How a Filmmaker Is Racing to Preserve Holocaust Memory
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How did Leslie’s family history shape her mission to preserve Holocaust memory?
My four grandparents were Holocaust survivors. I was not allowed to question my grandparents growing up. I was not allowed to ask them about the number on their arms. But one thing though, as much as they were silent during the day, when I would sleep at my grandparents' house in the night, I would hear them scream.
Leslie Benita is an accomplished journalist, filmmaker, storyteller, and the founder of The Last Ones Foundation. Drawing from her family legacy and decades of filmmaking, she preserves Holocaust survivor testimonies to educate future generations and combat historical denial through powerful storytelling.
What we do with The Last Ones is We capture with film Holocaust survivors around the world and then we teach in classrooms and we educate and we do some Holocaust awareness and education. Because I see these young people and I see that they still have empathy and feelings and an understanding of what's going on. And again, this is not a subject that has to do with the Jews. It's something that has to do with human beings.
it spans the globe like a super high school internet elvis today
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welcome back everyone to another episode of living your legacy podcast i'm your host again jay slangen and thank you for joining us down here at the uh beautiful miami beach studios and we had the privilege to talk to some of the best entrepreneurs the disruptors and experts in so many different fields And today we have a special guest with us here for our Legacy Makers show. Why don't you introduce yourself? What's your name? Where are you from? And what's your business?
My name is Leslie Benita, where I'm from. I'm from Paris, France, initially. But I've been here in Miami for 20 years. And my business is not really a business because it's a 501c3. It's a foundation. It's called The Last Ones. And what we do with The Last Ones is... We capture, we film Holocaust survivors around the world. And then we teach in classrooms. And we educate and we do some Holocaust awareness and education for the young generation. Pretty much everywhere on any platform.
Online, TikTok, whatever. Amazing. And so Holocaust survivors. Yeah, we have the Holocaust Museum and that whole... Like, it's not a statue. It's like a monument, right? With the hand. With the hand. Like this. And when I first went in there, I didn't know what to expect. But it's absolutely, A, it's beautiful. B, it's just kind of like mind-boggling and shocking, right? And it just brings you through a whole journey, really. But, yeah, I mean.
Jay, when was the last time you went there?
What is The Last Ones Foundation and how does it capture survivor testimonies?
About a year ago.
I'm just saying this because they reopened very recently, like a few months back.
Yes.
And now they've integrated a whole new, I would say, experience where you get to ask questions to Holocaust survivors.
Wow.
It's pretty much something that is, it's like holograms, even though we're not supposed to call it holograms. It's like three-dimensional or whatever. But it's beautiful because you get to hear even survivors who are no longer with us and you can ask questions and everything.
Yeah, I saw them doing that construction for quite a while. And they opened it not too long ago. And so yeah, did you have a part to do with all of that?
Well, we we we we happen to be they. So the memorial has supported the work of the last ones for a very long time. The memorial is under the roof of Greater Miami Jewish Federation. I happen to sit on the board of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. So, yes, it's all like a big I would say a big family and we all help each other out. Technically, I haven't done anything in that specific thing. But, for example, they're using some of the videos that I make. And let's say one of the main survivor and probably the first one I have filmed here in Miami was five years ago, and it was David Schachter. Okay. David Schachter passed away almost a year ago.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did Leslie’s family history shape her mission to preserve Holocaust memory?
0:00–3:17
2
What is The Last Ones Foundation and how does it capture survivor testimonies?
3:17–5:47
3
How are the filmed testimonies turned into free classroom curriculum and lesson plans?
5:47–8:40
4
Why does Leslie focus on reaching young people on TikTok, Instagram, and other social platforms?
8:40–11:21
5
How does the new geolocated app connect Holocaust stories to the exact places they happened?
11:21–14:42
6
How does The Last Ones organize hundreds of interviews by age, content rating, and keywords?
14:42–18:34
7
Why does Leslie say she’s “running against time” to record the remaining survivors?
18:34–21:34
8
What message does Leslie want the next generation to take away – upstanders, not bystanders?
21:34–24:07