Sep 16, 2026 · 24 min
Filmmaker races to preserve Holocaust survivor testimony
How a Filmmaker Is Racing to Preserve Holocaust Memory
As survivors age, Leslie Benitah is building new ways to preserve their testimony and help young people confront hatred without indifference.
- 1The Last Ones Foundation records survivor testimonies and brings them into classrooms, websites, and interactive digital experiences.
- 2Benitah argues that Holocaust education must confront trauma directly while meeting young people on the platforms and tools they use.
- 3The episode frames remembrance as a present-day responsibility: reject indifference, speak against wrongdoing, and become an upstander.
Don't miss
Benitah describes interviewing a remarkably sharp 104-year-old survivor, underscoring how quickly the firsthand record is disappearing.
The brief
Leslie Benitah grew up with four Holocaust-survivor grandparents, hearing the trauma they carried and turning that family legacy into a preservation mission.
Through The Last Ones Foundation, Benitah has filmed more than 100 survivors in multiple languages, creating testimony for classrooms and public digital platforms.
The project experiments with short-form video, geolocated clips, and searchable curricula so students can encounter survivor stories through familiar tools and places.
The conversation refuses to soften Holocaust history, linking memorial education to the harder task of recognizing hatred and rejecting indifference in the present.
A recent interview with a remarkably sharp 104-year-old survivor makes the central tension vivid: the work is urgent because the witnesses will not be here forever.
Benitah’s takeaway is universal rather than historical alone: speaking out against wrongdoing is what separates an upstander from a bystander.
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