Ben Lesser dies; Daughter to keep his Holocaust foundation alive

Ben Lesser, a Jewish Holocaust survivor who devoted the latter part of his life to educating others about the genocide and spreading the story of his early life in Nazi-controlled Europe, died in late September. He was 96.

To keep his memories of the Holocaust alive, Lesser and his daughter Gail Lesser-Gerber founded the ZACHOR Holocaust Remembrance Foundation in 2009. ZACHOR translates to “remember” in Hebrew.

Lesser-Gerber, now director of the nonprofit, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that her father was active in sharing his story to audiences around the world up until his death. But with the face of the organization now gone, the foundation is having to reimagine how to tell Lesser’s story of survival without him.

“He saw with his own eyes how human beings could treat other human beings,” Lesser-Gerber said. “He really wanted people to know what hate could lead to so these people did not die in vain, that their memory should not just be forgotten.”

‘Losing our survivors’

Born in 1928 in Krakow, Poland, Lesser was imprisoned in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps during World War II before he was liberated from Dachau at 16 years old. Of Lesser’s seven immediate family members, only he and his sister survived the Holocaust. Lesser arrived in the United States in 1947 and retired to live in Las Vegas in 1995.

It’s been over 86 years since World War II began, and as the population who were alive during the war dwindles, so does the number of people who can remember living through it, Lesser-Gerber said.

“We’re really losing our survivors,” she said. “My dad was one of the last of the few that had been through the camps and the marches and the brutality and lived life on the run for a couple of years as he escaped Poland to Hungary before he was caught by the Nazis.”

Lesser’s story has been heard by people around the world through ZACHOR, including Las Vegas local Ralph Krauss who said meeting Ben about a decade ago drastically altered his life. Krauss, a Christian, said he developed a friendship with Lesser that inspired him to learn more about Jewish culture and how to read Hebrew.

“He really had a calling when it came to giving others hope, regardless of what they were going through,” Krauss said. “He had probably one of the biggest hearts out of anyone I’ve ever met.”

Krauss said he helped set up virtual video calls for Lesser to speak with middle and high school students around the world, from Germany to Canada’s Arctic Circle.

“It was a true testament that he could share his story over and over again to as many people as possible to keep the memory of his family members who passed away alive,” Krauss said.

Now, Lesser-Gerber said she and Krauss are two of three total ZACHOR members telling Lesser’s story to those who will listen in the Holocaust survivor’s absence. To do it, they’re using a pre-recorded lecture from Lesser, a slideshow the survivor helped create and even a virtual chat bot made with filmed footage of Lesser speaking to answer questions from online visitors.

Lesser-Gerber said she feels a duty on behalf of her father and others who were killed under Nazi rule to ensure that history doesn’t forget the horrors of the Holocaust. So whether its through modern technology or old-fashioned oral history lessons, she said ZACHOR “will continue to be there in front of students.”

“Ben’s goal was to make sure that he will continue teaching for generations after he’s gone, and that’s what we’re making sure to do,” Lesser-Gerber said.

Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.