About The Last Ones Foundation
The Last Ones Foundation is a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in March 2022 by journalist and filmmaker Leslie Gelrubin Benitah. Its mission is to preserve, document, and transmit the testimonies of the last living Holocaust survivors through film, books, and educational programs — ensuring that their voices continue to educate, guide, and resonate for generations to come.
At a time when the last witnesses of the Holocaust are disappearing, the urgency of this work cannot be overstated. The Foundation was created in response to a simple but profound reality: within the next decade, there will no longer be living survivors able to share their stories firsthand. What remains will define how future generations understand one of the most consequential events in human history.
The Last Ones Foundation is committed to ensuring that these voices are not lost, but instead become part of a living, accessible archive — one that speaks directly to students, educators, institutions, and the broader public.
Origins of the Project
The project finds its origins in an initial concept launched in France under the name Les Derniers, created by filmmaker Sophie Nahum, which sought to capture the testimonies of Holocaust survivors through short, impactful video formats.
From the outset, Leslie Gelrubin Benitah was involved as both a patron and a key supporter of the project in France, contributing to its early development and expansion.
Building on this initial impulse, Leslie Gelrubin Benitah went on to expand the vision into a broader international initiative, transforming it into a multi-platform educational and documentary project. Under her leadership, The Last Oneshas grown into a global effort spanning multiple continents, languages, and audiences, with a strong focus on educational impact and long-term preservation.
Today, The Last Ones Foundation operates as an independent U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to scaling this mission globally.
A Global Archive of Testimony
At the heart of The Last Ones Foundation is the creation of a global archive of Holocaust survivor testimonies.
Through extensive international filming efforts, the Foundation has documented the stories of more than one hundred survivors across Europe, North America, Israel, and South America. These testimonies are recorded in multiple languages, including English, French, and Spanish, allowing the stories to reach diverse audiences and communities.
Each testimony is more than a historical account. It is a personal narrative — a voice, a face, a memory — that transforms history from abstraction into lived experience.
The Foundation’s work focuses not only on recording these stories, but on structuring them in ways that make them accessible and meaningful, particularly for younger generations. Through short-form video, narrative editing, and educational framing, the testimonies become tools for learning, reflection, and connection.
Educational Impact
Education is at the core of The Last Ones Foundation’s mission.
The organization has developed educational materials and digital resources designed specifically for use in schools. These materials are currently used in more than 4,200 public schools across the state of Florida, reaching thousands of students each year.
Since 2023, The Last Ones has been recognized as an official educational resource within Miami-Dade Public Schools, one of the largest school districts in the United States. Through structured lesson plans, video modules, and classroom engagement, students are able to encounter Holocaust history not through distant facts, but through the voices of those who lived it.
In 2025, The Last Ones was recognized as the Best Holocaust Education Initiative in the United States, highlighting its innovative approach to teaching history through testimony.
In 2026, the work of the Foundation was further acknowledged through a formal proclamation by the School Board, recognizing its contribution to Holocaust education and student engagement.
The Foundation also benefits from the support of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), which has helped expand its educational initiatives.
Films, Books, and Storytelling
The Last Ones Foundation brings survivor testimony to life through multiple formats.
The Last Ones of Auschwitz (Film)
To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the Foundation produced a 70-minute documentary film, The Last Ones of Auschwitz, made available in both French and English.
This collective film brings together 28 of the last surviving witnesses of Auschwitz, tracing the journey of deportees from arrest to deportation, through survival, and into their reflections on the present day.
The film is designed not only as a documentary, but as an educational tool — offering audiences a structured and deeply human understanding of the Holocaust experience.
The Last Ones of Auschwitz (Book)
Complementing the film, the Foundation released the book The Last Ones of Auschwitz, co-authored by Sophie Nahum and Leslie Gelrubin Benitah, which brings these testimonies into written form.
The book allows survivor voices to reach broader audiences, including classrooms, libraries, and educational institutions, ensuring that these stories are preserved across formats and generations.
A New Digital Frontier
Beyond traditional media, The Last Ones Foundation is developing a new and innovative tool: a geolocated testimony application.
This app will allow users to encounter Holocaust survivor testimonies exactly where history happened. By connecting testimony to place, the project creates a powerful new form of historical engagement.
A visitor standing in Warsaw, for example, will be able to hear a survivor describing life in the ghetto. A student visiting Auschwitz will hear testimony tied directly to that location. The app transforms physical space into a living archive of memory.
This initiative represents the next phase of Holocaust education — one that integrates technology, storytelling, and geography to create a deeply immersive experience.
Global Reach and Recognition
The work of The Last Ones Foundation has been presented internationally, including screenings connected to events at the United Nations and other global platforms.
Through social media and digital distribution, the project has reached tens of millions of viewers worldwide, demonstrating the power of testimony in the digital age.
By combining documentary storytelling with accessible formats, The Last Ones has helped redefine how Holocaust remembrance can be shared and understood today.
Founder: Leslie Gelrubin Benitah
Leslie Gelrubin Benitah is a journalist, storyteller, and Holocaust survivor documentarian.
The granddaughter of four Holocaust survivors, she holds a PhD in Journalism from the Sorbonne and has devoted her career to storytelling, education, and the preservation of memory.
She began her career in France as an editor-in-chief, shaping editorial content for major media platforms before transitioning into long-form documentary work.
After relocating to Miami in 2006, she led a major French-language publication before returning fully to film, directing critically acclaimed documentaries and collaborating with leading production companies for over fifteen years.
Over the past decade, and especially in the last five years, Leslie has dedicated herself to documenting the testimonies of Holocaust survivors through her award-winning project The Last Ones.
She has filmed hundreds of survivors worldwide, working across multiple languages and cultural contexts. Her work has reached tens of millions of people across digital platforms, classrooms, and public events.
Through her films and educational initiatives, Leslie brings survivor voices directly to students and communities, advocating for education as the most powerful response to misinformation, denial, and hate.
She regularly speaks to audiences, educators, and institutions, emphasizing that Holocaust remembrance is not only about preserving the past, but about shaping the future.
Mission and Vision
The mission of The Last Ones Foundation is clear:
To ensure that the voices of Holocaust survivors continue to educate, warn, and inspire long after the last witnesses are gone.
Through film, books, digital platforms, and education, the Foundation seeks to transform memory into a living force — one that connects generations, fosters understanding, and combats the rising threats of antisemitism, denial, and historical distortion.
A Responsibility to the Future
The work of The Last Ones Foundation is not only about documenting the past. It is about preparing for a future in which there will be no living witnesses.
In that future, the stories preserved today will become the primary source of understanding.
The Foundation stands at this critical intersection — between memory and history, between the last witnesses and the generations that will follow.
By preserving these voices now, The Last Ones Foundation ensures that the lessons of the Holocaust remain present, relevant, and deeply human.