Here's an article of a local contingent going to the commemorations. (One of the people attending was one of the so-called "children of Auschwitz", who were twins that were experimented on at Auschwitz.)
Valley group leaves for Auschwitz
Contingent to commemorate 60th anniversary of death camp's liberation
John Chambers/Tribune-Star
January 25, 2005
Eva Kor brings them to a place she lived through, one some only see in photos and movies.
The Holocaust survivor organized about 30 people to travel to Poland with her to commemorate 60 years since the liberation of Auschwitz death camp, and her own freedom.
Kor, 70, and a dozen left Terre Haute on Monday morning to merge with thousands on Jan. 27, the day the death camp was freed.
It is not the first time Kor has returned to Auschwitz since surviving Nazi experiments and moving to Terre Haute in her 20s.
Two BBC journalists traveled to the United States to record her journey, hovering over Kor on Monday while she made last-minute photocopies for the trip.
"I will be honest with you, this is a lot of work," she said as the copy machine spat out papers for her group and others to sign as witnesses of the anniversary at Auschwitz.
She calls it "passing on the torch," educating a younger generation about the Holocaust.
The copies' text tells the message of the trip: " ... to learn that the price of unchecked hatred and prejudice is a world tragedy like Auschwitz."
The Terre Haute group will meet in Europe with travelers from Bloomington and Chicago. The six-day trip will take them to Auschwitz, Krakow and Warsaw in Poland and to a death camp known as Auschwitz II.
Tommy McGregor is the third in four generations of family members who served in the military. He fought in Vietnam and has studied World War II and the Holocaust, but never visited the concentration camps.
"You can read all you want ... and it's nothing like being there," he said.
"I got this trip for him for Christmas," said his wife, Judy McGregor. The couple heard about Kor's plans over the summer.
"We're taking teachers, particularly middle school teachers, that have been briefed, I guess you could say, by Eva," Tommy McGregor said.
"I cannot teach everybody," Kor said, but several educators from Indiana and Illinois are traveling with her. Kor hopes those and others will preserve her message.
"I am passing the torch to you today, with the hope that you can teach the world about what happened here in Auschwitz. Work to eliminate hatred and prejudice and teach the world to heal by forgiving those who hurt us," Kor typed on the witness forms she copied on Monday.
As recent as last week, Kor visited Honey Creek Middle School. In her talks locally and internationally and in her efforts with the Terre Haute Holocaust museum she founded, she tells her story of Nazi torture and of overcoming tragedy.
Hannah Lindley knows she could be asked to give class presentations about her trip with Kor.
The area 14-year-old is traveling with her grandmother in what cost them a combined $2,500.
Lindley recently watched a movie about the Holocaust.
"It will probably be heartbreaking," she said about seeing former concentration camps in person.
Debbie Hardas, a nurse with the Area 7 Agency on Aging and Dying, is going on the trip because of her father. He is Jewish, but was born in the United States and never had a chance to visit the places she will see.
Coworker Jenni Bigham always has wanted to see the areas on the trip.
"I've just always been fascinated by it," she said.
"My brain hasn't quite comprehended it yet," Bigham said Monday, hardly believing she was going.
Kor and others left Terre Haute from Williams and Associates, where Kor is a real estate agent.
Coworker Linda McNichols noticed Kor's outlook on life change about 10 years ago, when Kor said she forgave the Nazis for the experiments performed on her and her twin sister by Dr. Josef Mengele.
McNichols has seen Kor live every moment to its potential.
"I think a lot because of what she went through, it's almost like she's afraid to close her eyes," McNichols said. "It's like she doesn't want to miss anything."
John Chambers can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or
john.chambers@tribstar.com.
PRAYER COVERING: Tommy McGregor (left) prays with his wife and friends before departing for Poland. (Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis) 
