'Be kind...good...respectful...tolerant of each other'

Students and faculty at Shawnee High School at Wolf Lake, along with guests from Cairo High School, were given a chilling reminder of how dark the world can be when Marion Blumenthal Lazan told the story of spending her formative years in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust in Germany. 

The Holocaust survivor shared her special message during a presentation Monday morning at Shawnee High School.

Her presentation, however, was not a story of fear and anger at her treatment, but one of hope.

Lazan’s family of four had planned to immigrate to America from Germany in 1940 and had the paperwork and tickets in hand in November of 1938, but Kristallnacht, “the night of broken glass,” changed their plans. That night, Jewish businesses, homes, synagogues, schools and hospitals were attacked and Jewish people in Germany were beaten, killed or arrested in order to later be transported to concentration camps. Jews were afterwards taxed by Germany for the damages.

Lazan’s father, Walter, was taken for 10 days along with many other Jewish men, but he was released due to his immigration papers. A few years before, he had been awarded the Iron Cross in the German military.

In May of 1940, the Blumenthals were not able to immigrate to America as planned. They were trapped at Westerbork, a deportation camp in the Netherlands that served as a refugee camp until it was taken over by Nazi Germany.

From Westerbork, people were transferred to one of four concentration camps on cattle cars nearly every Tuesday between July 1942 and September 1944. An estimated 107,000 people passed through Westerbork in the years it was open. Only 5,200 survived.

In January 1944, Lazan and her family were taken to Bergen-Belsen, a concentration camp in Northern Germany, when she was 9 years old. She remembered the electrified barbed wire fences and constantly sweeping search lights, cramming 600 people into bunkers made for 100, frost bite and once-a-month showers that were filled with fear.  

She was still made to wear the Star of David in the camp in the hope that she and her family could’ve been exchanged for German nationals in Palestine. That hope was never fulfilled.

Lazan’s parents and her brother Albert managed to stay together throughout, though men and women were separated in the camp. Lazan and her brother were each able to share a bunk with a parent, though many in the bunkers were forced to sleep next to a stranger, sharing one thin blanket.

Lazan recalled being hopeful upon seeing a wagon filled with what she thought was firewood, hoping to warm up the unused fireplace in her bunker. The “firewood” turned out to be the naked bodies of dead prisoners. 

“Death was an everyday occurence,” she said.

The prison guards did everything they could to break inmates physically, spiritually and mentally. 

Lazan kept herself going by creating imaginative games, particularly the daily search for four pebbles of the same size and shape. She told herself if she could find similar pebbles, one for each member of her family, they would all survive.

“I cheated all the time,” she said of her game. If she found all four pebbles, she would hide them in a special place in case she couldn’t find them another day. “It was my game. Guess who made the rules?”

Her mother worked in the kitchen of Bergen-Belsen. She once smuggled the ingredients to make soup into their bunk, with Marion hiding any signs of it. However, a surprise inspection frightened them, knocking over the hot soup onto Marion’s leg, burning it and leaving it open for infections that couldn’t be treated.

The Blumenthals were among the last group to be sent to death camps from Bergen-Belsen in the spring of 1945. They were en route for longer than was normal for that trip due to Germany’s attempted invasions of Allied powers. The prisoners were allowed to fill their needs on stops but were still threatened Allied air raids. Lazan’s burned leg had become severely infected by then.

The Russian army liberated their train and eventually helped the passengers to a nearby village where they were treated.

At 11 years old, Lazan weighed just 35 pounds. 

Many of the passengers, including Lazan and her father, were ill with typhus at the time. Walter died in the village, just six weeks after their liberation. Albert, who was 12 years old, helped bury him.

“It still has not become easy. I separate myself from it ever having happened to me,” she told the audience at Shawnee High School. “And that is how I deal with it.”

The next few years of Lazan’s life included receiving her first formal education and learning three new languages, including English, so she could function in her new American school in Peoria. Her mother, who died last year, one month short of her 105th birthday, managed to stay with both of her children throughout the immigration to America.

Today, Lazan is cheerful, funny, optimistic and kind. She celebrated her 63rd anniversary with her husband Nathaniel in August of this year, she has three married children, nine grandchildren and two great-granddaughters. Her book, “Four, Perfect Pebbles,” is in its 28th printing and has been translated into many different languages. A documentary, “Marion’s Triumph,” tells the story of her experiences.

“My life today is full and rewarding,” she said.

She had some specific words for the students.

“The horror of the Holocaust must be taught,” she said. She asked that the students share her story and others with their kids and grandchildren. “In a few short years, we will not be here anymore to give a first-hand account. You must prevent our past from becoming your future.”

“Respect for one another must begin in our homes. Let us look for similarities and respect the differences. Be kind and good and respectful and tolerant of each other. Don’t blindly follow a leader. Never judge a group by the actions of some. Check in with your moms and dads and don’t ever, ever, ever give up hope.”