Holocaust survivor to share memories

Sixty years ago, the world saw the largest genocide in history come to an end. An estimated five to 10 million people lost their lives in the Holocaust, but some people, like Eva Kor, managed to survive the unthinkable torture and live on to tell their story. \nKor will speak at 7 p.m. today in the Frangipani Room at the Indiana Memorial Union. Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan and professor Mark Roseman from the IU Department of Jewish Studies will also speak to commemorate the anniversary of the end of the Holocaust. \nKor and her identical twin sister were subjected to brutal medical experimentation in Auschwitz. Her Web site, www.candles-museum.com, explains that she was alive simply because she had a twin. \n"(Twins) were nature's natural guinea pigs. One child was used as a control and the other had experiments conducted on her/him. If a twin died, the other twin was killed by an injection into the heart and comparative autopsies were done on the two," she explains on the site.\nIn the early 1980s, Kor decided to look for other surviving Holocaust twins. She formed CANDLES (Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors), a museum in Terre Haute, Ind. Its mission is to educate the public about the Holocaust and to tell the surviving children's stories.\nJessie Mallor, director of Jewish student life at the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center, helped coordinate this commemoration event at IU. She said it was originally going to be held the weekend after graduation, but the date was moved to allow more students to take advantage of the opportunity. Mallor expects Kor to address a variety of topics, including her work founding the CANDLES museum, her work as a Holocaust educator and life in Auschwitz as a child. \n"One of her goals is to make sure nothing like this happens again," Mallor said. "Our job is to work with her."\nFreshman and Foster Quad Governor Dara Edelman helped sponsor the remembrance. Her grandparents were Holocaust survivors and she believes it is important for others to hear the stories. \n"It's important for people to remember the past and especially such a huge event that affected everyone," Edelman said.\nSophomore Lauren Kaplan is eager to attend, as she has personal connections to the Holocaust. \n"Whenever I hear a story, it's so hard not to be touched; so many people were treated horribly," Kaplan said. "My neighbors and grandparents went through it. Many people in my temple are survivors."\nKaplan's friend junior Lauren Pollock is equally interested in going. She has visited the Holocaust museum in Washington, D.C., and has learned more about the Holocaust in Hebrew school. \n"I think it's very important for people to be educated about the Holocaust, especially since some people say it never even happened," she said.\nOn her Web site in a personal declaration of amnesty for Nazis in Auschwitz, Kor emphasizes the importance of healing, forgiveness and remembrance. \n"No more wars, no more experiments without informed consent, no more gas chambers, no more bombs, no more hatred, no more killing, no more Auschwitzes," she said. \n-- Contact Staff Writer Kacie Foster at kdfoster@indiana.edu.