INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Historical Society (IHS)’s newest exhibits, Eva Kor from Auschwitz to Indiana and Dimensions in Testimony, opene March 12 at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center, located at 450 W. Ohio St. in downtown Indianapolis.
Eva Kor from Auschwitz to Indiana tells the remarkable story of Eva Mozes Kor, who survived Auschwitz as a child and the experiments of Dr. Joseph Mengele, and grew up to be one of the most influential Holocaust educators and activists in the world. She ignited a global manhunt for Mengele, organized other survivors, and educated millions about what happened during the Holocaust and about her vision of empowerment and forgiveness.
The exhibit includes never-before-seen artifacts and images, original film footage from award-winning documentarian Ted Green and several dynamic interactive elements, like a virtual reality experience that transports visitors to Auschwitz and includes Eva’s own voice recounting her experiences there.
The exhibit is open through January 2024.
On July 4, 2019, Eva Kor died at the age of 85, but her legacy as a survivor, activist and fighter continues to serve as an inspiration to millions. On Jan. 25, 2022, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb declared Jan. 27 to be “Eva Education Day” — a day of recognition throughout the state.
Another new exhibit, Dimensions in Testimony, is open at the IHS. Brought to IHS in partnership with CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center, this groundbreaking project from USC Shoah Foundation enables people to ask questions that prompt real-time responses from pre-recorded interviews with Holocaust survivors and other witnesses to genocide — including Eva Kor. It integrates advanced filming techniques, specialized display technologies and next-generation natural language processing to create an interactive biography — allowing conversational interactions with these eyewitnesses to history.
Dimensions in Testimony runs through January 2024.
CANDLES is an acronym for Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors. It was founded in 1984 as a nonprofit organization by Eva Mozes Kor with help from her twin sister, Miriam Mozes Zeiger, to launch an effort to locate other surviving Mengele twins. As a result of their efforts, they were able to locate 122 individual Mengele twins living in 10 countries and four continents. The search for more twins continues to this day.
In 1995, Eva opened the CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute. In 2003, the museum was firebombed by an arsonist and burned to the ground. With support from the community and organizations, a new museum building opened in 2005 and remains an important part of the community today.
