etween the walls of the Auschwitz concentration camp, Dr. Mengele conducted a series of grueling cruel medical experiments with twin human subjects. About 3,000 twin children — of which 1,500 identical twins — passed through the hands of “Uncle Mengele” who, smilingly, injected chemicals into their eyes to change the color of their iris, made blood transfusions between them, applied lethal injections with various bacteria, remove their organs or limbs.
Few of the children managed to survive. Eva Mozes and her twin sister, Miriam, were among the survivors of the genetic experiments conducted by Dr. Josef Mengele at the Auschwitz concentration camp between 1944–1945.
Eva and Miriam were born in the small village Porţ, Sălaj County, on January 30, 1934. Alexander and Jaffa Mozes had four daughters, Edit, Aliz and the two twins. The peaceful life in the country was overshadowed by the Nazis coming to power in Germany and the prejudices against the Jews they faced almost daily. When Eva and Miriam turned six, the Hungarian Nazis occupied the village where the Mozes family was the only Jewish one.
The myth of the Mozes family was shaken in March 1944, when they announced that they had to gather some things necessary to change their domicile. They were moved to a ghetto in the Silvanie Shed, to be deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp after a few weeks. After 70 hours without water, and food, stuffed in a wagon, the Mozer family arrived on the selection platform at Auschwitz.
Eva remembers how she and her family arrived at the final station:
“When the doors of our wagon opened, I heard an SS officer shouting, ‘Schnell! Schnell! ‘And ordering everyone to go out. My mom took Miriam and me by the hand. He was always trying to protect us because we were the youngest. Everything was moving very fast and, looking around, I noticed that my dad and my two older sisters were gone. While I was shaking my mother’s hand, an SS man rushed to shout Twins! ‘. He stopped to look at us. Miriam and I were very strong. ‘Are they twins?’ My mother asked. ‘Is this okay?’ She replied. He nodded in approval. ‘They’re twins,’ my mother said. Once the SS guard found out we were twins, Miriam and I were taken away by my mother, without any warning or explanation. Our cries were in vain. I remember looking back and seeing my mother with outstretched arms of despair as we were led by a soldier. That was the last time I saw her. “
Doctor Josef Mengele
A dark future awaited the twins in the barracks at Auschwitz, and they were going to have a meeting that would mark their entire existence. Doctor Josef Mengele was in simplistic terms a psychopath that was trying to find a way to make German mothers reproduce twins in order to not only produce more children that could fight for the Fuhrer but also more children of the Arien race (blond with blue eyes and of German descent). Not to anyone’s surprise, he was also an SS soldier that has contributed to the idea of the holocaust.
“For the first time when I went to use the latrine located at the end of the children’s barracks, I was greeted by the bodies of several children scattered on foot. I think that image will remain forever in my memory. There I made a promise — an oath that we and Miriam will not get to that dirty floor. ”, Tells Eva about the rapid introduction to life in the camp.
During the terrible guinea pig experience for the Nazis, Eva and Miriam underwent numerous brutal surgeries and experiments led by Dr. Mengele. Eva tells about one of the experiments: “I got five injections. That night I had a very high fever. Shaking. My arms and legs were swollen, to huge dimensions. Mengele, Dr. Konig, and three other doctors came the next morning. They looked at the fever chart and Dr. Mengele said, laughing, “Too bad, she’s so young, She only has two weeks to live”.
Eva remembers that later, a pair of gypsy twins were brought from Mengele’s lab where they had been sewn behind each other. Mengele tried to create Siamese twins by connecting blood vessels and organs. The children screamed day and night until a crab formed, and after three weeks they died.
Life after Auschwitz
On January 27, 1945, four days before the two girls turned 11, the Auschwitz camp was liberated by the Soviet army. The children were the first twins to star in the Soviet-made movie about the horrors of the Holocaust. However, the film is somewhat inaccurate. Being the favorite subjects of Dr. Mengele, the twins never wore striped uniforms and were given special treatment, being given the freedom to take care of their hair and clothes personally and being offered extra portions of food.
After nine months at the camp, Eva and Miriam returned home to find out that none of the family members survived. In 1950, Eva and Miriam left for Israel where they became members of a kibbutz, largely inhabited by orphan children. In 1952, they enlisted in the Israeli army, Eva studying technical drawing, and Miriam medical assistance. Eva married an American tourist, Michael Kor, and he a concentration camp survivor, and moved to Indiana, United States.
The effects of Dr. Mengele’s experiments, however, have followed them throughout their lives. Eva suffered abortions and became ill with tuberculosis, and her son had cancer. Miriam’s kidneys stopped growing, stagnating at the size of a kidney for the rest of her life, and she died in 1993 of a rare form of cancer. Eva passed away on the 4th of July 2019 from natural causes.
Their tales even how terrifying they are have shown the world a true side of Auschwitz and the Holocaust. Miriam and especially Eva have spent most of their lives spreading their stories in order to maintain peace in this world and also prevent any future genocides. This is in the memory of Eva Mozes and Miriam Mozes.
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