Eva Mozes lectured a crowd of about 200 people in Columbia 15 on Saturday night. This lecture was unlike many other lectures, however — it detailed her experience at Auschwitz.
The event was held by the northwest division of PeaceJam, which is an “international educational organization that is run by 13 Nobel Peace Prize winners, including the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu,” said Darren Riley, the coordinator for its northwest branch.
“It’s based on the idea that we bring youth together with Nobel Peace winners, we can inspire young people to take responsibility for creating peace in the world and building the kind of change we wish to see,” Riley said. PeaceJam has a particular lecture as their main event of the year, but this was not part of PeaceJam’s main event, it served as a “warm up.”
Eva Mozes was sent to the Auschwitz at age 10 with her identical twin sister and family, but was immediately separated from her parents and older siblings. Mozes and her twin sisters were allowed to stay together because Nazi doctors wanted to experiment on them.
“On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Nazi doctors would have twins from the age of 4 to 16 in a room to conduct experiments on. I was the most stubborn 10-year-old girl I could be. I would have to be held down by two Nazi soldiers and two women who were forced to be there,” said Mozes.
Mozes’ sister, Merium, passed away due to kidney failures (caused by experiments Nazi doctors performed on her) in 1996. Although Mozes experienced one the largest genocide in history, she was never physically present for a family member’s death. “When my sister died… I’d never gotten to burry members of my family,” said Mozes.
Although Mozes describes a life that went through many heartaches and unimaginable crimes, she was able to keep her composure and liven the mood by telling some jokes.
“We have to get rid of prejudices. But I will admit that I’m prejudice to somethings, like young boys and baggy pants,” she said. “I don’t understand baggy pants. Do you understand baggy pants? If someone wearing baggy pants had to run for their life, they would die.”
Freshmen student Haden Martinez, a music studies major, was in attendance for the lecture and reflected back on some of Mozes’ key points. “I find it so extremely powerful that [she sees] forgiveness as a self-empowering thing,” said Martinez. “I never saw it in that perspective, and I’m definitely taking that away from this lecture.”