[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]