they could heal from it?”

The Legacy of Forgiveness

Eva could have easily been sculpted into a racist, German-hating woman due to the experiences she faced throughout her childhood; however, she became quite the opposite. Eva is now the face of forgiveness. The Holocaust did affect Eva's outcome in other ways. Friends of Eva say she would do certain things unconsciously. She would hide all of her valuables and always eat all of her food, taking whatever she didn’t finish to go. Physically, emotionally, and psychologically, Eva had undergone much trauma but rose above it because her past didn’t brand who she was. Indira Gandhi once said, “Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.” Eva is a woman of bravery because she could forgive those who hurt her the most.

References

• Kor, E. M. (n.d.). Forgiving Dr. Mengele.
• Gandhi, I. (n.d.). Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.