Marion Blumenthal Lazan

Marion Blumenthal Lazan

Holocaust Survivor

*1951: Marion meets Nathaniel

Two years later on August 2, 1953, Marion and Nathaniel are married.

*Ruth reamined in Peoria until 1956,when she moved to California and then to New York.

Invasion

* Hitler's armies captured Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland

*April 10, 1940: armies invade Denmark and Norway

*May 10, 1940: armies invade Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France

*May 14, 1940: Bombed Rotterdam, Holland's 2nd largest city

*Days later, the Dutch royal family fled to England

* Nazi occupation of the Netherlands began

http://www.sydneyjewishmuseum.com.au/view.aspx?ArticleID=215

*All Jews in German occupied territories had to sew the 6-pointed Star of David with the word Jood in the center on their clothes.

*February 1944: Blumenthal family transported to

Bergen-Belsen

*They never got to escape to the U.S.

*They were given mainly cabbage-flavored water and moldy

bread to eat

*"In our fourteen months at Bergen-Belsen the Nazis tried to break us physically, spiritually, and emotionally."

-Marion Blumenthal Lazan

*April 9, 1945: Family evacuated to the West

*April 15, 1945: British troops took control of Bergen-Belsen and freed and cared for the remaining prisoners. The Blumenthals had already been evacuated.

Invasion

Marion Blumenthal Lazan

*In May, the number of typhus deaths was reduced. But, they had not completely gone. In June, the number of cases rose again. June 17, 1945: Walter Blumenthal, Marion's dad, died of typhus. At the same time, Ruth Blumenthal became sick with typhus.

*Born on December 20,1934 in Hoya,

Germany

*Child when the Holocaust started

*Her family was moved to Westerbork refugee camp in 1939

*Applied to be deported to the U.S.

*Sailing had been postponed to June 1940

*The train the Blumenthal's were on would stop frequently to let out its passengers and get rid of those who died in the train cars.

*Of the 70-80 people in each car, most died from typhus, a disease that starts from a louse bite. It causes a spotted rash that starts in the mid-section and spreads over the body, a severe headache, high fever and often, hallucinations. Sufferers often died within one or two days.

*When the train stopped in Trobitz, Marion, 10 at the time, weighed only 35lbs. Ruth, Marion's mother age 37, weighed 75lbs. The passengers on the train found abandoned farmhouses full of food.

http://www.culver.edu/publicrelations/article.asp?id=3691

*The rest of the Blumenthal family boarded a train and arrived in Holland. They stayed until April 23, 1948, when they finally,made it to the United States.

*They stayed there for a short time with Walter Blumenthal's sister until they were put into a temporary living space that they shared with another family. After that they were moved to a more permanent apartment in Peoria Illinois.

Invasion

*Adolf Hitler,leader of the Nazi party,

has taken control of Germany.