96-year-old Holocaust survivor educates today’s youth through his life story

MISSOURI(KBSI) – January 27 was Holocaust Remembrance Day. An international day that honors the victims of the holocaust and spreads awareness to prevent the recurrence of violence against Jewish people.

Although Holocaust Remembrance Day has come and gone the importance of education around the historical time in history hasn’t.

96-year-old Ben Lesser is a holocaust survivor and shares his story with the world.

“I feel that everyone should know what happened to me”, says Lesser “and to six million other Jewish people just because they were Jewish.” 

Ben was just 11 years old when the holocaust started, living through the genocide of more than 6 million Jewish people. Out of a family of seven only Ben and his sister Lola made it out.

Now Lesser is making sure new generations and the world never forgets what they went through.  

“We arrived at this place and the train stops and they opened up the gates and they scream in different languages “leave all your belongings on the ground!, Don’t pick anything up.” Women and children to the right, men to the left. I’m hanging onto my little brother Tulle and my sister Goldie and we were just pulled apart never to see each other again.” 

Lesser would go on to endure four concentration camps, two death marches, and two death trains. Lesser endured 5 years of the unimagiable. Writing a biography called “Living a Life That Matters: From Nazi Nightmare to American Dream” 

“A truck pulls up to the gate and they start to bang on the gate, the super came running out it was early in the morning, and it was a truck full of soldiers all they wanted to know was where the Jewish people lived” says Lesser.

Now Lesser has made it his life’s mission to encourage universal remembrance of the terrible events he lived through. Lesser goes to schools and spreads educate through the Zachor Holocaust Remembrance Foundation, which encourages today’s youth to continue to share the stories of survival long after survivors are gone. 

Lesser saying “Hilter and the Nazis did not start with killing. It all started with hate. Hate propaganda, antisemitism, that hate is how it started.”