School in Germany named after survivor

Marion Blumenthal Lazan never managed to finish her schooling in Germany. However she now has a school named after her in her hometown of Hoya, Germany. The Marion Blumenthal Hauptschule is the first school in Germany to be named after a living Holocaust survivor.

This past November, Lazan returned to the town that she fled the village when she was only four-years-old. Her family escaped to Holland but was then sent to Bergen-Belsen after the Nazi invasion. The family managed to survive the camp, but Lazan’s father died six weeks after the camp’s liberation. Lazan immigrated to Peoria, Illinois and then settled in Hewlett with her husband Nathaniel Lazan.

Lazan has traveled the world speaking to groups of adults and children about her experiences during the Shoah and spreading her message of tolerance to young people of all religions. She estimates that she has spoken to at least one million people on her travels, which ultimately led her to return to her birthplace in 1995. Four years later, she wrote her memoir, “Four Perfect Pebbles,” which has since been published in four languages (including Japanese) and is now in its 21st printing.

Frau Eike Reiche, the principal of the new school, has three criteria to decide the name of the school. She wanted to name the school after someone who was female, alive and making a difference in the lives of children. Lazan’s name was put forward and accepted unanimously.

The naming ceremony took place on Nov. 11 in order to coincide with Hoya’s annual commemoration of Kristallnacht. The ceremony included Klezmer songs and a candle lighting in memory of the Jewish families of Hoya who had perished.

Reiche praised Lazar for her work and rapport with the students and added that the connection between her and the school “comes with responsibility.” Reiche proclaimed, “We are a school with courage; we look up and ahead, not away.”

It is that courage that Lazan admires in the town she once fled, and the school that bears her name. “I truly feel that it is not so much about me,” she explained. “It is about that little courageous town in Hoya. They deserve the credit for what they are doing to redress those crimes.“

Blumenthal’s words were of remembrance and thanksgiving, “It can never be forgotten it can never be forgiven... But we’re talking about this generation. The people carry a huge burden, and it will be their burden for time to come. On the other hand, we have to appreciate what they are doing to put things right.”