Ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day this week, Maariv conducted an exclusive interview with Jewish entrepreneur Harley Lippman. In a world where technology races forward and historical memory often fades into the background, Harley Lippman manages to bridge the gap. He is a successful businessman, a technologist at heart, and the CEO of global staffing firm Genesis10; yet, as our conversation deepens, it becomes clear that his true engine is not profits or stocks, but an ancient promise he made to his grandmother: to never forget, and to always help those who cannot say thank you.
We met at the start of a new year, moments before Lippman rushed off to another conference and a series of meetings with decision-makers. Despite the tight schedule, when he begins to speak about his project in Poland, time stands still.
The debt that cannot be repaid
“For each of my children, I chose to mark their Bar or Bat Mitzvah with something of deep significance,” Lippman says. “For my eldest daughter, I took responsibility for an orphanage that was about to be abandoned. That was 27 years ago. Since then, I have supported over 30 children through their university graduation. We remain in close contact with them to this day.”
For his second daughter, he took Jewish dolls sold in Poland that were made from pages of Torah scrolls and restored them into a brand-new Torah scroll.
However, the project that became his life’s mission arrived with his son’s Bar Mitzvah. Lippman decided to focus on an often-forgotten angle of the Holocaust: the mass murders that preceded the industrialized death camps.
“People think of Auschwitz as the central symbol, but the systematic murder began long before the ovens were operating at full capacity,” he explains. “I focus on the ‘Holocaust by Bullets’—the firing pits in Poland. To date, we have found about 40 mass graves. We go village to village, interviewing remaining Polish eyewitnesses—people who were children and watched from the forest as the Germans led Jewish families to their deaths.”
Lippman does not settle for just locating them. He personally funds—without accepting outside donations—the erection of headstones and monuments and conducts proper Jewish burial ceremonies. “This is Chesed Shel Emet (the truest kindness) in Judaism—doing something for someone who cannot thank you.”
As a man who researches the darkest history of the 20th century, Lippman is not surprised by modern manifestations of antisemitism, but he is certainly concerned. “Antisemitism is a disease that changes shape,” he says painfully. “Once they blamed us for the death of Jesus, then for the Black Plague, then for Communism, and today—for genocide. It is always the same scapegoat.”
According to him, the current struggle takes place on the battlefield of social media and education. “This generation is angry, bitter, and fed by short TikTok videos without context. We must fight there, with truth, with technology, and with education that penetrates the school systems.”
Lippman’s activity crosses continents. He finds himself defending Israel on Chinese television, being interviewed by newspapers in Lebanon and Al Jazeera, and serving as a bridge between the US administration and Israel. Yet, alongside high-level politics, he maintains a direct connection to the people.
In his Miami apartment, he hosts wounded Israeli soldiers, providing them with a respite, yacht trips, and moments of peace. “We need to show them our gratitude. Today, Jews are strong; we have power, and we must use it to protect ourselves and others.”
When asked where this relentless drive comes from, his eyes narrow as he remembers his grandmother. “She was everything to me,” he shares emotionally. “She fled the pogroms at age 14, alone, without knowing a word of English. Her entire family perished in the Holocaust. Her brother, who received the ‘Iron Cross’ as a soldier in the German army in WWI, was sent to Dachau despite everything. From him, I learned that it doesn’t matter how you view yourself—what matters is how others see you.”
Lippman's work is Chesed Shel Emet
The Chairman of the European Jewish Association (EJA), Rabbi Menachem Margolin, noted in a conversation with Maariv that Mr. Harley Lippman’s work is Chesed Shel Emet in the most literal sense and is worthy of all praise. It is an act of pure giving, without any expectation of reward.
This activity focuses attention on an aspect often neglected in Holocaust remembrance: hundreds of thousands of Jews were murdered before the extermination camps became a systematic industrial murder machine—long before Auschwitz became “Auschwitz” as we know it.
The Germans who carried out the murders were not all SS men or brainwashed youths. Many were older Germans. Lippman’s research revealed that many of the mass murderers were formerly members of anti-Nazi parties—Communists and Socialists—and yet, when faced with terrified families begging for their lives, they shot and killed them. Hamburg was a liberal port city where Hitler received low support in the final elections. This illustrates how deeply rooted antisemitism was, and how “ordinary” people were—and still may be—capable of such atrocities. In doing so, Harley Lippman’s work does a kindness not only to the dead but also continues to keep the Holocaust in the public consciousness.
The conversation ends as Lippman prepares for his next event, but his message remains clear: the combination of business strength and deep moral commitment is the only way to ensure the past does not repeat itself.