Four perfect pebbles.
Pebbles were what 9-year-old Marion Blumenthal Lazan searched for while she was in the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen in Germany. She believed if she could find four perfect pebbles, the four members of her family would survive.
Sixty years later, Lazan speaks to a variety of groups, from school children to church groups, around the world about her experiences. She also wrote a book, "Four Perfect Pebbles," about her time in Bergen-Belsen.
Lazan will speak at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Pruis Hall.
Amanda Hicks, marketing manager for Minnetrista Cultural Center, said Lazan's visit was in conjunction with Minnetrista's Anne Frank exhibit.
"The historical yet intimate exhibit depicts Anne Frank's life story using family photos and passages from her diary," Hicks said. "Her biographical story is enhanced by testimony and powerful imagery from Holocaust survivors."
Lazan was sent to the same concentration camp as Anne Frank, Hicks said.
"Her family endured 6-and-a-half years of fear and persecution in some of Europe's most notorious refugee, transit and concentration camps," Hicks said.
Lazan first spoke in 1979 about her experiences during World War II. The rabbi of the local synagogue asked her to speak for Holocaust Remembrance Day, Lazan said.
"I had to sit down and put to paper thoughts I had been repressing for 34 years," Lazan said.
Lazan said Holocaust survivors had to put aside that part of their history to go on with their lives. Many did not think anyone would believe what they had experienced, she said.
After speaking for Holocaust Remembrance Day, Lazan was asked to speak by educators in the audience at their schools and for different groups they were involved in, Lazan said.
After speaking at schools, churches and other places about her experiences, in the early 1990s Lazan said she spoke at a middle school where Lila Perl, an author of biographies and social history books for children and young adults, listened and observed the audience's reaction. Perl asked Lazan about writing a book.
Lazan said she and Perl wrote the manuscript in about 18 months. The book was accepted by a publisher almost immediately because there are so few books from a child's perspective that are not historical fiction, Lazan said.
She said the book was written from her perspective as a 9-year-old in a concentration camp. Her mother and brother helped fill in parts of history that Lazan was too young to remember, she said. The book also tells the story of their liberation and beginning a new life after the war.
"Four Perfect Pebbles" is in its 17th printing in hardback.
"I'm just so grateful that the story is in book form for future generations," Lazan said.
The main message of Lazan's speeches is tolerance.
"I want to impress upon the audience to be kind, tolerant, respectful and considerate," Lazan said.
She said she thought this was the basis for peace.
People should not follow leaders blindly, she said, and they should think of the consequences of following a leader.
"Hitler alone could not have done so much damage," Lazan said.
She said she wanted people to remember not to generalize and not to judge a group of people on the actions of a few. Many people who tried to help Jewish people were caught and sent to concentration camps for doing what they thought was right, she said.
"These are universal messages that we all know," Lazan said. "We just need to be reminded."
Additional information
Lazan will speak at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Pruis Hall
and at 7 p.m. Dec. 12 at Parker City Christ Fellowship
Minnetrista will have a Meet the Author event with Lazan from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday. Light refreshments will be served and her book, "Four Perfect Pebbles," will be for sale.
Cost: Members, $15; Non-members, $20. Pre-registration is required. For more information or to register, please call (765) 213-3549
Source: Amanda Hicks, marketing manager for Minnetrista
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