A Holocaust Survivor Has Written A Poignant Blog Post About Why She Shook A Former Nazi's Hand

“For the life of me I will never understand why anger is preferable to a goodwill gesture,” Eva Mozes Kor said.


























Kor, 81, had traveled from the U.S., where she lives, to Germany to witness Groening's trial for accessory to murder in the deaths of 300,000 people.

Groening was known as the "Accountant of Auschwitz" because he worked a bookkeeper at the infamous concentration camp.

Kor wrote that she actually tried twice to speak with Groening, but the first time didn't go so well.

On the first day of the trial, I introduced myself and reached out to shake his hand. The strangest thing happened. He was trying to say something as he was sitting sideways in his chair. He turned white and fell backwards, not saying a word. He was holding onto my arm so he did not hit the floor. At that moment he was not a Nazi but an old man who fainted and I was trying to save him from falling. I screamed, "He is falling and I can't hold onto him - he is a big old guy!" This was not the interaction I was hoping for. I knocked out an old Nazi.












































RONNY HARTMANN/AFP / Getty Images




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