When people talk about the Holocaust, positivity and forgiveness aren’t usually the first things that come to mind.
Eva Mozes Kor, 81, a survivor of camp Auschwitz and human experimentation and a self-proclaimed forgiveness advocate, will be speaking at FGCU’s Echoes from Auschwitz, which is a lecture event that will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 23 in the Cohen Center ballroom. The reception is set to start at 5:30 p.m., and the lecture will begin at 6 p.m.
“Forgiveness? Why not?” Kor said. “Expectations should be defined. I think there are horrible things, and if we are angry, we don’t learn to move on and to rise. It’s wasting life.”
The lecture will be divided into three parts. The first section will consist of Kor telling her story — how she survived Auschwitz and lost everyone she loved, except for her twin sister, Miriam. The second section, which Kor calls “Life Lessons”, will consist of her giving advice to the public. The third and last section will be a Q&A.
“Students can take away three things from my life lessons,” Kor said. “One, to never give up. Two, to deal with prejudice … it is the cancer of the human soul, but it’s everywhere. And three, forgiveness.”
Kor describes forgiveness as an act of self-healing, liberation and empowerment. She encourages anyone struggling with forgiveness to take a piece of paper and write a letter of forgiveness.
“Forgiveness is free,” Kor said. “Everyone can afford it.”
Kor founded Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiment Survivors in 1984. The organization’s main focus is to contact other twins that were subjected to the Mengele human experimentation. In December 1984, Kor’s brother, a journalist in Israel, put an ad in the paper for Kor’s organization and 82 individuals contacted her within a week.
Bernadette Davies, a freshman studying pre-nursing, is eager to attend Kor’s lecture.
“It sounds like it will be really inspiring,” Davies said. “I’ve been to the museum in D.C. All stories from the Holocaust touch your heart. I’ll definitely be there.”
Payton Orndorff, a sophomore English major, is also interested in attending the event.
“I would be interested in going, mainly because I feel like it would be very inspiring,” Omdorff said. “I feel like someone who lived through so much can inspire you to never give up.”