Benjamin Lesser was born in 1928 in Krakow, Poland. He had two young parents who had two daughters and three sons. Of that family of seven, only Lesser and his sister Lola survived the war. Most of Lesser's childhood memories have been erased by the Holocaust and the war years. Some minor memories remain of his father's successful businesses in Krakow before the war. Certain places are remembered, but there are few memories of friends or relatives. The Lessers had two family homes. One was with the family businesses in Krakow. The other home was in his mother's hometown of Munkacs, Hungary. In 1938, the latter was annexed to Hungary. Munkacs was a summer home for the family so the children would get to know their relatives there. Those are pleasant memories of his childhood. Lesser knows that he attended school because of his command of several languages. His early formal education stopped at the age of ten and a half years old. He does not remember teachers or friends because when war broke out in November 1938, all previous memories were erased. At his age, Lesser did not know much of the events of the world, but his parents did. They knew of the November 1938 Kristallnacht persecution of Jewish people in Germany. Shops, stores, and synagogues had windows broken by Nazis on that night. The glass on the ground gave the event its name - Crystal Night. Many Jews were sent to Dachau. At that time, Dachau was a detention camp, not a concentration camp. Kristallnacht occurred a year before the war started in September 1939. The Jews were brutalized and bullied by the Nazis. His parents knew what was going on, but it was hard to believe that any formal harassment of the Jewish population would be sanctioned by the government. It was beyond imagination that people could be so heartless and cruel. Discrimination was expected, but the worst was not anticipated by the Jewish population. Lesser had no idea what to expect.

Benjamin Lesser recalled the early morning in September 1939 when his three story apartment building started to shake. He went to look out the window and saw tanks rolling down the street. Half-tracks came behind the tanks and soldiers jumped out of those vehicles at certain intervals to take command of the streets. The soldiers were like robots. There was no fighting. The Wehrmacht [Annotator's Note: the German military] followed with their shiny boots. The sight was initially impressive to Lesser. What came later was a different story. Although his parents likely knew what was coming, Lesser knew nothing of it until five days after the initial German occupation of Krakow. At that point, soldiers came looking for the Jewish people. The soldiers came into the homes of the Jews and pistol whipped them and threw all the valuables they discovered into their sacks. His mother and sister were beaten and abused and their jewelry was taken. Lesser's father had his safe cleaned out by the soldiers. Across the street, a young mother was screaming. Lesser and his sister ran to the sound of the screams and saw a monster swinging an infant with the baby's mother in a panic as a result. The monster was clearly enjoying the scenario. The baby had its head smashed against a door frame by the monster. Lesser stood in disbelief as he watched the scene. These Germans were supposedly civilized people. This was Lesser's first taste of Nazi barbarism. From then on, the situation went downhill.

Benjamin Lesser witnessed the rapid increase in German laws and edicts as they came down to the occupied population of Krakow, Poland. The Jews had to wear the Star of David on their clothing. New identification cards were issued with a large "J" printed on the card indicating a Jewish individual. Schools were closed and curfews were imposed. No judges, attorneys or jails were available for the Jewish people. If Jews broke an ordinance or law, death was often instantaneous. Occasionally, the Germans would shoot Jews for no reason at all. It was open season on the Jews. It was not just the Nazis who were cruel to the Jews, but the Polish Gentiles were also. If they wanted something a Jew possessed, they only had to demand it. There was no accounting for the bad deeds. The Jews felt like cockroaches. The business belonging to Lesser's father was immediately confiscated. His father could not take anything, not even his briefcase. An edict came that indicated that the Jews had no right to live in Krakow. They were ordered to live in a ghetto or go to the outskirts of town. Lesser's young sister had a suitor who suggested that the Lesser family move to the outskirts of town where his family lived. Lesser's father agreed and a driver and wagon was arranged to move them to a little farm shack. The family could transport only what they could carry by hand. His father had hidden 1,000 American dollars for a rainy day. His father pasted the bills in a particular Jewish religious book. That book was hidden in two sacks of books. The family was ready to move to Niepołomice, the small town outside Krakow.

