STORY WITH YOU. ś
ś >> PEOPLE OFTEN SAY, WHEN DID
YOU GO TO AUSCHWITZ.
I SAID I DID NOT TO AUSCHWITZ.
I WAS TAKEN TO AUSCHWITZ, AND
THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE.
>> EVA MOSES CORE WAS ONLY 6
YEARS OLD WHEN HER PICTURESQUE
VILLAGE OF ROMANIA WAS CHANGED
BY THE OCCUPATION OF THE NAZI
ARMED GUARD.
ARMED GUARD. FOUR YEARS LATER IN 1944, HER
FAMILY, FATHER, MOTHER, TWO
OLDER SISTERS AND TWIN SISTER
MIRIAM WERE TOLD TO GATHER THEIR
BELONGINGS.
BELONGINGS. THEY, ALONG WITH OTHER JEWISH
FAMILIES IN THE REGION, WERE
SHIPPED TO THE INFAMOUS
AUSCHWITZ NAZI DEATH CAMP.
>> WE WERE RIPPED APART FROM THE
FAMILY WITHIN 30 MINUTES.
MY SISTER AND I BECAME PART OF A
GROUP OF CHILDREN, 13 SETS OF
TWINS.
TWINS. AUSCHWITZ WAS THE ONLY NAZI
CAMP.
CAMP. SO I BECAME CAPITAL A.7063.
MY TWIN SISTER BECAME A.7064.
>> EVA AND MIRIAM WERE FORCED TO
PAR TAKE IN THE HORRIFIC
EXPERIMENTS OF DR. JOE JOSEPH
MENGALA.
MENGALA. HE SUBJECTED THEM TO DAILY
MEASUREMENTS, BLOOD DRAWS AND
INJECTIONS.
INJECTIONS. >> THESE EXPERIMENTS WERE NOT
DANGEROUS, BUT THEY WERE OFTEN
DEMEANING, EVEN IN AUSCHWITZ.
THEY TREATED ME LIKE I WAS A
NOTHING OR A NOBODY.
AFTER ONE OF THOSE INJECTIONS, I
BECAME VERY ILL.
THE NEXT MORNING, THE DOCTOR
CAME IN WITH FOUR OTHER DOCTORS,
AND HE LOOKED AT MY CHART.
NEVER EXAMINED ME AND DECLARED
AND SAID SHE'S SO YOUNG.
SHE HAS ONLY TWO WEEKS TO LIVE.
I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT, BUT I
REFUSED TO DIE.
>> THAT FIERCE DETERMINATION
HELPED EVA ENDURE UNTIL THE
CAMP'S LIBERATION ON
JANUARY 27th, 1945.
OF THE APPROXIMATE 3,000 TWINS
THAT PASSED THROUGH AUSCHWITZ,
ONLY ABOUT 200 CHILDREN
SURVIVED.
SURVIVED. IN THE NOW FAMOUS FOOTAGE
SHOWING THE LIBERATION, EVA AND
MIRIAM CAN BE SEEN LEADING THE
OTHER TWINS TO FREEDOM.
YEARS LATER, THAT SAME PICTURE
PROMPTED EVA TO WONDER, WHAT
HAPPENED TO THE CHILDREN AFTER
THE LIBERATION?
THE LIBERATION? SHE AND HER SISTER COMMITTED
THEMSELVES TO LOCATING THE OTHER
MENGALA TWINS.
MENGALA TWINS. >> I WAS EMBARKING ON SOMETHING
THAT I WASN'T SURE WHAT I WAS
DOING.
DOING. I WAS VERY PASSIONATE ABOUT IT
AND FELT THAT DISCOVERING A
EUREKA MOMENT, TO FIND ANOTHER
SURVIVOR.
SURVIVOR. WE CALLED EACH OTHER, AND WE
FOUND ANOTHER ONE.
IT BECAME A VERY IMPORTANT THING
TO US.
TO US. WE REALIZED THAT WE FOUND
ANOTHER PIECE OF WHO WE WERE AS
A GROUP OF CHILDREN.
>> THROUGH THEIR FOUNDATION,
CANDLES, THEY WERE ABLE TO
LOCATE 122 SURVIVORS LIVING IN
TEN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, ON FOUR
DIFFERENT CONTINENTS.
DIFFERENT CONTINENTS. IN AUGUST OF 1989, SHE AND A
GROUP OF 60 OTHER SURVIVORS TOOK
THE DIFFICULT STEP TO RETURN TO
AUSCHWITZ.
AUSCHWITZ. SINCE THEN, EVA HAS CONTINUED TO
REVISIT THE CAMP, BOTH FOR
HEALING AND TO PROVIDE
EDUCATION.
EDUCATION. >> I OFTEN SAY THAT THE STORY OF
AUSCHWITZ IS FATE AND TEARS AND
ASHES AND THE BLOOD OF OUR
FAMILIES.
FAMILIES. AND AT TIMES, I WONDERED, DID IT
REALLY HAPPEN?
REALLY HAPPEN? OR COULD THAT BE SOME FLUKE OF
MY IMAGINATION?
MY IMAGINATION? I NEEDED TO VERIFY, VALIDATE MY
MEMORIES.
MEMORIES. SO I ALWAYS WANTED TO GO BACK TO
AUSCHWITZ.
