History of CANDLES

Mengele Twin is another way survivors of the genetic experiments at Auschwitz often refer to themselves. An unfamiliar term until 1985, the term became well known after the return to the Auschwitz camp in 1985 of the groups of survivors organized under the name of CANDLES (see explanation below)

Early in 1978, Eva Mozes Kor of Terre Haute, IN, began to wonder about what happened to those other children who had been involved in the experiments. It had taken her years to "come to grips" with those youthful experiences and once she did, she wanted to find the other "children" and talk with them.

The idea had originated in 1984 when she had attended a gathering of Holocaust survivors in Washington, D.C. and had met another survivor of the camp who had been involved in the experiments. The name is an acronym for Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiment Survivors. The symbol of the organization is a split Star of David, representing the twins and the splitting of the egg which produces twins. surrounded by barbed wire. In the middle of the star are two candles, representing not only the twins but the light and/or illumination that the organization hopes to bring to the world about what happened to them at Auschwitz.

To find the other twins, Eva combined forces with her identical twin, Miriam Mozes Zeiger who lived in Israel. A small ad was placed in the Israeli papers and suddenly about 80 twins were identified as survivors of that horrible time.

In 1985, five sets of twins met at Auschwitz Birkenau and once more made the march to Auschwitz I where most of the experiments were conducted. In forming the organization and gaining worldwide recognition, Kor hoped to find information long kept from them about what was done to them.

Because of the publicity generated by that march, other twins were found and the organization now numbers about 120 members, in several foreign countries and in the United States.

Until 1985, little was known about the infamous twins' experiments. They had been discussed in a book by Dr. Miklos Nyiszli (Auschwitz. A Doctor's Story of Survival) but for the most part, the selection of twins for genetic experiments was not something which had been discussed.

With the march and the organization of the twins' group, the world demanded to know more about this group of child survivors. Yet, their stories - while all different - are all the same. They remember being taken to the labs. They remember injections. They remember having blood drawn. They remember being observed. They remember having their heads and body parts measured. They remember having eye color charts held up against their heads. They remember that if one twin got sick and went to the infirmary that twin did not return and the other twin soon disappeared. They remember trying to survive. They remember they lost their childhood at Auschwitz and never found it again. They remember they have illnesses and medical problems that no one can explain.

They remember they were human guinea pigs. They remember they were used for medical experiments without informed consent.
They remember they are alive because they were a twin. They remember their families are dead.
They remember because they can not forget.


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