Benjamin Lesser and his family left the city of Krakow in a wagon with few belongings but with hidden money in a religious book. They were soon halted by Germans. Two Germans jumped on the wagon carrying the Lesser family. They looked for any Jewish books. Finding the two sacks of books, they threw them on a mountain of other religious books that was beside the road. There would eventually be a bonfire with the books after all the people had passed. Lesser's sister pleaded with one of the monsters to allow the family to keep the one book that she said her father wrote as his autobiography. The guard said that he would allow five minutes for them to find the book. The family failed to find the book after the five minutes. They were told that time was up and forced to leave. The family left Krakow penniless as a result. It was impossible to get a job as Jews were not allowed to be hired. All the family's valuables had been taken by the Nazis. Lesser's future brother-in-law brought the family a 100 pound sack of flour to bake bread. His father baked pretzels instead of bread because fewer ingredients were required. The pretzels were sold in the neighborhood bars until his father could afford the cost of the ingredients for bread. Lesser's father became a baker of all kinds of delicacies. That did not last long. Lesser's two sisters and his older brother moved out of the house. Lesser's sister and brother-in-law heard from their landlord, the mayor, that there would be a raid that night. It was suggested that they should flee. The nearest midsize city was Bochnia. There was a ghetto there but it had a reputation for atrocities involving kidnapping children and murdering their parents in the middle of the night. Throughout Europe, the word was to stay away from Bochnia. The Lessers had no choice. They had to go to Bochnia. It was good they left before the raid on Niepołomice. The remaining Jewish inhabitants were rounded up and put into trucks. They were taken to a deep ravine in the forest outside of town, lined up, and shot during the night. This was discovered after the war when farmers who had been picking mushrooms and berries nearby recounted the event that they witnessed while they hid from the perpetrators. For days afterward, the graves moved up and down. This indicated that people were buried alive. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of people in that community that were murdered at that time. The same thing happened to the children of Bochnia. No one ever heard from them again.

Benjamin Lesser and his family entered the Bochnia ghetto. They had no choice. Lesser's brother-in-law, Michael, recognized one of the Kapos who had been a friend of his. The Kapos were Jewish policemen with no weapons except for a baton. The Kapos enforced the demands of the Nazi regime on the population of the ghetto. The Kapo friend told Lesser's brother-in-law that he would take care of them. An apartment was found for them. There were a dozen people in one room with only a blanket separating family areas. There was little in the way of furniture or facilities for food storage or cooking. People slept on the floor on straw with a blanket spread over it. Everyone in the ghetto was required to work. Lesser worked by sewing buttons on uniforms. The friendly Kapo, who was named Farberow [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling], told Michael that a German raid could be coming. All the apartments in Bochnia had devised hiding places, called bunkers, since the episode with the children [Annotator's Note: the episode referred to involved raids by the Nazis to kidnap children in the middle of the night during which the Germans would machine gun the parents as they chased after their stolen children]. There was a bunker in the apartment that the Lesser family shared with others. It was a narrow space between adjacent buildings that could not be seen from the street. It was accessed through a piece of furniture which held clothes. That furniture had a moveable panel in the back which hid a hole in the wall of the building. After the last person from the apartment was in the bunker, they would close the door to the furniture, pull the clothes back into position, and replace the moveable panel on the back of the furniture to hide the bunker access. The 12 people in the bunker could not be seen from ground level, but the overhead was open and subject to the harsh cold weather. All night long, there were screams, shooting, and dogs barking in the ghetto. Toward morning, it became quite. The survivors exited the bunker and went to the streets where they observed dead bodies and pieces of dead bodies which had been torn apart by dogs. Babies were dead in their mother's arms. It was a sight that broke your heart. It could not be forgotten. The memory bothers Lesser to this day. Bodies were brought on pushcarts to the center square of the ghetto and piled up to be burned by the cultured people [Annotator's Note: Lesser uses the term "cultured" in an ironic sense]. That was how it was in the Bochnia Ghetto. Luckily, Lesser and his family survived. The Germans looked for the hiding spots by stamping on the floors searching for hollow locations. The Germans had dogs which tried to sniff out the Jews. The Lessers managed to not be discovered.

