Turned on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, this 92-year-old survivor said it was a special, but gloomy, occasion for him.
“It’s kind of a celebration and the fact that those of us who survived were able to make a pretty enjoyable life for themselves and move on,” Ben Lesser told CBS News in a Zoom video call on Wednesday.
“But of course we can’t forget our deceased loved ones,” he said.
Wednesday marked 76 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. Lesser knew the atrocities there were.
He said he survived the labor and extermination camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau and Dachau, Poland, by two death marches and the famous Dachau death train, where dozens of train cars carried the corpses of thousands of prisoners. in Dachau near the end of World War II. . Lesser is believed to be the last known survivor of the latter.
During the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, some riot police were carrying Camp Auschwitz Sweatshirts and holding white supremacist signs.
“It gave me a taste of the past when I was a little boy,” he told CBS News, reflecting on the Capitol assault.
Recent images, combined with years of increasing anti-Semitic attacks – does not make Lesser “happy with the current state of events.” Still, Lesser, who is the founder of the Zachor Holocaust Remembrance Foundation, has dedicated his time to helping future generations understand the scope of the Holocaust as a way to combat hatred. He often gives talks in Germany and even develops a curriculum for schools.
“I tell people that education is very important, because only if you have real knowledge can you realize that we are all equal,” he said. “We 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 didn’t start killing,” he said. “It all started with hatred.”
A survey presented in 2020 showed more than 60% of millennials and Gen Z respondents were unaware that 6 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. Although Lesser acknowledged that there can always be anti-Semitism in the United States, he said his biggest concern is “what will happen after the survivors have left?”
“Who will talk and teach these children to let future generations know that there was a holocaust and how it happened and how bad it was,” he said.
“When I see it, when a lot of kids don’t even know what the word holocaust means, that bothers me,” he said. “And that has to change. So we’re doing everything we can to try to change that.”