Holocaust Survivor Ben Lesser: Living a Life that Matters

The following is my latest article for the Rainbow Reveille, the 42nd Infantry Division’s newspaper since 1917. It is always an honor to help preserve the legacy of the Rainbow Division, and those who were liberated by them.

Ben Lesser’s life began again on April 29, 1945.

That’s the day elements of the Rainbow Division entered Dachau concentration camp and liberated thousands of prisoners. Ben was only sixteen years old, and had arrived at Dachau just days before. He was a passenger on that doomed and infamous death train from Buchenwald that had poured a fresh shipment of tortured souls and their flesh and bones into the camp. Most of them were dead on arrival, but just a few emaciated men were able to crawl from the train. Ben and his cousin Isaac were two of them.

Ben had survived the ghetto in Poland, and the camps of Auschwitz, Durnhau, and Buchenwald. By the day he arrived to this fresh yet painfully familiar hell-scape of Dachau, the endless stacks of bodies, the last gasps of dying humans, and the multitude of humans just like him clinging to hopes of survival had become a normal part of his daily life. 

What happened on April 29 was not familiar, yet was the most welcome sight accompanied by the sound of four ecstatic syllables under the dense grey sky that day: “Americans!” 

Indeed, the Americans had arrived, and word spread through the camp like lightning. The GIs who entered Dachau were greeted by these cries, and by a sight they were not at all prepared for: thousands of skeletal prisoners in drab grey stripes and their desperate gratitude for the men in olive green fatigues. 

“They were like gods to us”, Ben says when he describes what it was like to see the GIs for the first time. His eyes widen as he says the words with hushed awe.

A pair of those “gods” approached Ben and Isaac and handed them a can of spam with the best of intentions. Unfortunately, this gift was too much for Isaac’s malnourished and weak body to digest, and he died in Ben’s arms that evening. 

16 year old Ben had watched his family be pistol whipped by Nazis, had been separated from his parents in Poland, and lost other family members including most of his siblings, to the ramp at Auschwitz and the infamous Dr. Mengele. This final loss was too much, and Ben clung to his lifeless cousin Isaac as long as he could before before Isaac was taken away to be buried.

Shortly thereafter, Ben fell into a coma that lasted for three months. Upon waking, he was reunited with his sister Lola - the only other surviving member of his immediate family. 

This new life that the Rainbow Division helped to usher forth for Ben has been full and never taken for granted. Eventually, he moved to America where he met his soul mate Jean and continued rebuilding his life from the ashes of the horrors in Europe. Together they started a family and founded a successful real estate company. Upon retiring in 1995, Ben found the Zachor Foundation, which strives daily to honor, educate, and remember. 

Ben is a living example of heart, survival, resilience, and a commitment to living a life that matters - which just happens to be the title of his memoir about life before, during, and after the Holocaust. 

Ben’s story, like all stories of triumph over tragedy, offers us perspective on what really does matter, no matter your personal story. Through Ben’s courageous re-telling and remembrance of all that he lost, endured, and witnessed, he reminds us of the importance of holding memories with a blend of tenacity and reverence as we strive to build a meaningful future that does not let the past entangle us, hold us down, or define who we are.

To read more about Ben’s work and order his book Living a Life That Matters:

https://www.zachorfoundation.org

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As a war historian, I am dedicated to honoring the stories of the past. Through researching and preserving the stories of the 42nd Division for the past six years, I know very well how deeply the stories of the survivors of Dachau are intrinsically woven into the stories of the Rainbow. It’s a profound honor to spend time with survivors and veterans and listen to their stories. Like the GIs, the survivors who were there at Dachau on that day so long ago hold a special place in my heart. It was a privilege, in the truest sense of the word, to sit and listen to Ben’s stories in his home. Ben’s story is an upcoming short documentary produced by Stories of War, my non-profit documentary organization. www.storiesofwar.org