AUSCHWITZ. WHEN I GO TO AUSCHWITZ, THIS IS
WHERE I'M THE CLOSEST TO MY
FAMILY, THE SELECTION PLATFORM
WHICH IS ALWAYS MY FOCUS OF MY
TRIP.
TRIP. IN SOME WAY, IT'S MY SOLITARY,
BECAUSE THIS IS THE PLACE I SAW
MY PARENTS FOR THE LAST TIME,
AND MY SISTER.
I WANT TO RECLAIM MY LIFE WITH
ALL OF ITS JOY THAT WAS TAKEN
AWAY FROM ME.
SO I DANCE AROUND THE SELECTION
PLATFORM.
PLATFORM. I SHALL NOT BE DERIVE DEPRIVED Y
LIFE WHERE I WANT TO.
I GET INTERESTING LOOKS FROM
KIDS.
KIDS. YOU CANNOT DO THAT HERE.
I SAID, YOU KNOW WHAT, I CAN DO
ANYTHING I WANT.
I HAVE EARNED THE RIGHT.
>> IN 1993, HER EFFORT TO
RECLAIM HER LIFE TOOK AN
UNEXPECTED TURN.
UNEXPECTED TURN. HOPING TO GAIN INFORMATION ON
THE EXPERIMENTS, SHE AGREED TO
MEET DR. HANS MOOCH, A NAZI
DOCTOR AND FRIEND OF MEGELA.
HE DID PROVIDE CRUCIAL
EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY OPEN THE
GAS CHAMBER OPERATIONS, SPEAKING
WILLINGLY IN CONTRIBUTION TO --
IN CONTRADICTION TO DENY THE
ATROCITIES OF THE HOLOCAUST.
>> I SAID THAT WAS VERY KIND OF
HIM.
HIM. I HAD NO IDEA TO THANK A NAZI.
ACTUALLY, I WENT TO THE HALLMARK
SHOT.
SHOT. I LOOKED IN THE THANK YOU,
HOPING I HAVE AN IDEA IN HOW TO
THANK THIS NAZI DOCTOR.
A SIMPLE IDEA CAME INTO MY MIND,
HOW ABOUT A LETTER OF
FORGIVENESS.
FORGIVENESS. I AGREED IT WOULD BE A
MEANINGFUL GIFT BUT WHAT I
DISCOVERED FOR MYSELF WAS LIFE
CHANGING.
CHANGING. I DISCOVERED THAT I HAD THE
POWER TO FORGIVE.
MENGALA, OF THE NAZIS, HITLER NO
LONGER HAVE ANY POWER OVER MY
LIFE.
LIFE. >> THAT PEACE WAS DEVASTATED ON
JUNE 6th, 1993, WHEN EVA'S
SISTER MIRIAM PASSED AWAY.
WANTING TO DO SOMETHING IN HER
HONOR, EVA OPENED THE CANDLES
MUSEUM IN 1995.
CANDLES SERVED AS INDIANA'S ONLY
HOLOCAUST HUMIDITY UNTIL 2003.
WHEN A TRAGIC CASE OF
ANTISEMITISM CURRENTE TURNED TO.
>> I WAS GOING TO BUILD THIS,
EVEN IF IT WAS THE LAST PENNY IN
MY POCKET.
MY POCKET. I'M NOT GOING TO LET HATRED WIN.
I ALWAYS SAID THAT IT WAS VERY
IMPORTANT TO INFORM THEM ALL
ABOUT THAT LITTLE BUT VERY DARK
AND HIDDEN CHAPTER OF THE
HOLOCAUST.
HOLOCAUST. IT WAS IMPORTANT FOR ME AND THE
WORLD TO KNOW HOW DEVASTATING TO
BE A CHILD IN AUSCHWITZ.
I CAN TELL YOU THAT WE ARE MORE
DEPRIVED THAN ANY OTHER HUMAN
BEING ON THE FACE OF THAT EARTH.
IF ONE CHILD IS FILLED WITH
MEMORIES OF GERMANY'S BELCHING
AND SMELLING AND I WAS NOT
DIFFICULT.
DIFFICULT. IT WAS VERY EASY TO DIE AND THE
NAZIS WERE INTERESTED, OBVIOUSLY
OF KILLING US.
SO HOW DOES ONE SURVIVE THAT AND
MAKE A LIFE?
SO THAT IS WHAT I WANT TO TELL
PEOPLE, WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM
CHILDREN WHO STRIVED OVER
ADVERSITY AND OVER UNBELIEVABLE
EVIL?
EVIL? I DON'T THINK REMEMBERING IS
ENOUGH, BECAUSE I WANT PEOPLE,
IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING, THEY
SHOULD BE ABLE TO CELEBRATE
THEIR LIFE AND FORGIVE AND HEAL.
AND I ALWAYS TELL PEOPLE, IT'S
PROBABLY THE MOST AMAZING THING.
IT COSTS NOTHING.
EVERYBODY HAD A CAN AFFORD IT.
IT HAS SUCH A TREMENDOUS EFFECT
FOR THE GOOD IN PEOPLE'S LIVES,
WHEN THEY FORGIVE, THEY ARE NO
LONGER VICTIMS.
LONGER VICTIMS. THEY ARE SURVIVORS, WHO ARE IN
CHARGE OF THEIR OWN LIFE AND NOT
A VICTIM OF THEIR PAST.