Stewart Ain – Staff writer
Anger, disbelief and astonishment are among the reactions of a group of Holocaust survivors who recently screened âForgiving Dr. Mengele,â? the documentary about Eva Korâs decision to forgive the Nazis.
âI canât forgive and forget,â? says Celia Feldman, who was sent to Auschwitz in1944. âAnd I thank God Iâm not a twin.â?
âI canât forgive and I wonât forget,â? says Annie Blyberg. âThey [Nazis] were involved in the annihilation of Jews and fought a war that killed 20 million people.â?
These comments follow a special screening of the documentary for survivors at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County in Glen Cove, made possible by the distributor, First Run Features.
Most of the survivors disagreed with Korâs action; some questioned her motives, implying that she was seeking the attention that her unique act garners.
â[Kor] survived a horror and she is entitled to her opinion,â? says Inge Gurevich.
Stephanie Seifert says she understands Korâs decision: âShe gets rid of the feelings all survivors carry. We get angry and upset and traumatized by these feelings.
Nevertheless, Seifert adds: âFor me, there is no way of forgiving. Iâd like to ask her whether we are going to forgive Osama Bin Laden and Hitler and every evil in the world. Itâs not right or just.â?
âEva is really screwed up,â? says Zoli Stern. âListening to her â she never expressed any feelings. She didnât express any emotion.â?
Edward Weinstein says the movie reminded him of a conversation he had with a student after speaking to a class about his experiences in the Holocaust.
âA girl asked, âDo you forgive the Nazis?â and I said, âIf someone killed your mother and brother, would you forgive them?â She said no. I said, âYou have your answer.ââ?
Werner Reich says he too was at Auschwitz, where he saw Mengele âlaughingâ? as the doctor decided which Jews were to live and which were to die.
âTo this day this is one vision I canât forget,â? Reich says. âThe word forgive does not enter my vocabulary. ⦠She is doing more harm than good. She is making it difficult for us to speak at schools.â?
David Wertzman says Korâs act of unilateral forgiveness might undermine the message survivors are trying to communicate to future generations. âThe lesson we want to give is that it should not be repeated.â?
Kurt Goldberg, president of the Kindertransport Association (the group of nearly 10,000 Jewish children sent to Britain to escape Nazi-occupied Europe nine months before the outbreak of World War II), tried to downplay the attention Kor has received.
âToo much is being made of her,â? he says. âWhen I went to Germany, they said âWe canât ask you to forgive us.ââ? |