Benjamin Lesser knew that his sister, Lola, and her husband, Michael, had a hiding place under a dog house in the Bochnia ghetto. After the Nazi raid in that ghetto that killed many Jews, the other members of Lesser's family went to see how Lola and Michael fared during the raid. Lesser's sister told the story of the dog house with its removable floor and a step ladder for access, along with provisions for seven people to hide there. It appeared to be a safe place. When the couple were about to enter their hiding place, a Kapo named Morris Schiller [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] said he knew about the hiding place. Schiller demanded that his mother and sister be allowed to hide there or he would turn in those hiding under the doghouse. This demand was made despite the fact that the capacity of the hiding place had been reached. Lola and Michael decided that they would take their chances on the outside so the others could hide. Michael's mother urged the couple to take their places in the hiding place and let them go to the outside. The couple refused and walked away. Lola and Michael then chanced upon the friendly Kapo, Farberow [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling]. Farberow spotted them and urged them to hide where his sister and her children were hiding. The couple was escorted by Farberow to a leather tannery. There, they went into a water tank. Those hiding were told to await Farberow's signal in the morning. The couple stood in the water, exposed to snow and cold. Lola took the infant from the mother and Michael took the other child. Water rats constantly nibbled at their feet through the night. There was screaming and shooting in the ghetto throughout the night. The next morning, the signal was given by the friendly Kapo that the coast was clear. At that point, Lola and Michael went to the doghouse to see how the others had fared during the raid. They discovered that all nine people in the hiding place had been discovered and killed by the Nazis. Lola started to scream, but Michael told her to be quiet. To follow Jewish tradition, the dead had to be buried within 12 to 24 hours of their death. Michael found a rickety wheel barrow and took the bodies to a nearby Jewish cemetery. He travelled up hill in the snow and ice pushing the bodies in the wheelbarrow. Finding a shovel, he began to dig a burial hole for his family of seven. The couple dug for hours in the hard ground. [Annotator's Note: Lesser shows a series of paintings by Lola which portrays what she saw during these events.] The Kapo, Schiller, came upon them to assure them that he did not have responsibility for the discovery of the hiding place. At the same time, Schiller demanded that the hole the couple had dug be used for Schiller's two family members. After removing Michael's family bodies and starting another burial hole, a jeep holding two SS men drove up. The SS men shouted for Morris Schiller. After Schiller acknowledged and saluted the SS men, they shot Schiller. The Nazis did that to informers or people who saw too much. After the jeep left, Lola and Michael finished burying the family. Afterward, the couple returned to their ghetto apartment and wept.

Benjamin Lesser experienced a horrific raid on the Bochnia Ghetto. Afterward, loud speakers demanded that anyone left alive was to immediately go to the Judenrat, Jewish Police Station, and register their names. There was no choice but to register in order to get rations. Lola was first of the family in line to register before a young SS man and the head of the Gestapo of Bochnia. The friendly Kapo, Farberow [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling], was also there. While being questioned, Lola revealed that her town of birth was Munkacs in Hungary. Hearing this, the head of the Gestapo ordered Farberow to bring Lola to him the next morning. This struck fear in Lesser's sister and she started to cry. The next morning, Lola arrived at the police headquarters which was located outside of the ghetto. She was brought to Schonberg [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling], the Gestapo head. He rose and pulled out a chair for Lola to sit down. This was unheard of between a Nazi and a Jew. Jews typically were demeaned when they approached a Nazi. She was taken aback by Schonberg's politeness. The Gestapo head reassured her to calm down. He joked with her and bantered a bit. He ripped off her Jewish armband. Schonberg explained to her that Hungary was an ally of Germany and there were no quarrels between the two countries. As a result, there was no German jurisdiction over her. She began to cry for happiness. She replied to Schonberg that she had a husband and family who were all born in Munkacs. This statement was not true. The Gestapo head ordered that new identification papers be made for Lola and her family so that they could move out of Bochnia. Schonberg was thanked by Lola as she left the police headquarters. When she arrived at the gate of the ghetto, her family was anxiously waiting for her. They feared the worst for her, but she smiled as she returned. Lola and the Kapo, Farberow, told the story of her appearance before Schonberg. A nearby rabbi picked her up and began to dance with her. He called her a Queen Esther. Queen Esther had saved untold numbers of Jewish people in Biblical times. There is a celebration called Purim as a result. Lola wondered why the rabbi acted as he did. The rabbi knew that the papers Lola would return with the next day could be duplicated and many others in the ghetto could be saved as a result. Many papers were falsified in the basement for days afterward. The family did not take anything for use of their papers. The only request they made was for help when they traveled to Hungary. Smugglers were very expensive along the route. Many hundreds of people were saved as a result of Lola remembering to ask for identification papers for her family. The only rationale for the Gestapo man's actions in saving Lola was that he perhaps saw some of the hideous activities of the SS at the front. Eventually, Schonberg would be discovered by the Nazis and executed. As a result of his help to the Jews, Schonberg was declared a Righteous Gentile or Yad Vashem.

