TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — In a small building off South Third Street in Terre Haute, the legacy of Holocaust survivors continues to echo. This year, the CANDLES Holocaust Museum marks three decades since Eva Kor turned her trauma into a mission for education and healing.
“It hasn’t been easy over the past thirty years, when you have a fire bombing in 2003, Eva passing away in 2019 and COVID, those types of things make a small non profit challenging but that’s what great about being here in the Wabash Valley and being in Terre Haute,” Troy Fears, Executive Director of CANDLES Holocaust Museum said. “Each time those things have happened, people have rallied around the museum.”
Kor, a survivor of the Auschwitz death camp and of the inhumane experiments of Dr. Josef Mengele, founded the museum. The doors were opened on April 30, 1995. The museum became a rare space in Indiana focusing on the Holocaust and her personal journey of forgiveness as Indiana’s only Holocaust Museum.
“Eva obviously went through some atrocities during the Holocaust, but she persevered,” Fears said. “And to be able to tell that story with hope and peace as the elements of that is pretty powerful and still as powerful today as it was thirty years ago,” he added.
From student field trips to educational trips to Auschwitz, CANDLES has evolved with the time, reimagining and creating new exhibits like “Dimensions in Testimony,” where visitors can speak directly to 12 Holocaust survivors, including Eva.
WTWO Reporter Jen Thompson sat across from a digital version of Eva Kor while visiting the museum. There she could ask Eva thousands of questions. It’s one of the ways the museum keeps Eva’s voice and her message alive.”
Eva passed away in 2019, but her presence is felt in every corner of the space. From the artifacts she preserved to the stories still being told.
“We’re hopeful that for the next thirty years we can continue to evolve and continue to tell her story, and not just her story, but other survivors’ stories, so people never forget what happened during the Holocaust,” Fears said.
Speaking to Eva through the “Dimensions in Testimony,” Jen asked, “What would you like us to learn from your experience?:
“Forgive your worst enemy. Forgive everybody who has ever hurt you. It will heal your soul and set you free,” the recorded voice of Eva Kor said.
Thirty years later, CANDLES continues to light the way, one visitor, one story, one lesson at a time.
To commemorate the anniversary Candles Holocaust Museum & Education Center is offering “free” or “pay as you wish days.” Those dates are Thursday, May 1, Friday, May 2, and Saturday, May 3 during regular museum hours. The museum is open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.
The late Eva Kor’s son, Dr. Alex Kor, will be a guest speaker on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
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