Story · Ajahn Brahm
The twin who forgave at Auschwitz
Content note: Holocaust and medical torture; factual details need checking: this resembles Eva Mozes Kor, whose twin Miriam survived Auschwitz; Kor met the Nazi doctor Hans Münch there in 1995 — Ajahn Brahm's details (sister killed, the doctor who killed her) are from memory and may be wrong
The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)
remember reading this article [snorts] about a lady and one of these articles which really moved me that she was in Awitz. [snorts] When she was in Awitz, she was there because she was a younger uh sister of a twin. And when they discovered they were identical twins, they're so not younger sister but identical twin. They were forced to go on this program of experimentation. I think the name of the doctor at the time, Dr. Mangali, I think it was this was doc, one of Dr. Mangali's assistants, she remembered as her sister, the other twin was basically just treated so badly and tortured and killed. as an experiment. His other sister survived and after many many many years she discovered the location of one of the doctors who had helped Dr. Mangali and according to the story which she wrote she invited the person who had basically tortured and killed and her sister to meet her in Awitz. This is a true story. when he met them there sort of she forgave him say said look I've been I found you and I've been hating you and hating what happened to my sister all my life now you're here I don't want to be a victim anymore I want to be a victor so she forgave
▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 29:44 (to 31:36)
A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)
A survivor of the Auschwitz twin experiments, as Ajahn Brahm recalls it, met one of the doctors decades later and forgave him: I don't want to be a victim anymore; I want to be a victor. He is deeply moved. If she could let go of that, perhaps we can loosen our grip on smaller hurts. Be kind to your past.
In brief (our summary)
Ajahn Brahm recalls an article about a woman who, as an identical twin at Auschwitz, was subjected to the experiments of Dr Mengele's team; as he tells it, her twin sister was tortured and killed. Many years later she traced one of the doctors who had assisted Mengele and invited him to meet her at Auschwitz. There she told him she had hated him all her life, but she no longer wanted to be a victim — she wanted to be a victor — and she forgave him.
Teaching point
Being kind to the past, even the worst of it, lets you let it go.
When this story may help
Themes
- forgiveness
- letting go
- trauma
- the past
Source & credit
Told by Ajahn Brahm in How to Deal with Difficulties | Ajahn Brahm | 29 April 2022 · 2022-04-29 · ▶ watch from 29:44 to 31:36 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
2 other tellings of this story
- Kindness, Generosity and Forgiveness | Ajahn Brahm | 8 July 2022 · 2022-07-08 · ▶ watch from 26:11 to 29:11 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaJul 2022 telling: magazine ~a year earlier; twin as control, sister died; finds a junior doctor years later; meet at Auschwitz; 'I forgive you' turned victim into victor.
- Anger and Forgiveness | Ajahn Brahm | 27 January 2023 · 2023-01-27 · ▶ watch from 2:22 to 8:29 · Buddhist Society of Western AustraliaJan 2023 telling: Eva Kor / Auschwitz twin experiments; decades later writes the doctor 'I forgive you' — anger lifts; filmed before her death.
Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions with machine-added punctuation; words left exactly as captioned. 'Awitz' = Auschwitz; 'Dr. Mangali' = Dr Mengele.
The narrative is Ajahn Brahm's own telling, quoted from the talk captions. The summary and reflection are Being Mindful Stories's editorial notes. Please credit the teacher and link the original talk. Markdown version