COMMACK SCHOOLS

On Tuesday, 91-year-old Holocaust survivor Marion Blumenthal Lazan addressed the United Nations during its Holocaust memorial ceremony.

Then, a day later, CMS sixth and seventh graders received a sobering first-person history lesson from Blumenthal Lazan as she shared her life story here in Commack.

Blumenthal Lazan had been living comfortably with her family in Heuer, in Northwest Germany, until 1935, when the Nuremberg laws were enacted and Jews’ rights were dramatically curtailed.

Three years later, her family’s apartment was ransacked during Kristallnacht, also known as the Night of Broken Glass. Her father, who had been honored for his military service to Germany during World War I, was taken to a concentration camp.

Her father was released three weeks later because the family had paperwork in place to immigrate to America. However, in May 1940, the Germans invaded the Dutch transit camp known as Westerbork, where the family had been while awaiting the trip. And in January 1944, Blumenthal Lazan’s family was identified for transport to Bergen-Belse concentration camp in Germany.

“We were dragged out of the cattle cars, and greeted by the German guards, who were shouting at us and threatening us with their weapons and with the most vicious attack dogs by their sides,” Blumenthal Lazan said. “I was a very frightened 9-year-old. And to this day I still feel a certain sense of fear when I see a German shepherd.”

Blumenthal Lazan had horrendous living conditions — fed only bread on occasion along with watery soup.

“Once a month, we were marched to the area to shower,” she said. “And there, under the watchful eyes of the guards, we were ordered to undress. I was frightened, not knowing what would come out of the faucets — water or gas.

“Yes, we were always hungry. We were thirsty. We were in pain. But, for me, fear was the worst emotion to deal with. … We, as children, saw things that no one, no matter what the age, should ever have to see. You have all read books. You’ve seen movies, true documentaries. But the constant, foul odor — the filth, continuous horror and fear, surrounded by death — is indescribable. There is no way this could accurately be put into words or pictures.”

Her family was eventually liberated by Russian forces in 1945 while on a train to an extermination camp, although her father died from typhus six weeks later. She weighed only 35 pounds when she was liberated.

The students attentively listened to her whole story in silence.

“Despite all the terrible things that happened to me as a child, my life today is full and rewarding,” Blumenthal Lazan said.