OTSELIC – Otselic Valley and DeRuyter students were given an eye-opening firsthand account of the Holocaust from a survivor who shared her story at a presentation hosted by the OV School District on Monday.
From age four to age ten, Marion Blumenthal Lazan was prisoner in concentration camps that were scattered across Nazi ruled parts of Europe. After Hitler’s rise to power, she and her family – father, mother, and brother, Albert – escaped Nazi Germany to Holland, which was taken control by the Nazis shortly after, and the Blumenthals were forced into refugee, transit and prison camps including Westerbork in Holland and the Bergen-Belsen in Germany.
Lazan’s recollection of Bergen-Belsen is similar to that of an overcrowded high security prison, with electrified fences, armed guards, watchtowers, dogs, and spotlights.
“Six hundred of us were crammed into the wooden heatless barracks that were made for 100 when they were originally built,” she said. “German winters were bitter cold ... I remember the first time seeing a wagon filled with what I thought was firewood for the one small oven that we had in our barracks ... I soon realized that what was in the wagon were dead, naked bodies thrown one on top of the other.”
In her presentation, Lazan gave her account of the hellish conditions of the camps, where she said words could never describe to the odor, filth, and constant fear of being surrounded by death. Even basic human needs became a rare and cherished commodity, she said. Surviving just one day was a small victory in itself.
“The Nazis did the most to break us physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Unfortunately, they did succeed with many of our people,” said Lazan. “It was not uncommon for people who were no longer responsible for their actions to attempt escape, even though they knew that their chance to succeed was next to impossible. But they also felt they had nothing more to lose. The failure of their attempts were obvious when we saw their lifeless bodies hanging against the barbed wire.”
She continued, “Malnutrition, dysentery, and the loss of the will to go on is what destroyed body and mind. Death was an every day occurrence. The dark crowded quarters caused us to trip and fall over the dead. Bodies could not be taken away fast enough. We as children saw things that no one, no matter what the age, should ever have to see.”
Lazan’s story detailed many events of those six lost years of her childhood, and the events that followed. While all four members of the Blumenthal family did survive the camps, Lazan’s father succumbed to typhus after liberation. It took three years before Lazan and the rest of her family obtained necessary papers and entered the United States.
In spite of her experiences, Lazne today clings to a sense of optimism and hope which she shares all over the country. She has authored a book, “Four Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story” that’s being taught in school districts in conjunction with other primary accounts of the Holocaust. In 2003, her story of determination, perseverance, and faith was turned into a film documentary, “Marion’s Triumph,” in which she recounts here painful childhood memories in order to preserve history.
“I think today was 20 times what a student can get from a textbook,” OV Superintendent Daniel Henner said of Monday’s presentation. “We do a lot of real-life experiences for students here, but there’s nothing that can compare to this.”
Said OV High School Principal Robert Berson, “It was a wonderful opportunity to have a firsthand account for students. The one thing that came to mind as Marion was speaking is that it was only 75 years ago that these events took place. That’s very powerful. She reinforced in her presentation to be mindful because for students, that might seem like a long time, but it’s really not. It was such a wonderful opportunity to hear her story.”
More about Lazan and her story can be found on her website, fourperfectpebbles.com.