Marion Blumenthal Lazan Visits Sea Cliff School to Tell Her Story of Survival - Emphasizing Kindness and Survival

In June 2024, Marion Blumenthal Lazan and her husband visited Sea Cliff School and told her story of survival to the students, faculty, and staff. Her remarkable story of survival as a very young girl along with her mother, father, and brother in Holland and then a Nazi prison camp called Bergen-Belsen in Germany touched everyone in the audience.

She explained that it was the love and strength of her mother that helped her survive through unspeakable conditions for many years until Canadian troops liberated the remaining people in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. During her years in captivity, she would play a game by gathering four “perfect” pebbles each day which represented her four family members. They all had to be similar in size and shape, so she looked and looked each day, until she was able to gather them. If she found them, Ms. Blumenthal Lazan believed that all her family members would be able to survive another day.

Ms. Blumenthal Lazan explained that it was her perseverance, hope, and will to live along with her mother’s strength and determination that helped her endure her many years in the concentration camp. She reiterated that everyone should have hope and believe in themselves. She also emphasized kindness and tolerance to others.

Years later, her story later became a famous book titled, “Four Perfect Pebbles.” It is available in hard cover as well as soft cover where books are sold.   

Thank you to Ms. Marion Blumenthal Lazan and her husband for visiting Sea Cliff School. She asked the students and all those in the audience to retell her story of survival and resilience.

Article and photos by Shelly Newman