Benjamin Lesser and his family were able to escape to Hungary as a result of the papers received from the Gestapo head of Bochnia, Poland. Lesser's brother-in-law contacted a coal miner who had a truck for transport of coal. He convinced the miner to build a false bottom on the truck that could hide people below it. [Annotator's Note: Lesser shows an illustration of the truck.] Many drivers could not be trusted because they would take the escapees' money but then turn them over to the Germans so that they could get paid again. Lesser's sister and brother-in-law volunteered to go first in the escape. They created a password that they told the next escapees behind them. That same password would be given to the driver once the transported set of escapees reached safety. The driver would then give the password to the next set of escapees to assure that all was carried out properly. Thus, the next set of escapees knew the driver could be trusted if the password was correct. This worked for all of the Lesser family in Bochnia except for the mother and father. The parents were discovered in their attempt to flee Poland and executed. [Annotator's Note: Lesser shows an illustration of the execution.] During Lesser's escape from Bochnia, the truck was stopped by German soldiers. This struck fear into the hearts of Lesser and his brother who thought they had been discovered. The truck began to move as soldiers were riding with them. The escapees knew that they would be shot if discovered. Instead, it turned out the Nazi soldiers were just hitchhiking. When the Lessers reached their destination, they were told to get out and go meet a forest ranger who would help them in their journey. The ranger made a meal for them, and they were able to wash up. The next morning, between border guards changing shifts, the escapees had a few precious minutes to make it across the border. The Lessers had to be very quiet. When they reached the opposite side of the wire, there was a ravine where they would have to silently slide down. Lesser and his younger brother slid for quite a while until they stopped. Both boys were all right. Lesser was called by his Yiddish name. It was his Uncle Bella. Lesser's sister and brother-in-law had described where they arrived to the uncle. Thus, the uncle was able to meet the two boys at the right location. There was one more border to cross. The Hungarian border crossing was not as difficult because the two boys simply acted like they belonged there as they casually strolled along. The boys would rendezvous with their sister and her husband and have a celebratory hug and kiss.

Benjamin Lesser reached Hungary. He had to register in the Police Office to define his uncle as his guardian. During the process, Lesser and his brother were locked up in a jail cell while the paperwork was done. Although they were told by their uncle not to worry, it bothered them to be locked up without knowing with certainty what was coming. Their uncle returned in a few minutes and, legally, he was now their guardian. The boys were taken to Budapest to say goodbye to his sister and her husband. The boys next went to Munkacs in Hungary. In Munkacs, the boys would see their older sister and other family members from his mother's side who resided there. There was a celebration and the boys witnessed a whole new world. There were schools, proms, bar mitzvahs, cafes, and other things not seen by Jews in Poland. The people in Munkacs did not believe what was happening in Poland would happen in Hungary. The family waited for the Lesser parents, but they learned that a farmer had betrayed their escape attempt. Likewise, Lesser's older brother had been sent to a concentration camp and did not survive. At that point, the family consisted of Lesser, his younger brother, his sister Goldie who lived in Munkacs, plus his sister Lola and her husband who resided in Budapest. There were grandparents and uncles in Munkacs. Lesser and his brother stayed with his uncle who was affluent. Lesser advised his uncle to convert his wealth to something more tangible and small. Most people did not do that. His uncle brought home boxes of shoes for his family. The uncle told his family that diamonds were hidden in the heels of the shoes. Those diamonds were only to be used in case of a life threatening situation. This peaceful existence for the Jews in Munkacs lasted only until March 1944 when the Germans marched into Hungary. The Nazis entered Hungary even though the Germans were losing the war. With 750,000 Jews in Hungary, the Nazis willingly entered the borders of a friendly country. Hitler's [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] need to kill Jews and pilfer their wealth was more important than winning the war.

