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Documentary focuses on the act of forgiveness

April 4, 2007

KALAMAZOO--Western Michigan University's School of Communication and the Center for the Study of Ethics in Society will hold a screening at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 12, of "Forgiving Dr. Mengele," an award-winning documentary by WMU alumnus Bob Hercules. The screening takes place in the Fetzer Center's Kirsch Auditorium and is free and open to the public.

The feature-length documentary tells the story of a shocking act of forgiveness by Auschwitz survivor Eva Mozes Kor and the criticism it has provoked. Mozes Kor and her twin sister Miriam were victims of Nazi doctor Josef Mengele's cruel genetic experiments. Her determination to heal herself by forgiving the Nazis is chronicled in the film as she is transformed from a Terre Haute, Ind., real estate agent with typical American aspirations to a political activist and the center of a firestorm of criticism.

Hercules, a graduate of WMU's School of Communication and owner of the Chicago-based television production company Media Process Group, filmed the documentary along with Cheri Pugh, a film archivist at the WPA Film Library in Orland Park, Ill. The film is the winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2006 Slamdance Film Festival and the Crystal Heart Award at the 2006 Hertland Film Festival.

Media contact: Deanne Molinari, (269) 387-8400, deanne.molinari@wmich.edu

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