Holocaust survivor and beloved Hoosier Eva Mozes Kor died Thursday morning just miles from the Auschwitz concentration camp, seventy-five years after first arriving there as a victim of torture under the Nazi regime.

Kor died of natural causes at 7:10 a.m., local time, in Krakow, Poland.

She was in the middle of leading an educational summer trip with the CANDLEs Holocaust Museum and Education Center. By guiding participants through the concentration camp haunted with her most difficult memories, Kor was doing what she did best: educating others through telling them her story.

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"I’m going to miss her terribly," her son, Alex Kor, told the IndyStar Thursday. "Yet I know my mom would not want me to cry. She wouldn't want other people to cry. ... Even yesterday, she was giving a lecture, and somebody started to cry. And she said, ‘Don’t cry. You don’t need to cry.’”

Alex said people can honor his mother's memory best by recognizing her goals and following her path to help others.

"She was a great mother. She may not have thought she was a great mother, but she was a great mother," Alex said. "My mother’s memory will best be honored by people doing the right thing, by taking her example, by believing in what is right."

Eva Kor and her ability to forgive

Known for her strength and advocacy after suffering in Auschwitz during World War II, Kor preached forgiveness, even for the Nazis who tortured her.

“I discovered I had one power,” Kor said in 2017. “What I tell everybody is that you — any victim, any person hurt — you have the same power. You have the power to forgive. And what it does, forgiveness, has nothing to do with the perpetrator. It has everything to do with the way the victim feels.”’

Kor was 10 years old when her family was taken to Auschwitz. Her mother, father and two older sisters were killed in a gas chamber, but Eva and her twin sister Miriam were chosen to become subjects for experimentation. The Nazi “Angel of Death” Dr. Josef Mengele tortured the twins for months, injecting them with mixtures of germs.

Decades later, she found a way to forgive him, and spent decades more telling her story.

"The world just lost a giant with Eva Kor's passing," Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said in a statement. "Janet and I loved and adored her. Everywhere she went, Eva brought light into darkness and provided comfort to those in pain unlike anyone we’ve ever met.”

Her life in Terre Haute, Indiana

The path to forgiveness wasn't easy for Kor. After a decade in Israel with Miriam, Kor came to Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1960. Thousands of miles away from the only person who could truly understand her suffering, her twin sister Miriam, it was hard for Kor to cope with life in America, the IndyStar reported.

Making peace with the horrors that had happened to her was even harder when she encountered pushback from a community who didn’t understand what she had been through. Kor and her family became a target for bullies — someone even painted a swastika on her house.

'Think of doing something good':The inspirational testimony Eva Kor gave at Auschwitz Museum days before her death

It wasn't until the 1970s and the airing of a television miniseries called "Holocaust" that Kor was first able to tell her story and inspire understanding nationwide. She began public speaking and founded CANDLEs, or Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors, in 1984. The accompanying museum opened in 1995. The IndyStar reported a few years ago that the museum saw around 7,000 schoolchildren per year.

"Eva Kor has touched hundreds of thousands of people over her 85 years through her message of overcoming tragedy, finding forgiveness, and healing," the Terre Haute, Indiana-based CANDLEs museum said in a statement. "We hope Eva’s story continues to change the lives of those who hear it for many years to come."

But Kor's work didn’t stop there.

An advocate and an award recipient

Kor, a small woman of 4-foot, 9-inch stature, gained national attention when she publicly criticized Congress for using the "nuclear option" to end a Democratic filibuster stalling the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. She also delivered a speech from her hospital bed hours before surgery implanting a pacemaker.

Later that year, Kor was honored with Indiana's highest award, the Sachem, served as a grand marshal at the IPL 500 Festival Parade and appeared in a radio show with the bass player from Motley Crue.

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On Friday, Kor was scheduled to visit the orphanage that took her in after Auschwitz was liberated in 1945, she tweeted to her 38,000 Twitter followers. Kor often used the social media platform to engage with others about her journey.

What people don't often know about Eva Kor, her son said, is that she had a wonderful sense of humor.

Kor tweeted on July 3, the day before her death, just outside of Auschwitz. But it wasn't somber. Instead, she delighted at how much the area had changed...and how she could now get fast food adjacent to what was once a concentration camp.

Kor has held little back in discussing her story and that's part of the reason she is still being celebrated today.

Celebrating Eva Kor's life and legacy

Her life has been the subject of multiple documentaries, including WFYI's poignant "Eva: A-7063," which was released last year. In May, the Indiana Historical Society named her an Indiana Living Legend.

In later years, Kor was known as the "little woman in blue" who told others her story so that none would have to suffer the way she did.

“Her legacy was that she had an uncanny ability to reach out to people and touch them in ways that they’ve never been touched," Alex Kor said. "A lot of people think her legacy had to do with forgiveness and that is a part of what her story is, but I think there was so much more.”

The CANDLEs museum will be closed until Tuesday, July 9 in honor of Kor's passing. Information about a public memorial service will be released at a future date.

Read the full CANDLEs statement here:

"We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Eva Kor, Holocaust survivor, forgiveness advocate, and founder of CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center. Eva passed peacefully today, July 4th, 2019, at 7:10am local time in Krakow, Poland on the annual CANDLES trip to Poland.

"Eva Kor has touched hundreds of thousands of people over her 85 years through her message of overcoming tragedy, finding forgiveness, and healing. Surviving the Holocaust at age 10 meant that Eva emerged from a childhood full of fear, loss, grief, and displacement. She and her twin sister, Miriam, were the sole survivors of her immediate family, losing two sisters, her mother, and father on the selection platform at Auschwitz. In addition, she and Miriam were put through the horrific and inhumane experiments by Nazi doctor Josef Mengele. But rather than allowing the darkest moments of her life to define her, she moved forward headfirst into a life of purpose.

"Serving eight years in the Israeli army, Eva tried to create a new life for herself through learning a new trade and getting to know her fellow soldiers. After meeting another survivor and getting married, Eva moved from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Terre Haute, IN, where she spoke no English. Learning the language, raising two children, and working in real estate for 34 years, Eva tried to put her past behind her. But when the NBC special The Holocaust premiered, Eva realized the community finally had context for her tragic history. This newfound visibility and understanding led to a path filled with searching for Dr. Mengele’s files, speaking all over the world, helping individuals in search of their own healing, and founding a museum that continues to grow every year. Eva blazed trails for Holocaust education and brought the story of the Mengele twins and Dr. Mengele’s experiments into the international spotlight.

"The themes of Eva’s life are apparent. We can overcome hardship and tragedy. Forgiveness can help us to heal. And everyone has the power and responsibility to make this world a better place.

"We hope Eva’s story continues to change the lives of those who hear it for many years to come.

"CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center will be closed until Tuesday, July 9th, at 10:00am EST in honor of Eva. We welcome visitors to come to the museum and pay their respects once we have reopened on Tuesday.

"Information about a public memorial service for Eva will be released at a future date. Her family thanks everyone for their kind words and for allowing them to have their peace and privacy at this time."

Contact IndyStar reporter London Gibson at 317-444-6043 or lbgibson@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @londongibson.