In International Holocaust Memorial Day, this 92-year-old survivor said it was a special, but bleak occasion for him.
“It’s kind of a celebration and the fact that those of us who survived were able to have a very good life for themselves and continue,” Ben Lesser told CBS News in a video called Zoom on Wednesday.
“But of course, we cannot forget our loved ones who left,” he said.
Wednesday marked 76 years after the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. Lesser was familiar with the atrocities there.
He said he survived the labor and death camps in Auschwitz-Birkenau and Dachau, Poland, two death marches and the infamous Dachau death train – where dozens of wagons transported the bodies of thousands of prisoners to Dachau near the end of Monday World War . Lesser is believed to be the last known survivor of the last.
During the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, some protesters used Sweaters “Camp Auschwitz” and holding posters of white supremacy.
“It gave me a taste of the past when I was a boy,” he told CBS News, reflecting on the attack on the Capitol.
Recent images – combined with years of growing anti-Semitic attacks – does not make Lesser “happy with the current state of events”. However, Lesser, who is the founder of the Zachor Holocaust Remembrance Foundation, has dedicated himself to helping future generations understand the extent of the Holocaust as a way to combat hatred. He often gives lectures in Germany and even developed a curriculum for schools.
“I tell people that education is very important, because only if you really have knowledge, can you realize that we are all the same,” he said. “They are all part of humanity. God created us all. So why can’t we live side by side and appreciate our differences, instead of hating them?”
“Hitler and the Nazis did not start by killing,” he said. “It all started with hate.”
A questionnaire unveiled in 2020 showed that more than 60% of respondents in Generation Y and Generation Z did not know that 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust. Although Lesser recognizes that there can always be anti-Semitism in the United States, he said his biggest concern is “what will happen after the survivors are gone?”
“Who is going to speak and teach these children to let them know to future generations that there was a Holocaust and how it happened and how bad it was,” he said.
“When I see this, when most children don’t even know what the word Holocaust means, it bothers me,” he said. “And that has to change. So, we are doing our best to try to change that.”