Surviving The Angel of Death:
The True Story of A Mengele Twin In Auschwitz
TOMS RIVER, NEW JERSEY—Author of “Surviving the Angel of Death: The True Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz” Eva Kor will recount her experiences as a Holocaust survivor at the Ocean County Library Toms River branch Thursday, October 2 at 7 pm.
Eva was born in 1934 in the tiny village of Portz, Romania. Her family lived under the spectre of the Nazi takeover of Germany and the everyday experience of prejudice against the Jews. IN 1944, her family was packed into a cattle car and transported to the Auschwitz death camp.
After 70 hours without food or water, Eva and her family emerged onto the selection platform at Auschwitz. She soon realized her father and two older sisters were gone. She never saw them again. Soon after, Eva and her twin sister Miriam were forcibly taken from their mother, whom they also never saw again. The two became part of a group of children used as human guinea pigs in genetic experiments under the direction of Nazi scientist Dr. Josef Mengele.
Approximately 1500 sets of twins—3000 children—were abused, and most died as a result of these experiments. Eva herself became deathly ill, but through sheer determination, she stayed alive and helped Miriam survive.
Approximately 200 children were found alive by the Soviet Army at the liberation of the camp on January 27, 1945. The majority of the children were Mengele twins. Eva and Miriam were among them. Eva and Miriam no longer had anyone in the world except each other.
Eva went on to live in Israel, studying agriculture and attaining the rank of Sergeant Major in the Israeli Army Engineering Corps. She eventually married and had two children, later becoming a US citizen.
In 1984, Eva founded CANDLES (Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors). The group runs the CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute, Indiana, and helps provide Holocaust educational materials to schools.
The program is free and open to the public. For more information or to register, contact the Ocean County Library by telephone at 732-349-6200 or online at www.theoceancountylibrary.org.