Benjamin Lesser had taken refuge in Hungary to escape the Nazi tyranny in Poland. Although initially a place of safety for Jews, Hungary was occupied by German troops in March 1944, and within three weeks, the Nazis knew all the Jews and where they were located in Hungary. They managed this through the use of IBM [Annotator's Note: IBM or International Business Machines was one of the leading companies in the development of high speed computing capability] punch cards that were used in the times before sophisticated computing capability. IBM claimed that they did not know how the punch cards were being used, but they acknowledge supplying those cards. Within three weeks of the Nazis arrival in Hungary, the Germans were rounding up Jews for transportation to the death camps. Eichmann [Annotator's Note: SS-Obersturmbannführer, or Lieutenant Colonel, Otto Adolf Eichmann] played a key role in the organization process of rounding up the Jewish population in Hungary for relocation to the camps. Lesser and the Jews of Munkacs, Hungary were told to organize themselves for relocation for work in Germany. The people were told bring their valuables with them. Able bodied people would be working and children would be attending school. Anyone found hiding to avoid relocation would be shot immediately. The Munkacs Jews were lined up and brought to a brick factory. At the factory, there were cattle cars lined up next to the railway. Lesser spotted someone on a stretcher. It was his sister Goldie who had tried to escape. A Hungarian policeman who knew and recognized her turned her in to the Nazis who beat her. The cattle cars were loaded with people. People were crammed into each car. There were 80 people in each car. The situation was made even more congested because of the baggage the people were carrying. The doors closed and, in the corner, there were only two buckets of water in each car. When the water was gone, the buckets were used for people to relieve themselves. After three days, modesty was gone and the buckets were full. Some bits of food remained but there was no water. As human waste sloshed out of the buckets, people stood and sat on their baggage to avoid standing in the waste. People were sick and crying as the journey continued. When the train arrived at a station at night, some individuals looked outside at a sign that said Oswiecim, which in Polish which means Auschwitz. As the train continued on, they saw a sign saying that labor would make them free. This made sense to the passengers because they knew they were headed to a labor camp where they would work. The cattle car passengers did not know where they were when the doors were sprung open and all Hell broke loose.

Benjamin Lesser arrived at Birkenau after a long journey in a cattle car. It was adjacent to Auschwitz. Birkenau was where most of the atrocities occurred although there were many acts of inhumanity in Auschwitz. Most of the gas chambers and crematoria were at Birkenau. The selection process happened there also. [Annotator's Note: Auschwitz I was the camp which housed inmates that the Nazis intended to work or mistreat until they died. Auschwitz II-Birkenau was the death camp which was built exclusively for eradication and remains disposal of the Jews and others thought by the Nazis to be undesirables. Upon arrival at Birkenau, a selection process occurred to determine who would die immediately as opposed to those strong enough to provide some future labor for the Nazis.] When the cattle car doors opened, it was immediately overpowering. Dogs were barking. Guards were shouting as were the Birkenau inmates who were helping with the process of forcing the passengers out of the railcars. The people were told to separate women and small children to the right and men to the left. Belongings were to be left where they were. Lesser was pulled apart from his injured sister and his younger brother. Lesser never saw them again. They were sent to the gas chamber. His sister might have been chosen for labor except she had been so beaten up. [Annotator's Note: Lesser's sister had attempted to escape the round up of Jews in their Hungarian city of Munkacs and was severely beaten as a result.] No one could imagine what was actually going on with the extermination. As the men progressed in the line, chimneys could be seen with smoke and ashes flying all over the place. Every step generated a footprint in the ashes. The smell in the air was strange. The men in front of Lesser were saying that the flames shooting from the chimneys must indicate a smelting process. That had to be where they were to work. Soon a doctor was seen forward of the men. He wore white gloves and moved his finger left and right as he observed each individual. The doctor would occasionally ask in a friendly voice if an individual could run five kilometers or would he rather be transported by truck. Lesser figured out that the doctor was trying to weed out the strong from the weak. Lesser knew he wanted to work so he told his uncle and cousin ahead of him to respond to the doctor that they should respond to the doctor that the hard way was acceptable to them. Lesser said he would go first. He approached the doctor and saluted him and spoke in German that he wanted to work. When asked if he could run five kilometers, Lesser responded affirmatively. He was sent to the left and that meant life for him. His uncle and cousin followed. The doctor was Doctor Mengele [Annotator's Note: SS-Hauptsturmführer, or Captain, Dr. Josef Mengele], the Angel of Death. Mengele decided who would live and die with a flick of a finger. He performed experiments on twins and pregnant women.

