Eva Mozes Kor, a Holocaust survivor, recounts her experiences in Auschwitz as a child. She and her twin sister, Miriam, were subjected to inhumane experiments by Dr. Josef Mengele. Eva shares the trauma and pain she endured, including the loss of her family and the long-lasting effects of the experiments on her sister's health. Years later, Eva meets a Nazi doctor who witnessed the atrocities at Auschwitz and asks him to document his experiences. This encounter leads Eva to write a letter of forgiveness to the doctor, which ultimately helps her discover her own power to forgive. With the help of her former English professor, Eva also comes to terms with forgiving Dr. Mengele, finding self-healing and empowerment in the process.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. The speaker was born in 1934 as one of a pair of twins.
2. The speaker's name is Eva.
3. Eva and her twin sister Miriam were the third and fourth children in their family.
4. They lived in a small village in Transylvania, Romania.
5. Eva and her family were taken to a concentration camp.
6. Eva's father and two older sisters were separated from them during the selection process.
7. Eva never saw her father and sisters again.
8. Eva and Miriam were taken to a blood lab where they were subjected to experiments.
9. The experiments were performed by Nazi doctors, including Josef Mengele.
10. Eva was used in two types of experiments: one where she was measured and compared to her twin sister, and another where she was injected with unknown substances.
11. Eva became very ill after one of the injections and was taken to the hospital.
12. Miriam was also subjected to experiments and was left with severe kidney damage.
13. Eva donated her left kidney to Miriam in 1987.
14. Miriam developed cancerous polyps in the bladder and died in 1993.
15. Eva met with a Nazi doctor named Dr. Munch in Germany and asked him to sign a document describing the operation of the gas chambers.
16. Dr. Munch agreed and signed the document at the ruins of the gas chamber in Auschwitz.
17. Eva wrote a letter of forgiveness to Dr. Munch and later to Dr. Mengele.
18. Eva felt a sense of empowerment and liberation after forgiving Dr. Mengele.