I Will Never Return to Germany!

With these words, I would dismiss the possibility that I would ever return to my native Germany. I had left Germany in 1945, following six years of captivity with my family in Nazi concentration camps, and the resulting death of my father.

But this year, during the week of Kristallnacht (the “night of broken glass” in November 1938, when the Holocaust began in earnest), Nathaniel and I will be in my home town of Hoya, Germany, for the dedication of a new high school to be named in my honor.

The naming of the MARION BLUMENTHAL HAUPTSCHULE HOYA will be a symbol of how the residents of this beautiful little town on the Weser River continue to do their best to look history in the eye and make amends for the horrors perpetrated by their parents and grandparents some 70 years ago.

I was told that the new high school would be named in recognition of the positive impact I make in teaching the Holocaust and its lessons to hundreds of thousands of young adults around the world.

I was fortunate to settle in the United States after the Holocaust and later wrote my memoir, Four Perfect Pebbles, co-authored by Lila Perl. The book, published in 1996 by Greenwillow, has been translated into four languages, with over 500,000 copies in print. 

Marion’s Triumph, a documentary about my life, produced by John Chua, and narrated by actress Debra Messing, has aired on public TV stations across the United States and around the world.

Upwards of one million students and adults across the US, Germany, Holland, and Israel have heard my story as well as the message of love, respect and tolerance towards others.

I will be forever grateful to Lila Perl, John Chua, Heike & Hans Huth, Greenwillow, Avon, and Scholastic Books, the many schools, and to all of you, for giving me the opportunity to share my story, and for helping pass the legacy of the Holocaust on to so many. Thank you! Thank you!

P.S. When my 102 year old mother, Ruth Blumenthal Meyberg, was told about the naming of the school in my honor, she said, with a beautiful smile on her face, “if one lives long enough, one will experience almost everything.” 

Mom`s beautiful face graces this newsletter

Fondly,
Marion

Sending this newsletter a 2nd time as the headline was inadvertently omitted from the original. MBL