State Names Sachem Award Winner

Governor Eric Holcomb announced Eva Mozes Kor (at podium) as the 2017 Sachem Award recipient Friday.

Governor Eric Holcomb will present the state’s highest honor to a Holocaust survivor and founder of the CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute. Eva Mozes Kor will receive the 2017 Sachem Award at a ceremony April 13.

Kor was born in Romania and in 1944, her family was taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where she and her twin sister, Miriam, "were subjected to inhumane medical experiments under the supervision of Nazi doctor Josef Mengele," according to Holcomb’s office. The two were among 200 twins liberated from the camp by the Soviet Army in 1945.

"Eva is the living embodiment of true compassion," said Holcomb. "Her life proves there are no bounds on forgiveness and human decency. Eva shows us what our response should be to acts of bigotry and hatred through her daily mission to educate people and spread messages of peace, respect and civility."

Kor founded CANDLES, which stands for Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors, in 1984 and founded the Terre Haute museum in 1995.

Holcomb’s office says the Sachem Award is given "to recognize a lifetime of excellence and moral virtue that has brought credit and honor to Indiana." The most recent recipient was the late radio host and civic leader Amos Brown in 2015.