Marion's Triumph
Encyclopedia
Marion's Triumph is a 2003 documentary
that tells the story of Marion Blumenthal Lazan, a child Holocaust survivor, who recounts her painful childhood memories in order to preserve history. The film combines rare historic footage, animated flashbacks, and family photographs to illustrate the horrors she experienced. It is narrated by Debra Messing
.
At the onset of the war, the Blumenthal family left Germany
to flee to America
. But, while they were in Holland, Germany invaded and bombed the ships that would have taken them to safety. For the next six-and-a-half-years of her childhood, Marion struggled through the Holocaust, surrounded by death, starvation, filth and disease.
Marion's stories suggest that self-discipline and a strong imagination helped her to survive. At one point, her mother had somehow scrapped up bits of wood and a potato and decided to cook up a meager soup on her bunk in the barracks
. Of all nights, the Nazis had a surprise inspection that night, and, in the rush to hide the soup, the boiling water spilled on Marion's leg. If she had cried out, the Nazis most likely would have discovered their attempt to cook illegal soup and killed both her and her mother. So Marion swallowed hard and pretended as if the severe burn on her leg wasn't there.
What's interesting is that if Anne Frank
had survived the war, her story would have been similar to Marion's. Both Marion and Anne Frank's families tried to escape the Holocaust, but were caught by Nazis. Both were young girls during the war, and both traveled from Westerbork, a deportation camp, to concentration camps; Marion went directly to Bergen-Belsen
, but Anne Frank was sent first to Auschwitz and then to Bergen-Belsen. It's there that Anne Frank died of typhus
, but somehow, despite her malnutrition and the disease that surrounded her, Marion survived.
After all that she's experienced Marion's temperament is surprising. She smiles easily and stresses the importance of optimism
. “I'm determined not be bitter and angry,” she explains, “On the contrary, I'm determined to be cheerful and positive as much as possible.” She believes that life owes her nothing, and it's her job to make the best of what she's given. “None of us is spared hardships,” Marion explains, “It's not so much what happens to us, but how we deal with the situation that makes the difference.”
Today, Marion is on a mission to teach the public about the Holocaust. Her memoir Four Perfect Pebbles is taught in classrooms throughout the world. And, although she's been speaking publicly about the Holocaust since 1979, her speaking engagements have significantly increased since the publication of her book. Marion lectures to adult groups, synagogues, churches and civil organizations, but her favorite audience is an auditorium full of students.
“You, the students, are the very last generation that will hear the story first hand,” Marion explains to her eager listeners, “I therefore ask you to please, please, share my story with your friends and with your family and someday with your children.”
was recently screened for high school students in Oakland, California
, they were reported to have heckled and laughed. “The incident was a major catalyst to lead me to create this documentary,” explains filmmaker John Chua. It seemed to Chua that ignorance was at the root of the students' irreverance. Chua wanted to make a Holocaust film that would be accessible for a middle-school-age audience. Marion, who has dedicated her life to educating the public about the Holocaust, especially students, was the ideal subject for his documentary.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
that tells the story of Marion Blumenthal Lazan, a child Holocaust survivor, who recounts her painful childhood memories in order to preserve history. The film combines rare historic footage, animated flashbacks, and family photographs to illustrate the horrors she experienced. It is narrated by Debra Messing
Debra Messing
Debra Lynn Messing is an American actress, voice artist, and comedienne. She is perhaps best known for her role as Grace Adler in the NBC sitcom Will & Grace and as Molly Kagan in the mini-series The Starter Wife....
.
Summary
“We often tripped and fell over the dead,” Marion says of life in the concentration camps, “death was everywhere.” From the age of four to ten Marion was in a concentration camp, where she says she picked lice out of her hair and urinated on herself to prevent frostbite.At the onset of the war, the Blumenthal family left Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
to flee to America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. But, while they were in Holland, Germany invaded and bombed the ships that would have taken them to safety. For the next six-and-a-half-years of her childhood, Marion struggled through the Holocaust, surrounded by death, starvation, filth and disease.
Marion's stories suggest that self-discipline and a strong imagination helped her to survive. At one point, her mother had somehow scrapped up bits of wood and a potato and decided to cook up a meager soup on her bunk in the barracks
Barracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
. Of all nights, the Nazis had a surprise inspection that night, and, in the rush to hide the soup, the boiling water spilled on Marion's leg. If she had cried out, the Nazis most likely would have discovered their attempt to cook illegal soup and killed both her and her mother. So Marion swallowed hard and pretended as if the severe burn on her leg wasn't there.
What's interesting is that if Anne Frank
Anne Frank
Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films.Born in the city of Frankfurt...
had survived the war, her story would have been similar to Marion's. Both Marion and Anne Frank's families tried to escape the Holocaust, but were caught by Nazis. Both were young girls during the war, and both traveled from Westerbork, a deportation camp, to concentration camps; Marion went directly to Bergen-Belsen
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle...
, but Anne Frank was sent first to Auschwitz and then to Bergen-Belsen. It's there that Anne Frank died of typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
, but somehow, despite her malnutrition and the disease that surrounded her, Marion survived.
After all that she's experienced Marion's temperament is surprising. She smiles easily and stresses the importance of optimism
Optimism
The Oxford English Dictionary defines optimism as having "hopefulness and confidence about the future or successful outcome of something; a tendency to take a favourable or hopeful view." The word is originally derived from the Latin optimum, meaning "best." Being optimistic, in the typical sense...
. “I'm determined not be bitter and angry,” she explains, “On the contrary, I'm determined to be cheerful and positive as much as possible.” She believes that life owes her nothing, and it's her job to make the best of what she's given. “None of us is spared hardships,” Marion explains, “It's not so much what happens to us, but how we deal with the situation that makes the difference.”
Today, Marion is on a mission to teach the public about the Holocaust. Her memoir Four Perfect Pebbles is taught in classrooms throughout the world. And, although she's been speaking publicly about the Holocaust since 1979, her speaking engagements have significantly increased since the publication of her book. Marion lectures to adult groups, synagogues, churches and civil organizations, but her favorite audience is an auditorium full of students.
“You, the students, are the very last generation that will hear the story first hand,” Marion explains to her eager listeners, “I therefore ask you to please, please, share my story with your friends and with your family and someday with your children.”
Production
When Schindler's ListSchindler's List
Schindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...
was recently screened for high school students in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, they were reported to have heckled and laughed. “The incident was a major catalyst to lead me to create this documentary,” explains filmmaker John Chua. It seemed to Chua that ignorance was at the root of the students' irreverance. Chua wanted to make a Holocaust film that would be accessible for a middle-school-age audience. Marion, who has dedicated her life to educating the public about the Holocaust, especially students, was the ideal subject for his documentary.