Zachor for Holocaust Remembrance Foundation (The Zachor Foundation)

ZACHOR means REMEMBER. As we remember, we must educate and inspire future generations to recognize, combat, and extinguish hatred.

My name is Robyn and I’d like you to meet 91-year-old Ben Lesser. Not only is he my Grandfather, but he is also one of the few remaining Holocaust Survivors. He survived an astounding four concentration camps, two death marches, and two death trains, one of which was the notorious ill-fated death train shuttling 3,000 inmates from Buchenwald to Dachau nearing three weeks without food or water. Only eighteen walked out alive just three days before liberation in 1945. As of today, Ben is the ONLY survivor still alive and he is seeking your help to capture his story through a collection of 3D recordings that will live on forever.
My Grandfather’s story is unique. It’s more than just recounting his place in history. It’s about the choices he made and the challenges that taught him endurance and perseverance. He has traversed the world sharing his story of survival and overcoming tragedy and has emerged as a leader in the movement to empower Survivors and encourage remembrance for generations to come. 


THE NEXT PHASE OF TEACHING THE PAST IS RIGHT HERE & NOW.

Our foundation, Zachor for Holocaust Remembrance, has been presented with the unique opportunity to capture my Grandfather’s story by partnering with the USC Shaoh Foundation’s Dimensions in Testimony project. The project integrates advanced filming techniques, specialized display technologies, and next generation natural language processing to create an interactive biography. People are able to ask questions, interact with, and receive real-time responses from pre-recorded video interviews using these 3D figures. Now and far into the future, museum-goers, students and others can have conversational interactions with these eyewitnesses to history to learn from those who were there.

ENGAGING: 98% agree that the installation kept their attention.

EMOTIONAL: 97% agree that the technology helped them to connect to the witness’s story.

INSPIRING: 96% agree Dimensions in Testimony will have a positive impact on them.


This installation of interactive biographies will be hosted in museums throughout the nation and available for educators to include within their curriculums. There are 16 subjects to date and it is our goal for Ben to be number 17. The installation takes roughly one month to produce and costs nearly $30,000. This is a unique and engaging opportunity for educators and students alike and we need your help to create this educational timepiece that is powerful, meaningful and historical.

The time is NOW. Recently celebrating his 91st birthday, Ben is keenly aware that his time and abilities to travel and teach will only continue to diminish. We need your help to bring this necessary dream to life. It is our greatest hope to raise funds to capture his journey and lessons that follow allowing him to leave a legacy that educates.

His visual testimony will provide value-based education and leadership tools to enable students and others to recognize and combat intolerance for years and years to come. 


GET INSPIRED AND BE PART OF A LEGACY THAT EDUCATES. DONATE TODAY.
Thank you in advance for your contributions, sharing, and support.

Don’t want to donate online? You can send your tax-deductible donation to:
ZACHOR Holocaust Remembrance Foundation
2251 North Rampart Blvd. #2520
Las Vegas, NV 89128

The ZACHOR Holocaust Remembrance Foundation is a non-profit organization and is recognized by the IRS as a 501 (c) 3 charity (EIN: 26-3975745). All gifts are tax deductible. To learn more about Ben and his mission, please click here.

#Movember time. This year, I will be growing a mustache independently to support a cause that is important to me and has unfortunately become increasingly relevant: combating anti-semitism.

All donations will go to the Zachor Foundation, a Holocaust remembrance non-profit organization. Zachor is a Hebrew word that means Remember. The foundation’s purpose is to preserve and share the stories of Holocaust survivors and also to educate youth about intolerance.

Anti-semitism has grown in recent years at an alarming rate and in all corners of the globe. Our people are no strangers to such hatred – we have endured persecution for centuries. But the heinous events in Pittsburgh serve as a reminder that despite global efforts to heal after one of the greatest atrocities in the history of mankind just ~75 years ago, these cowardly prejudices will persist. It is a permanent reality.

The FBI reported earlier this month that there was a 37% increase in hate crimes against Jews in 2017 in the US (vs. 17% increase for all hate crimes). The NYPD reported 31 anti-semitic hate crimes in NYC in October 2018, up from just 9 last October.

My wish is to raise awareness about the current state and recurring nature of anti-semitism and to contribute whatever I can raise to an organization that furthers this effort. This is not political and I hope it isn’t interpreted as such. I will forever remain an optimistic person, and I maintain that the future is bright for Jews and all other communities that experience unfair discrimination. But there’s always work to do to get us there ;)