WORLD IS RIVETED BY HISTORIC DISCOVERY
OF RARE HOLOCAUST JACKET
SEE THE HOLOCAUST JACKET AND LEARN THE FULL STORY BEHIND IT AT A
MAJOR RETROSPECTIVE, NOW ON DISPLAY AT
THE KUPFERBERG HOLOCAUST CENTER
AT QUEENSBOROUGH COMMUNITY COLLEGE | CUNY
November 23, 2016--Bayside, N.Y. -- Most Holocaust prisoner jackets were lost,
damaged, or destroyed after WWII. However, an intact, authentic Holocaust jacket,
Dachau Prisoner Number 84679, discovered at an estate sale in Long Island, has
become the rare exception, capturing the attention of people all over the world.
A vintage clothing retailer who recognized the jacket immediately contacted the
internationally renowned Kupferberg Holocaust Center (KHC) at Queensborough
Community College in Bayside, New York. Backed by the highly reputable resources of
the KHC, both the prisoner and the jacket’s authenticity were confirmed.
The result of this painstaking research is an incredible and compelling story told through
the Kupferberg Holocaust Center exhibit, “The Jacket from Dachau: One Survivor’s
Search for Justice, Identity and Home”.
The jacket belonged to Holocaust survivor Ben Peres (Benzion Peresecki), originally
from Lithuania. During WWII he was forced into a ghetto and later imprisoned by the
Nazis at the Dachau concentration camp in Germany, from 1944 until its liberation in
1945.
After being liberated, he and thousands of other Jews spent years in a displaced
persons camp in Landsberg, Germany. Once Ben immigrated to the U.S., he fought to
re-establish his identity, find justice for his family’s suffering, and build a new home.
Throughout his postwar years, no matter how many times he moved, and no matter
what challenges he faced, he was determined to keep his Holocaust jacket.
In 1968, with $4,173.70 from Germany’s reparations effort, Ben and his mother put a
down payment on a house in Bellmore, Long Island. There, he and his wife Chaya
raised their son Michael and daughter Lorrie. Throughout the years, he never spoke to
anyone about the jacket’s existence. Ben died at age 52 after suffering a stroke during
his daughter’s bat mitzvah.
Seventy years after his liberation from Dachau, his prisoner’s jacket still hung in the
back of a closet in his Bellmore home. With her husband gone and her health
deteriorating, Chaya moved into her son’s home, put her house up for sale and held an
estate sale in July of 2015. It was at the sale that Ben’s jacket once again saw the light
of day.
With Ben’s identity and the jacket’s authenticity confirmed Dr. Dan Leshem, Director of
the Kupferberg Holocaust Center at Queensborough Community College, was able to
contact Ben’s daughter Lorrie Zullo, who knew nothing of the jacket’s existence and was
in disbelief that her father would not have spoken of it during his lifetime. Dr. Leshem
invited her to the KHC to see the jacket and upon doing so Lorrie and her brother
Michael were so moved they donated over 1,500 documents, artifacts, photographs and
home movies to the KHC.
Watch the never before seen video about the jacket discovery here.
The physical jacket is now on display at the Kupferberg Holocaust Center (KHC) at
Queensborough Community College of The City University of New York (CUNY).
This January, the KHC will expand its reach by launching a groundbreaking, immersive
and interactive version of the exhibition designed to tell this emotional story to the world.
The digital exhibition will be available at http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/khc.
“The KHC approaches the Holocaust as a human story extending beyond the
boundaries of any single discipline. The lessons of the Holocaust, particularly as
contextualized within education about other genocides and crimes against humanity,
offer an unparalleled opportunity to address the cultural, educational, and civic needs of
our diverse community,” said Dr. Diane B. Call, President of Queensborough
Community College. “The KHC is neither a museum nor a library. We are a learning
laboratory where students, survivors and members of the global community learn
through their hearts, minds and actions.”
“This authentic jacket provides anyone who comes near it an opportunity to be instantly
transformed into the past. Few Holocaust survivor stories can be told so completely.”
Dr. Dan Leshem, Director of the Kupferberg Holocaust Center at Queensborough
Community College.
“The Jacket from Dachau: One Survivor’s Search for Justice, Identity and Home” is cocurated by Dr. Dan Leshem and Dr. Cary Lane, Assistant Professor, Academic Literacy
at Queensborough Community College.