Kor to attend forgiveness conference

Jul 31, 2008 (UWire via COMTEX) -- SRFB | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- A drawing on the wall of the CANDLES Holocaust Museum shows a torn and tethered heart surrounded by fencing lined with barbed wire.Megan Aleshire's drawing is a perfect reproduction of the heart Eva Kor lugged around for nearly 50 years. The Holocaust survivor was liberated from the walls of Auschwitz concentration camp in 1945 at age 10, but her heart remained entrapped. Kor let go of the resentment when she found the power to forgive. "For almost 50 years, I was angry with the world for killing my whole family," Kor said, "for practically putting me through hell on Earth, for wanting to kill me and for depriving me of a childhood. I did not know that I would forgive." Kor signed a "Declaration of Amnesty" in which she forgave SS Dr. Josef Mengele and all involved in the Holocaust. She will be rewarded for her act in San Rafael, Calif., on Saturday in the 12th International Forgiveness Day that Kor called "the Olympics of forgiveness." Kor will speak to the crowd about her Holocaust experience in the event sponsored by The Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance. Four others who have made contributions to the notion of forgiveness also will be honored.Kor said she was still angry about her concentration camp experience before 1995. That year, she traveled to Auschwitz to celebrate 50 years of the liberation. Former SS physician Dr. Hans Munch accompanied her and agreed to sign a document stating that gas chambers were used as murder tools in concentration camps. He chronicled his participation as "the nightmare he continues to live with fifty years later," according to the 1995 document. It had been an opportunity to speak at Boston College about Nazi medicine that was the beginning of a search that led Kor to forgive. But she had first embarked on a journey she never expected: The search to find a Nazi doctor. A 1992 documentary led Kor to Munch, who offered an interview from his home in Germany. When they met, Munch was very polite and seemed more humane than evil. His kindness led Kor to wonder, "How do you thank a Nazi?" After months of deliberation, Kor returned to Auschwitz and presented Munch with a letter of forgiveness. She forgave everyone involved with the Holocaust and specifically addressed SS Dr. Josef Mengele, who was a driving force behind the experiments conducted on Jews during their entrapment.Kor said she was truly liberated."Finally, I realized I had one power that was mine to use," Kor said. "I cannot change what happened, but I do have the power to forgive. I just liked the fact that I had power. It was such a discovery to me because all victims always feel hopeless, helpless and definitely powerless. To discover that I had any power to me was an amazing thing." Kor said that power led to the release of pent-up anger toward her parents who were powerless to intervene in her capture, outside onlookers in other countries who didn't help and the Germans who ran the camp.Her epiphany is one she wants to spread."I hope we can teach it," Kor said of the skill to forgive. "In the last two years, I've received 2,000 to 3,000 e-mail from people asking me, 'How do I do it?' I don't have a direct answer, but I know the person has to want to heal themselves."The walls of Kor's museum serve as a constant reminder of what she went through. Photos of Adolf Hitler are encased, pictures of Holocaust victims' gravesites are hoisted and even depictions of mangled bodies stacked upon one another are displayed. Still, she forgave.

http://www.tribstar.com/archivesearch/local_story_213234925.html/resources_printstory

More News:   Market Updates | Stock Alerts | All Trading News | Stock Index