A group led by Terre Haute Holocaust survivor Eva Mozes Kor leaves this Saturday for Auschwitz, Poland. Kor is a survivor of the Nazi concentration camp and the founding director of the CANDLES Holocaust Museum in Terre Haute. Her companions will include 15 teachers and 16 others, with 20 total travelers from the Terre Haute area. She says the trip is the only peaceful way she could respond to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s public denial of the Holocaust. Kor invited Ahmadinejad to come with her to Auschwitz and hear her story, but she only received an e-mail response wishing her “the blessings of the Almighty.”
This will be Kor’s tenth return to the concentration camp since her liberation. She says that for her, going back is like returning to a cemetery. In Auschwitz she saw her parents and two sisters alive for the last time. But Kor says returning alive to the place where one was condemned to die is also a victory.
Kor says she has forgiven the Nazis for their crimes against humanity. She says forgiveness may benefit the perpetrator. But more importantly, Kor says it empowers and heals the victim and plants a seed for peace. Members of the public are encouraged to see the group off this Saturday at 9 a.m. at the CANDLES Holocaust Museum.
