Herbert Benjamin was born on 26 April 1922 in Frankfurt/Main. His father was the merchant Semmy Jehuda Benjamin, born on 26 April 1873 in Dannenberg. Herbert's mother Sara Benjamin, née Stein, born on 20 January 1881, was from Rhina. The family lived in Frankfurt/Main at Herderstraße 8a, were Semmy Benjamin ran a trade in raw materials.

Herbert stayed in the children's home of the association "Weibliche Fürsorge" in Frankfurt/Main in 1923. In spring of 1925, the three-year-old boy was moved to the home of the Jewish Women's Association in Neu-Isenburg. How long he stayed there is unknown. Later Herbert Benjamin lived in Gehlberg.

Herbert Benjamin was imprisoned in Buchenwald concentration camp at the age of 20 years. From there he was deported to the Nazi Euthanasia Centre at Bernburg/Saale on 2 March 1942, where he was murdered on 14 March 1942.His parents were deported from Frankfurt on 15 September 1942 to Ghetto Theresienstadt. Father Semmy Benjamin died there on 28 March 1942, mother Sara on 2 June 1943.

Sources: Stadtarchiv Neu-Isenburg; Volker Mahnkopp: Dokumentation zu vom NS-Staat verfolgten Personen im Frankfurter Kinderhaus der Weiblichen Fürsorge e. V. Hans-Thoma-Straße 24: https://www.platz-der-vergessenen-kinder.de/mai/frontend/function/file.php?id=71; Adress book of the city of Frankfurt/Main, 1925; The 1935 Jewish Frankfurt Addressbook: https://mappingthelives.org/ (opens in a new tab); Memorial Book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933 – 1945 (Bundesarchiv - National Archive) https://www.bundesarchiv.de/gedenkbuch/ (opens in a new tab)