Tribute to Eva Mozes Kor

[Governor Eric Holcomb]

Eva is the model of

"You think you have it hard?

Let me tell you a little story."

[Inspirational music]

[Narrator] Eva Mozes Kor.

Survivor.

Teacher.

Global inspiration.

A Hoosier example

for the world to follow.

[Mrs. Kor] We are free!
We are free! The Nazis are gone!

[Mr. Berenbaum, Historian]
To come as far as she has come,

to reach the stature
that she has reached,

it is an extraordinary achievement.

[Narrator] Born in 1934 into an idyllic

farming life in Romania...

[Mrs. Kor] We'd pick some juicy cherries,
looking at the sky.

[Narrator] Eva saw that life shatter

when the Nazis occupied her village.

Soon, the Mozes family,
the only Jews in town,

were carted off to Auschwitz,

the deadliest of Nazi death camps.

What Eva went through there,
at ten years old,

is still hard to imagine.

[Mrs. Kor] Everything in the world
was done to me

that would've killed me.

And here I am alive.

[Narrator] After being separated
from her parents and older sisters,

never to see them again,

Eva and her twin Miriam

were used in experiments,

by Nazi 'doctor' Josef Mengele,

in his efforts to create
a perfect Aryan race.

[Mrs. Kor] Took a lot of blood
from here.

And lots of injections into here.

[Narrator] 3000 twins were experimented on
in the Holocaust.

Eva and Miriam were among
only 200 who survived.

Eva's self-liberation, however,
was a long time coming.

She eventually married,
and in 1960,

moved to Terre Haute.

There, Eva suffered tremendously,

isolated by her confusion and rage
about what had happened to her.

[Mrs. Kor] Most of my battles were alone.
Nobody understood it.

[Narrator] Her anger was equaled
by fierce determination.

Single-handedly, Eva introduced
the 'Mengele twins' to the world,

and she initiated the biggest manhunt
in history.

[Dan Rather] The worldwide search
for this war criminal

was given new impetus today,
by those who were his victims.

[Ms. Lagnado] Her ability to keep
harkening back

from her little perch
in Terre Haute, Indiana,

was what woke up the world.

[Narrator] Eva's biggest accomplishment
came from within.

[Mrs. Kor] I, Eva Mozes Kor, hereby
give amnesty

to all Nazis who participated...

[Narrator] In 1995, on the 50th
anniversary

of the Auschwitz liberation,

Eva Mozes Kor returned to the camp,

to announce that she had forgiven
the Nazis.

[Mrs. Kor] Enough is enough.
I am healed inside.

[Narrator] Since then,

even amid debate
over her decision,

a one time prisoner
and long time outcast,

flowered.

Through her "Candles Museum"
in Terre Haute,

Eva dedicated her life
to combating genocide,

to spreading inclusiveness,

to healing the wounded,

and to planting seeds
of self-empowerment

and hope,
in a new generation.

[Ms. Simpson] She does not
want you to leave the museum crying.

She wants you to leave the museum
smiling, and empowered,

and ready to make a change in this world.

[Narrator] In her final years, Eva
was followed, and honored,

as never before.

[Man] The Grand Marshall
of the 61st I. P. L. 500 Festival parade.

Please welcome: Eva Kor.
[Applause]

[Narrator] She received Indiana's
highest designation.

[Governor] It is my deep honor
to present my first

Sachem Award

to Eva Mozes Kor.

[Applause]

[Narrator] And a new documentary
and education program

are taking her example
and messages

around the nation,

and beyond.

[Ted Green] She has more
momentum now,

than she has had

at any other time in her life.

And so many times, we are hearing
people say:

"My gosh, that woman
is incredible."

[Mrs. Kor] And you can change the world.
Did you know that?

[Applause]

I want to be like her.

I'm not an ordinary kid.
I can change the world.

I can do something special.

[Narrator] Eva Mozes Kor.

Life force.

Teacher.

Inspiration.

A woman who stood as
the perfect example

of the power
a single person has

to make the world better.

[Violin music]

[Mrs. Kor] I don't know if the world
will really remember me, or not.

But, if I could help
improve this troubled world,

[Music]

that's good enough for me.

[Musical crescendo]

[Music softly fades]