IamBenLesser

Oh yes.

At first, you know, they looked like GODS to me.

I was liberated by the American soldiers. And every soldier that i saw looked like a God. I didn't know how to thank them.

But I have met liberators - and until I started teaching about the Holocaust, and speaking, and lecturing - actually, it's in my book, and it's a long story to tell, but how in Tennessee, at the University of Tennessee, I happened to accidentally meet the liberators of Dachau, 2 gentlemen who liberated me.

And they were telling their stories about what they found in Dachau, these atrocities, and I was a speaker immediately following them.

And sitting there, I couldn't believe - I was on pins & needles - these people rescued my life! These people liberated me!

And then when it was my turn to speak, i walk over to them with shaking knees, and I embrace them, and I say: "You two gentlemen gave me my life. You liberated me. I wouldn't be here without you."

OF ALL PLACES. And they happened to be the soldiers who liberated Dachau! And I was liberated there! How strange and coincidental that were in the same stage, talking about the same thing. And when they talked about liberating Dachau, and all these atrocities - I couldn't believe what I heard...

Yes, yes. Those are the only two gentlemen I met those many years later, and we keep in touch quite often.

Okay, that's a very good question.

No, the answer is: I can't forgive those people who were directly involved, the perpetrators of the Holocaust. Obviously, I can never forgive them. And perhaps I feel that it's not really up to me. It's up to the victims. They have to forgive them.

But I can't forget.

But the other answer is: I do not blame the son for his father's sins.

Which means I have nothing against the people of Germany today.

They are not at fault for what happened. And to me, we are all part of the human race. So whether you're German, or French, or American... whether you're one religion, Catholic, Jewish, Protestant - it doesn't matter. We are all part of the human race.

And I respect every person. As long as they prove themselves to not be racist or hateful people. As long as they don't repeat the atrocities from the past - I respect them. And I tolerate them. I think it is beautiful that we are different.

So I hope this gave you the answer.

Well, when I was arrived, I was very, very overcome. I was impressed. It was just overwhelming to me.

First, I arrived in New York harbor, and of course, the skyscrapers, the lifestyle... I made a sort of promise to myself then: This is going to be the first day of your life. From this day on, there is only ONE place to go: SUCCEED. I will build a family, I will do whatever I can in my power to succeed in this United States of America.

And this was my first impression. I liked what I seen. I met people who I thought were industrious, with businesses and families and love...there's respect. I loved what I saw in America. I became American in my heart immediately. So I adopted America, and I am glad America adopted me, and allowed me to be part of it, and become a citizen.

Well, Victoria, I don't believe that they don't know better.

They know better.

They just believe that if a lie is told long enough, that some people will start believing in that lie.

Because nothing in history was ever as documented as the Holocaust itself.

So... you know, how could they deny it?

Eisenhower, when he came across these camps, instructed his soldiers, the fighting men to take pictures - all the pictures they could, from all they saw, these atrocities, "because someday there will be people denying that it ever happened."

That it ever happened.

So he was smart enough.

And millions, and millions of pictures. It was documented in pictures, and films. So what's the use of denying it?

They are preying on youngsters who don't know better, or uneducated people. This is why education is important. Because people who are in countries who don't have the chance to know the truth - they hope that these people will believe it.

Those are anti-Semites. People who hate Jewish people.

Well, there was no real purpose, except when we arrived to Auschwitz, we were slated to go to a labor camp. And the labor camp that happened to be open at that time, that they needed workers, was called "Durnhau." That was a place where we worked in a rock quarry. They needed people to produce gravel. But to move from camp to camp, the only reason why from Durnhau we started to move is because the front kept closing in. We could hear the cannon fire at night, the front was closing in, and one day getting up, going to work, the loudspeaker was saying "YOU'RE NOT GOING TO WORK TODAY, THE CAMP IS BEING EVACUATED." They lined us up, in groups of five, and marched us out of there.

That was called The Death March.

The reason they called it that was because if you could not keep pace with them, they simply shot you.

All day you could hear pop, pop, pop shooting.

This is how we marched to the next camp, which was Buchenwald.

And from Buchenwald, they shuttled us out by death-trains to Dachau. Near the end, they just didn't know what to do with us, or where to put us, so they put us in "death-trains" (we called them that because by the time we got to our destination, most people died from starvation or disease).

By the time we arrived to Dachau - and this was shocking to ME, because I just found out, in a film that I saw, called "Night Will Fall" - it was made by the troops who liberated throughout Germany, and they came to those camps, they had photographers behind the battle line, taking pictures of everything - as they came into these different camps, they saw these atrocities and took photos. That film was... not allowed for anyone to see, written by British soldiers.

They kept that film hidden in a vault for 70 years.

Those atrocities are unbelievable. It's a documentary. "Night Will Fall."

In it, they show a deathtrain from when the Americans liberated Dachau - a train with 3,000 emaciated bodies. Only 17 of those walked out alive going into the camp.

3 days before liberation.

When I heard that, and I saw that film... it was like lightning.

I just got struck by lightning.

Because I was one of those 17.

And my cousin, who was with me, was one of the 17. My cousin died in my arms, the night of liberation.

That meant that there were only 16 of us left. I was only 16 years old at the time.

Most of those other survivors were in their 20's, 30's and 40's. So suddenly... I realized then that I may be the only survivor.

Anyway, we are checking this out, and my daughter was able to email to one of the officials in Germany - you know, the Germans kept very good records of everything.

To find out out of these 17 walking out of that death train, how many are still alive today.

The answer came back: one person.

Ben Lesser.

So how shocking is this?

When I heard that... I realized then that you have to do WHATEVER You can, because survival trusts upon me a mission.

To teach.

To talk.

To speak, to lecture.

Whatever i can about the Holocaust.

I feel I have this duty. Because I was fortunate enough to survive.

But then I was telling myself "I'm doing this anyways Ben - you wrote a book. The last 20 years you've devoted yourself to speaking and lecturing... you set up a Remembrance Foundation, you founded it, and you are teaching SO much, you are doing whatever you can."

I am praying to God I can continue doing this for many more years.

I'm sorry, I get carried away.