Upon entry into Auschwitz, Benjamin Lesser was told to go to a bathhouse and get undressed. Next, his hair was to be cut but not in a gentle way. Lesser knew that he had to try to hang on to his shoes because they had diamonds in the heels. His uncle had provided the shoes to him. Lesser went through the hair shearing process without taking off his shoes. He was prepared to take off the shoes if anyone confronted him about them. After the hair cut, he went into the bathhouse with his shoes on. It was a large room that was crammed with people. Screaming began in fear that gas might come from the shower heads. There was quiet after water came out. Blowers dried them off after the shower. Next, the inmates were sprayed with DDT and given clothes and wooden clog shoes. Lesser still had his personal shoes and hid them under his arms under his coat. Each inmate was given a number which would be tattooed on them. Lesser's concentration camp number was 41212. The inmates were walked to the barracks and confronted by the man in charge of the barracks. He ridiculed the Hungarian Jews and pointed to the ashes coming out of the chimneys. The barrack chief told them that it was their relatives. If the Hungarian Jews did not behave and do exactly as they were told, they would suffer the same fate. Lesser wondered how commercialized killing was possible. It must be a joke. The men took a bunk and collapsed with fatigue. Shortly later, Lesser's cousin woke him up and pointed out a chanting like a humming and a noticeable huge orange flame outside. Since Lesser and the barrack chief were from Poland, Lesser approached him speaking his native language. The barrack chief was so pleased, he told Lesser everything. The Nazis had been preparing months ahead of the Hungarian Jews' arrival at the death camp. Extra ditches were dug, gas chambers were enlarged, and more crematoria built to be ready for the influx of the Hungarian Jews. The death rate was 4,000 to 5,000 people per day at Auschwitz. When the gas chambers could not keep up, the doors would be opened before all inside were dead. As long as the people were unconscious, they would be taken out by the Sonderkommando and dumped into trucks to be taken to the pits where they would be burned to death. [Annotator's Note: The Sonderkommando were inmates who were given a temporary reprieve by the Nazis in the death camps only as a result of them aiding in the extermination and disposal of their fellow inmates. As time went on, the Sonderkommandos were executed also.] The humming sounds were coming from infants who the Nazis had no need for at all. The babies had no hair or gold teeth so they could not be bothered with them. As a result, the infants would be thrown on top of the half dead bodies from the gas chambers and then dumped in the fiery pits. Though only there for two weeks, Lesser's experience in Auschwitz was unbelievable. A truck eventually arrived, and Lesser was transported to a labor camp.

