Brochure from Center for Holocaust Education & Human Dignity featuring survivor Ben Lesser

Ben Lesser Eleven year-old Ben Lesser was living with his family in Krakow, Poland when the Nazis invaded in September, 1939. He was on the run for the next five years until April 1944 when the Nazis caught up with him in Munkacs, Hungary. Along with his little brother, sister, uncle, aunt and cousin, Ben Lesser's first experience on a cattle-car was his deportation from Munkacs to Auschwitz-Birkenau. "The only plumbing consisted of two buckets, which very quickly filled and overflowed. Soon the entire floor was covered with urine, excrement, and vomit. Along with the constant sounds and smells of bodily functions, were the agonized prayers, moans, cries and shrieks of people in unspeakable physical and emotional pain." In the spring of 1945, just one day after barely surviving the brutal 3-week Death March from Durnhau to Buchenwald, Lesser was placed on another cattle-car, this time, along with his cousin, he was put on a Death Train from Buchenwald to Dachau. "For approximately four weeks they shuttled us back and forth from one railroad siding to another. Only a handful of the 80 in our car were still alive. Finally, the train stopped, and those very few of us who had survived, managed to climb over the corpses and out of the cattle-cars.. .Three days later, on April 29,1945, when 'Liberation' came, it didn't really mean much to us because we inmates were only hours away from death due to disease and starvation." "I recuperated at St. Ottilien's infirmary, and in 1947,1 began a beautiful new life with my sister and her family in ? ne U.b. I worked hard, and eventually was blessed with my own family, and achieved the American Dream." A project of the East Valley JCC www.evjcc.org The Center The Center for Holocaust Education & Human Dignity is dedicated to educating the public about the Holocaust in order to take action on issues facing the world today. As a world-class museum, the lessons of the Holocaust and the message of human dignity will extend throughout the Southwest on a daily basis. Honoring victims of the Holocaust is the centerpiece of the project, while the name is meant to convey the larger message that dignity is an inherent human right. The East Valley JCC in Chandler, Arizona conceived of the Center as an extension of its events centered on diversity, understanding and human dignity.The Center will be built on the JCC's land adjacent to its existing building, which was originally intended for a JCC expansion and is now dedicated to an integrated campus approach. Exhibits will include Holocaust history and education, exhibits on other genocides, and rotating exhibits on current diversity and tolerance issues. The Railcar In early 2012, the East Valley JCC acquired the railcar from Macedonia, which was occupied by Germany during World War II. Railcars were integral to the German's ability to transport and murder mass numbers of Jews as they worked to carry out the "Final Solution". This railcar has been certified as 'being of the type and era' used to transport Holocaust victims to death camps. The Center for Holocaust Education & Human Dignity commissioned an expert in the preservation of artifacts to research the history and significance of the car, while preserving it as closely as possible to its current state. Research shows the car was of German design and made in Yugoslavia between 1915 and 1925, while elements of the car, specifically some of the windows, were fabricated in the late 1800's. Maintenance markings indicate the car was in service during the time of Holocaust, although it has not yet been confirmed that it transported people. The last maintenance markings indicate that the car was in service in 1976. The car was purchased as scrap metal from the Macedonian Railway Authority and shipped to the Port of Los Angeles, then transported by freight to Arizona. The railcar is significant as a symbol of the millions of people whose lives and families were destroyed and subjected to the worst of human nature. This railcar has traveled more than 11 thousand miles to fulfill its new purpose: to become a centerpiece in a place dedicated to human dignity, serving as a symbol of honor and respect. The railcar will be on limited display until it takes its place as the signature artifact in the Center for Holocaust Education & Human Dignity in Chandler, AZ.