In January 2022, Rocky Mountain PBS streamed the documentary, “EVA A-7063.” As I watched the film of the aged survivor of the Holocaust, I thought I want to be more like her. Even though from 1944 to 1945, she and her identical sister were among 3,000 subjected to Nazi doctor Mengele's horrific twin experiments, she advocated for forgiveness. Eva's journey was not easy. She endured unimaginable suffering and loss, yet she chose to forgive.  

Now deceased, she had long said, "I want my time on this earth to count for something." (www.thestoryofeva.com/about-eva/eva-new-story/). Talking about her time as a nine-year-old imprisoned and tortured at the infamous death camp, she said, "At Auschwitz dying was so easy. Surviving was a full-time job." 

Eva went on to explain The Forgiveness Project (theforgivenessproject.com/stories-library/eva-kor/): "In 1993, I was invited to lecture to some doctors in Boston and was asked if I could bring a Nazi doctor with me. I thought it was a mad request until I remembered I'd once been in a documentary featuring Dr. Hans Munch from Auschwitz. I contacted him in Germany; and he said he would meet with me for a videotaped interview to take to the conference. In July 1993, I was on my way to meet this Nazi doctor. I was so scared but he treated me with the utmost respect when I arrived at his home. I asked him if he'd seen the gas chambers. He said this was a nightmare he dealt with every day of his life. I was surprised that Nazis had nightmares too, and asked him if he would come with me to Auschwitz to sign a document at the ruins of the gas chambers. He said that he would love to do it." 

As I read further and watched interviews, I learned that when Dr. Munch and Eva met in Auschwitz on the 50th anniversary of the liberation, they signed the letter of forgiveness. She made the letter a gift for Dr. Munch as well.  

Eva knew of what she talked about. She knew what it meant to forgive her enemy: The Nazis and The Angel of Death, Dr. Josef Mengele. She also said that forgiving was not for the offender, but for the survivor. She recognized that by forgiving those who physically hurt her, who experimented on her with caustic substances, she was releasing that angst she carried in her veins and opening up her heart and mind to live beyond those horrors. 

As a survivor of domestic violence, I recognized that I not only needed to leave the life filled with name calling, punches to the gut, slams into the wall, and hits with a hammer for my safety, but also for my spiritual well-being. I felt that in battling those midnight torments that I was turning into a monster, too. I needed to rescue myself and my baby from this mean onslaught. I was angry. I was depressed. And, I knew I didn't want to turn into a mean-spirited human.  

Listening to Eva Kor's story on PBS, I'm reminded of that personal journey that I took leaving the abuser behind. I'm reminded that forgiveness gives us our souls back from the brink of destruction. She also said, "Getting even never healed a single person." So harboring revenge does not repair broken humanity. We can all forgive. We can forgive that person who back stabbed us at work, or the person we were when we did not measure up to family standards. We can forgive and in so doing, release that barbed wire holding us to murderous pain and Clint Eastwood-like rage. 

"This is why I am so passionate about forgiveness," Eva said. "I realized that Hitler was an angry man who considered himself a victim. Anger is a seed for war. Forgiveness is a seed for peace. I forgave the Nazis, not because they deserve it, but because I deserve it." 

Nelda Curtiss is a retired college educator and long-time local columnist. Reach her at columnsbynellie.com or email her at columnsbynellie@gmail.com.