I had been visiting the family graveyards and running errands with my family and then returned home when I learned of Eva Mozes Kor’s passing. My mother, sister, and I hugged, because this little lady touched our lives. The summer after I received Anne Frank’s diary for my 12th birthday, to encourage my interest in the Holocaust, my Mom took my sister and I to the CANDLES Museum. Through my aunt, we had heard some of Eva Kor’s story of survival and her journey to forgiveness. We toured the museum (this was summer 1999, so this was the old building, the one destroyed by an arsonist in 2003) and unfortunately Eva wasn’t there. Her husband Mickey Kor was and he showed us around and shared a little of his story.
Over the next fifteen years, I followed Eva’s story and saved articles from newspapers covering her trips to Poland. I dreamed of going, but never believed it would be a possibility. In the darkest times of my life, I looked to Eva’s and other survivor stories to give me hope. Then in 2015, I was able to go on her tour to Krakow and Auschwitz. My life hasn’t been the same since.
When I learned Eva passed in Krakow on her annual tour, I was heartbroken, but in a small way it seemed right. That Eva would go out living her life to the fullest and sharing her message of peace and forgiveness with the world.
God Bless you, Eva, and your beautiful memory.
Veronica Leigh 