Survivor of deadly Nazi twin experiments speaks on ethics in medicine

Eva Mozes Kor delivers a free public lecture on Tuesday, Nov. 8

WHAT:
Eva Mozes Kor, a Holocaust survivor who, along with her twin sister, Miriam, was subjected to the infamous medical experiments of Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, speaks at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

The event, organized by the Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics at the UT Health Science Center, is free and open to the public.

In the decades after the Holocaust, Kor located other twin experiment survivors and met with a former SS doctor who worked alongside Dr. Mengele at the Auschwitz death camp but was later found not to have harmed prisoners. Kor and the doctor, Hans Münch, returned to Auschwitz on the 50th anniversary of its liberation, and she – speaking for herself and no one else – forgave all Nazis.

Her experience speaks to the importance of modern-day requirements for protection of human research subjects and informed consent.

WHEN:
Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011, at noon. The lecture will be followed by a reception and book signing.

WHERE:
Holly Auditorium at the UT Health Science Center, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio.

WHO:
Kor and her sister, Miriam, were born in 1934 in Portz, Romania, where theirs was the only Jewish family. The twins were 6 when their village was occupied by a Hungarian Nazi armed guard. After four years of occupation, the family was transported in 1944 to the ghetto at Simleu Silvaniei, and then to Auschwitz a few weeks later.

When they arrived at Auschwitz, an SS guard spotted the twins and took them to Dr. Mengele for his experiments. Both survived, although Miriam Mozes suffered from kidney problems afterward and died in 1993. Their parents and two older sisters died in the Holocaust.

In 1995, Kor opened the CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute, Ind., where she has lived since 1960. She was the subject of the 2006 documentary film “Forgiving Dr. Mengele.”

NOTES:
In addition to the Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics, the event received funding from the Office of the Vice President for Research at the UT Health Science Center.

In a separate event, Kor will attend a screening of “Forgiving Dr. Mengele” the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 8, at the Santikos Bijou at Crossroads theater. For details, visit www.hmmsa.org.

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country’s leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 3 percent of all institutions worldwide receiving federal funding. Research and other sponsored program activity totaled $228 million in fiscal year 2010. The university’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced approximately 26,000 graduates. The $744 million operating budget supports eight campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.



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