Benjamin Lesser was taken from Auschwitz to a rock quarry labor camp. The work was backbreaking. It involved breaking up dynamited boulders into manageable pieces for moving down the hill to be grinded into gravel. The work was all manual and very hard. In order to help his uncle, Lesser took the diamonds in his shoes [Annotator's Note: Lesser and his other family members had hidden diamonds in their shoes prior to being deported from Munkacs, Hungary] and bribed the chef in the kitchen to add his uncle to his staff. Work in the kitchen allowed his uncle to have an easier time. It also provided Lesser and his cousin with a better ration of food. Typically, after work in the quarry the men would be marched back from the work site and counted. Then they would then be dismissed. One night, the men were counted repeatedly, but they were not released as they usually were. The commandant of the camp came down with his young female friend and said he was going to teach the inmate pig-dogs a lesson they would not forget. Since some inmates had escaped, every tenth inmate in line was pulled out to be whipped. Lesser's uncle was the tenth man so Lesser switched places and was selected to be beaten. Those selected were taken to the middle of the yard. A sawhorse was brought down for each of the unfortunate inmates to tiptoe and put the knees inside of the sawhorse. They were told to bend over without touching the top of the sawhorse. A Kapo [Annotator's Note: Kapos were inmates who did the biding of the Nazis in order to have better treatment or even one more day of survival] would pull the trousers tight while a second Kapo would beat them. The inmate had to count out loud with each hit. A person's heel could not touch the ground. Any infraction of the rules would cause the count to begin again. Each stoke with the beating stick would bring blood through the trousers. The hits were so hard that they cut through the flesh. Lesser was the fourth in sequence for the beatings. After several count restarts, the first inmate collapsed. The commandant went to the downed individual and ordered him to get up. When he did not get up, the commandant shot him. The female friend of the commandant ran over and hugged him as if he had committed a great, heroic act. A second inmate had the same fate and his body was pulled away. A third inmate asked for mercy, but his knees buckled when he was told to face the commandant. As a result, he too was shot. Then it was time for Lesser at the sawhorse. Lesser was one of the youngest people in the camp. He told himself that he would die unless he did what he was told. When the hits came, Lesser shouted out the count loud and clear. After 25 hits, the crowd was so silent that a pin drop could be heard. Lesser knew he had to do this punishment right. When it was over, the Kapo holding his trousers told Lesser in Yiddish to go over to the commandant and thank him. After doing so, the commandant twisted Lesser around and told the rest of the inmates that the punishment could successfully be done. At that point, a commotion arose at the camp gate. It was the three escapees who had been captured and beaten and were being brought to the commandant. Attention was transfixed on them at that point. A portable gallows was brought to the middle of the yard and the escapees were hung one by one. One of the escapees attempted to utter the Hebrew words of final reconciliation required before death, but the Nazis prevented him from doing so. It was another case of supreme sadism. Afterward, the inmates were dismissed for rations as if nothing had happened. For weeks, Lesser had discomfort sleeping because of pain from the injuries from the beating he had survived.

Benjamin Lesser could hear the front closing in on the rock quarry where they worked. The inmates were told that they would evacuate the work camp. Lesser's uncle was in the kitchen. The kitchen personnel did not leave with the rest of the inmates. Lesser never saw his uncle again. None in the kitchen survived as far as could be told. The workers were lined up in rows of five. It was to be a death march. When inmates could not keep up with the guards, they were shot. Lesser's cousin grew weak and requested to be left in the snow so he could be shot. That way, his struggle would be over. Lesser told his cousin that they both would survive. Lesser pulled his cousin along for another week. They arrived at a big concentration camp called Buchenwald. They were lined up and told to get a shower, get fresh clothes and eat, and then sleep. The next morning they would line up and be prepared to move out. Buchenwald was also to be evacuated as the front closed in on the German homeland. When they left the camp, they were brought to cattle cars. Knowing from the cattle car experience in Poland that the best position in the car was at the end, Lesser told his cousin to move to that position. After getting underway, the cars came to a stop. When the doors of the cattle car opened, bread was thrown in. The people near the doors scavenged the most bread. Lesser knew that he would have to get bread for himself and his cousin so he began to climb over the other passengers. One man took a knife and shoved it into Lessers throat. He still has the scars today from that knife cut. Nevertheless, Lesser got one of the breads and got back to his cousin. Even while he was bleeding, he fed the bread to his cousin. He had to hide the bread from the other passengers over the next one or two weeks so that it could be retained for their food. There were instances of cannibalism in the cattle car. The one bread was rationed each night at dark between his cousin and himself. His discipline and control kept him from eating the whole bread. In week three, the cattle car arrived at Dachau. When the doors opened, the passengers were ordered to walk out of the car if they could. Only four or five inmates left the car which had held 80 people. The first thing they saw when they entered the camp was a mountain of skeletons that were stacked up in front of the crematoria. The crematoria had run out of coal so the bodies were stacking up there. Lesser and his cousin were laid on the ground in front of the crematoria. It seemed as if they were next in line. They were given some ersatz coffee and soup and laid on the ground for three days.

