"You students are the last generation to hear a Holocaust survivor speak," said Holocaust survivor Ben Lesser. "If you don’t pass on this information, then people will start to forget and it will happen again."

This was Lesser’s message when he addressed Sierra Vista High School sophomores on Friday, May 18. The students in Honors English II and Honors/Advanced Placement World History classes had the opportunity to listen to Lesser’s story.

He started his speech by stating, "Civilization lost its humanity." This meant that during the Holocaust, people were not acting like human beings.

He then spoke about his early life, how he lived with his family of seven and couldn’t have imagined anything going wrong.

Lesser described in graphic detail many of his experiences while living under Nazi control in Poland and ten at the concentration camp Auschwitz.

He categorized all the people involved as "killers, bystanders, and the victims. And it was the silent bystanders that hurt us the most, because they seemed indifferent to our suffering."

"History repeats itself," he said.

English teacher Pamela Poster contacted Lesser through his organization, the Zachor (Hebrew for remember) Foundation.

She thought it would be the perfect opportunity for her students to hear him speak since they are reading the book Night and are learning about the Holocaust in their World History classes.

"I want my students to understand that they need to pass this information on; this will not happen again if help people remember," said Poster.

Sophomore Christopher Coughlin was deeply affected by Lesser’s story.

"I never realized that we would be the last ones to hear from a speaker," he said. "It actually made me think about what is valuable in life."

Sophomore Kimberly Lai agreed. "Life is so valuable and could be gone at any minute," she said. "Mr. Lesser helped me realize this."

To learn more about Lesser and the Zachor Foundation, visit http://www.ben lesser.com. His book, Living a Life That Matters: from Nazi Nightmare to American Dream, is also available.