Gina K.

I am Gina Klonoff, former president of the Speakers Bureau of the Holocaust Survivors Group of Southern Nevada. For more than a decade it was my responsibility to recruit my fellow members to appear before civic, religious, social or educational groups to give their eye witness accounts of what they suffered. Most of them checked the “no” box in the polling questionnaire I distributed. When I asked individuals for the reason they refused to speak, I was usually told “Oh, no. I couldn’t talk about that. I’ve never talked about that. I haven’t even told my children what happened to me, it was such a long time ago.”

Nevertheless, a small core of willing speakers evolved from our growing membership. Ben Lesser, a survivor from Poland, was among the earliest ones. After the reports I received from his audiences, as well as his own reaction, I realized that in him I had launched not only an informative reporter, but also an eloquent oratory talent which would have done justice to the ancient Cicero. Again and again he told his story with such powerful details and eloquence, that afterward audiences refused to leave, but stayed on to ask questions. His host of “thank you letters” from students and adult audiences alike would fill suitcases. The intense Interest also made him realize how much the world needed this information, and how much they valued it.

Even though Ben Lesser was naturally gratified by his success, he believed that to engrave the knowledge of this Jewish catastrophe more deeply and permanently in the minds and hearts of his audiences, something “tangible” was needed.

To that effect, Ben Lesser conceived the idea of the “Zachor Holocaust Remembrance Pin”. It is a small gold pin which could be worn on a lapel, carried in a pocket, lie on a shelf and yet always serve as a reminder of the 20th Century Holocaust unleashed upon six million Jews because of their religion. It would always say “Zachor” in Hebrew, and mean “REMEMBER”.

As a Holocaust survivor, I myself support him whole heartedly in his endeavor. I hope that more and more people will also want to support his goal, so that the six million innocent Jewish men, women and children, viciously murdered, will not have died in vain, and that the pin becomes a potent warning against the evil and hatred which might yet reappear long after no eye witnesses are left to warn the world with their reports.

Gina Klonoff
President
Holocaust Survivors Group
Of Southern Nevada