Benjamin Lesser had arrived at the Dachau concentration camp in total exhaustion [Annotator's Note: following the forced march from Auschwitz]. After lying on the ground for three days, Lesser and his cousin heard other inmates shouting that they were being liberated. As the American soldiers entered the camp, some inmates kissed their boots. Two GIs walked up to Lesser and his cousin and gave them some Spam whcih they ate. They both immediately got dysentery. That night, Lesser's cousin died in his arms. The cause of death was uncertain. Lesser did not want to let his cousin go, but he collapsed and his cousin was taken away. Later, a Jesuit priest addressed Lesser in Polish. The priest said that he and some nuns had opened a field hospital and that he was going to treat him. The priest carried Lesser over his shoulders to the hospital. While going to the hospital, the Polish priest told Lesser that he had paid a terrible price for his religion, but he admonished Lesser to never give up his religion. When Lesser reached the hospital, his vitals were taken and he was given an injection. He immediately passed out and then lost track of time. Two or three months later, he awoke in a monastery in Bavaria. The monks had allocated a building to rehabilitate the survivors of Dachau. While there, Lesser gazed at his image in a mirror. It was the first time he had seen himself in months. He could not believe the sight. He came back to himself. Lesser returned to Germany for a reunion of Dachau survivors. During that visit, the monks of the monastery celebrated his return. It was there that Lesser was reunited with his sister, Lola. [Annotator's Note: Lesser's sister, Lola, was the only survivor of his four siblings and two parents after the Holocaust.]

Benjamin Lesser joined a group of pioneers for Palestine. They went to Palestine after being relocated from Europe. While in the hospital, Lesser heard a group of children singing. He learned that they were orphans who had lost their parents in the Holocaust. The young people were being trained to take back the land that was taken from them 2,000 years before. It made sense because if the Jews had their own country, the Holocaust might not have happened because someone would have spoken out. Israel or Palestine would have never let the killings happen. Lesser decided to join the pioneers. He was one of the first to be chosen to make the crossing into Palestine. The British were resisting the influx of Jews so the crossing had to be done in secret. The story is told in the movie Exodus. Before the crossing, one of the prospective female passengers got sick and went to hospital. Lesser visited the sick girl. While there, another sick woman told the roommate that Lesser reminded her of her brother. As it turned out, Lesser was her brother. The woman was Lola, Lesser's sister. The coincidence was surprising. The complete story is in Lesser's book.

Benjamin Lesser wrote a book titled Living a Life that Matters. Despite living a deprived childhood, he was able to make a beautiful life in America. His education stopped before he was 11 years old. He had no knowledge of the English language. He had no trade. He came to America and had to work hard. He wanted to succeed and would do whatever it took to do so. He had a wonderful life after the war because he sought to gain the rewards of life. He came to America in a cargo ship loaded with hammocks for the passengers. He was lucky to have the top hammock of the three layers. The seas were rough so the trip was not easy. Seeing the Statue of Liberty and the New York skyline, the feelings were overwhelming. When he came off the boat, he decided it was the first day of his life. Not forgetting the past, he committed to start a new life. He went to night school and worked hard. People have to know how to become a good citizen and behave in America. It takes work to have a lovely family and to succeed in life. It is possible and just a matter of choices. Lesser devotes his life to educating children and their parents and grandparents. He wants to make the world a better place by stopping the hatred in the world. Lesser has started a foundation to remember the Holocaust. He also has a website to educate people about the Holocaust. The website is called I Shout Out where one can shout out against prejudice and hatred. His goal is six million shout outs to compensate for the six million Jewish voices that were silenced. After that, the goal will be 11 million for the other voices lost that were not just Jewish. Lesser celebrates diversity as a beautiful thing. The differences in humanity must be appreciated rather than hated. Religious differences should be accepted instead of persecuted. By shouting out, a bond is created with a silenced voice.