Miriam Mozes Zeiger (1934-1993) was the identical twin sister of author Eva Mozes Kor and a fellow survivor of Mengele’s experiments. After being subjected to repeated medical procedures at Auschwitz, she emigrated to Israel, became a registered nurse, and raised a family, all while coping with long-term kidney damage resulting from the injections she received. In the memoir, Miriam’s physical vulnerability represents the immediate and lasting stakes of the Holocaust. Her life and premature death are the central emotional force driving Kor’s resistance inside the camp and her subsequent quest for answers and justice.

Miriam’s frailty directly shapes the narrative by transforming her sister’s fear into determined action. When Miriam falls gravely ill after an injection, Kor’s survival instinct includes caring for her. She vows to protect her sister, stealing potatoes and nursing her back to health. This dynamic demonstrates how sisterhood and solidarity function as essential tools for survival. During a chaotic march, a brief but terrifying separation culminates in a dramatic reunion, underscoring their bond and the memoir’s theme that interpersonal connection is a powerful form of resistance against a dehumanizing system.

Ultimately, Miriam’s legacy fuels the memoir’s purpose. Her death in 1993 from complications related to her stunted kidneys serves as the catalyst for Kor’s public work. This personal loss hardens Kor’s resolve to establish the CANDLES museum and dedicate her life to educating the public about Nazi medical crimes. Miriam is more than a victim; she is the memoir’s heart, embodying both the terrible cost of ideological hatred and the enduring power of familial love.

Dr. Josef Mengele (1911-1979), the SS physician at Auschwitz-Birkenau known as the “Angel of Death”. A German doctor with a PhD in anthropology, he directed selections on the arrival platform and conducted pseudoscientific experiments on twins and other prisoners, often in coordination with the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for genetics. His postwar escape from justice and death in Brazil made him a global symbol of Nazi medical atrocities and the elusiveness of accountability. In Surviving the Angel of Death, Mengele constructs the system that structures the twins’ daily ordeal and embodies one of the book’s central themes: the corruption of medicine by racial ideology.

Kor depicts Mengele as a figure of contradictions. She notes that some younger children called him “Uncle Mengele,” an image he cultivated, which masked his methodical brutality. This contrast between his handsome appearance and his lethal intent highlights the deceptive nature of authority in the camp. Kor recalls his reaction to learning that three children in his program had died: “‘Why did you let these children die?’ he screamed at the nurse and SS guards. ‘I cannot afford to lose even one child!’” (42). This outburst reveals not compassion but the fury of a researcher whose “specimens” were lost. His clinical detachment operationalizes eugenics as a routine, demonstrating how professional expertise can be weaponized by the state.

Rosalia “Rosie” Csengeri was a Jewish mother from Şimleu Silvaniei whose twin daughters, Yehudit and Lea, were also selected for Josef Mengele’s program at Auschwitz. A recurring figure in the memoir, she represents maternal strength, determination, and communal care in direct opposition to the camp’s institutionalized cruelty. Unlike Kor and Miriam’s mother, who was murdered upon arrival, Mrs. Csengeri managed to stay near her children and actively work for their survival.

Her contributions are concrete and vital. She smuggles bread to Kor in the infirmary, delivers messages between prisoners, and uses her wits to “organize” or steal necessities. Her actions demonstrate how individuals created networks of mutual aid to sustain one another. After liberation, she becomes a surrogate guardian, signing papers to escort Kor and Miriam from a monastery and accompanying them on the difficult journey back toward Romania. Mrs. Csengeri’s presence highlights how survival in Auschwitz often depended not on individual strength alone but on the small, brave acts of a shared humanity.

Dr. Hans Wilhelm Münch (1911-2001) was a German SS physician stationed at Auschwitz who, unlike most of his colleagues, was acquitted of war crimes due to testimony from prisoners he had helped. Decades later, he became a critical figure in Eva Mozes Kor’s public life and her philosophy of forgiveness. His significance lies in his role as a rare perpetrator-witness whose public testimony provided evidence against Holocaust denial.

Kor’s interaction with Münch is a turning point in her story. In 1993, she sought him out, hoping he could provide information about the twin experiments. Though he could not, he agreed to her request to return to Auschwitz on the 50th anniversary of its liberation. There, on January 27, 1995, he signed a detailed affidavit affirming the existence and operation of the gas chambers. This act of documentation, coming from a former Nazi, became a cornerstone of Kor’s fight against historical revisionism. It also served as the catalyst for her controversial “Declaration of Amnesty,” a letter of forgiveness she read to Münch at the site. Their meeting thus demonstrates the complex intersection of historical documentation, justice, and personal healing that defined Kor’s activism.

The “Mengele Twins” were the group of roughly 1,500 pairs of twins, primarily Jewish and Romani children, who were selected by Josef Mengele at Auschwitz for his pseudoscientific racial research. Only a small fraction, including Kor and Miriam, survived. In the memoir, this collective group provides the immediate context for the sisters’ ordeal, defining the unique world of the twin barracks and its specific rules of survival.

These children were treated as living research material, subjected to a dehumanizing routine of measurements, blood draws, and injections. Their shared experience illustrates the systematic nature of Nazi medical crimes against minors. Kor’s narrative also reveals that within this group, micro-communities formed. Older children often sheltered younger ones, sharing scarce food and information, demonstrating that prisoners created strategies for mutual aid even in the most controlled environments. After the war, the collective testimonies of surviving twins became crucial for litigation, historical documentation, and the educational missions of institutions like the CANDLES museum, connecting their individual traumas to the ongoing pursuit of justice and remembrance.