Teacher's Guide - written by John Chua, Ph D
INTRODUCTION
During the nightmare known as the Holocaust, the Nazis murdered 6 million Jews,
including 1.5 million children. Five million non-Jews were also murdered, among
them Romas and Sintis (Gypsies), homosexuals, Jehovah‟s Witnesses, Christian
activists, and anyone else deemed politically or racially undesirable. This story is
about one survivor.
In 1938, Marion Blumenthal and her family began their journey to the United States
as refugees from Nazi Germany. Just before the Blumenthal‟s scheduled departure
from Rotterdam, the Germans invaded Holland and bombed their ship. The family
was trapped, and Marion, her brother and parents were forced into Hitler‟s camps.
They experienced six-and-a-half years of horror, including near escapes, dashed
hopes and tragedy.
Finally, they were liberated and made it to America in 1948 using the tickets paid for
10 years earlier.
At the time of her liberation, Marion Blumenthal weighed 35 pounds. Today she
travels the world to bear witness as the last generation of Holocaust survivors. Her
memoir, “Four Perfect Pebbles,” has been published in English, German, Dutch and
Japanese, and is available in hardback from Greenwillow and in paperback from Avon
Books (and in schools, from Scholastic)..
EXCERPTS FROM EDUCATIONAL REVIEWS
Booklist Review October 2003
Grades 6–12. Marion Blumenthal Lazan‟s quiet determination and confident speaking
manner make an impact. Though difficult, Lazan shares the horrors of her lost youth
with audiences. Her memories of incomprehensible pain and torture are expressed
with a composure born from the rigorous self-control and restraint she mastered
during her childhood when she survived more than six years under the Nazi
stranglehold.
School Library Journal November 2003
Grades 7 and up. This devastating documentary tells the true story of Holocaust
survivor Marion Blumenthal (who co-wrote the best-seller Four Perfect Pebbles).
Expertly mixing archival footage, photographs, and talking head interviews, director
John Chua does a commendable job of capturing Blumenthal‟s amazing life story. At
age 68, she currently travels throughout the United States telling young students
about the horrors of the concentration camps. The high schoolers shown sit with rapt
attention as she describes the atrocities she
witnessed and experienced.
The American Library Association’s Booklist awarded MARION’S TRIUMPH the
Editor‟s Choice award in 2004.
GENERAL OBJECTIVES
1. To allow students to become aware of the prevalence and consequences of
intolerance, racism,
prejudice and victimization.
2. To gain a better understanding of the Holocaust within the context of World War II
and the history of
the 20th century.
3. To discuss how children and adults cope differently with stress, tragedy and
disappointment.
4. To consider critically how the actions of individuals can make an enormous
difference or impact on
the experience of others.
5. To discuss the meaning of individual and collective responsibility.
6. To convey the importance of hope and a positive attitude.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
1. To note how Marion describes life in pre-war Germany.
2. To describe the rise of Nazism in a small German town.
3. To note how Marion describes the actions and decisions of individual Germans.
4. To understand the actions Marion‟s parents took in face of increasing prejudice
and violence.
5. To discuss Marion‟s key messages to young people today.
6. To discuss America‟s role as a destination, and in particular as a place of refuge
for the Blumenthals.
MEANING STUDY
Below are statements, phrases, and sentences from the documentary that have a
particular meaning or have
particular significance within the video. Discuss these excerpts. The time reference at
the end of each statement
indicates its approximate location within the program – times will vary depending on
whether you have taped it
from a broadcast.
(It would be useful to provide students the background information about the
Holocaust and modern German
history to provide a context for the significance of the statements below. Consult the
Web sites listed below for
more information.)
1. “And then of course, little by little, we felt the difference. When the Nuremberg
laws came about,
restrictions were put upon our people, on the Jewish people. It was the beginning of
a massive pogrom
against the Jewish people, a massive mental and physical assault.” (Marion, 7 min.)
2. “Kristallnacht came about. November 9th, 1938 – that‟s when the Nazis destroyed
synagogues, Jewish
stores; burned books, Jewish books. And that was a massive assault against the
Jewish people.”
(Marion, 9 min.)
3. “Over 100,000 Jews were interned at Westerbork before being shipped off to more
notorious camps.
Among them was Anne Frank, who was held there after her arrest, then sent to
Auschwitz, and finally
to Bergen-Belsen, where she died of typhus. Marion, her brother Albert, and their
parents, Walter and
Ruth, spent four long years in Westerbork as prisoners.” (Voiceover, 13 min.)
4. “The time came for the lists, uh, to be called out, for the exchange. And they
started with the alphabet
with A, B, and so on. The A‟s were read; the B‟s were read – no Blumenthals – the
C‟s, and so on, no
Blumenthals.” (Marion, 16 min.)
5. “I saw this old German in a uniform. And I kind of walked with him on the inside
of the camp, and he
would walk on the other side with his rifle. And we‟d chat. And he said, „I got
something for you.‟ And
he pulled out an apple, and he gave it to me.” (Albert, 21 min.)
6. “And what if I would never find the 3rd or 4th pebble? I was afraid that one or two
of my family
members would not pull through. But somehow this game always gave me
something to hold onto
– some distant hope. And I always found my 4 pebbles.” (Marion, 24 min.)
7. “The Blumenthals were put on a train and shipped out once again. Six days later,
the Allies liberated
Bergen-Belsen, and the S.S. guards gave it up the camp without a fight. The British
army shot this
documentary footage upon entering the camp. Dead bodies were everywhere, so
numerous that mass
graves were quickly created.“ (Voiceover, 28 min.)
8. “It was the Russian army that liberated our train. And they led us to a farm village
in eastern Germany.
This farm village was called Tröbitz. It was just a bit south of Berlin, near Dresden, in
eastern
Germany. And many of the inhabitants there had fled. And not all of them; some of
them actually
helped us. And of course, they contracted typhus also, and many of them died.”
(Marion, 32 min.)
9. “An amateurish film that was taken in 1946 – it was March of 1946 – the holiday
of Purim, in
particular. It was actually only 8-9 months after our liberation. It shows children
playing, children
horsing around, as the expression goes, and almost living a carefree kind of a life.”
(Marion, 37 min.)
10. “None of us is spared hardship. And it‟s not so much what happens to us, it‟s
how we deal with the
situation that makes the difference. And if we have that inner strength, and that
fortitude to look
towards the future, and to have the determination and perseverance to go on, one
will succeed. Above
all, never give up hope. Never give up hope because physically we were finished. It
was only with
hope and determination and positive attitude and imagination that we got away.”
(Marion, 53 min.)
COMPREHENSION STUDY
Answer these questions in your own words. Your answers will vary because there is
more than one correct answer.
Questions 1- 5 Literal Level
1. When did the Blumenthals begin their voyage to America? Under what
circumstances and how did
they begin their journey?
2. How and why did the Blumenthals first arrive in Westerbork?
3. How did Albert spend his time in the camps? What activities did he engage in?
4. Under what circumstances were the Blumenthals liberated?
5. Describe how Walter Blumenthal died.
Questions 6 - 8 Interpretive Level
6. How did Marion‟s parents cope with the horror of the camps?
7. Compare and contrast the present day outlook of Albert and Marion with regard to
their experience
during the war.
8. Contrast the actions of different Germans described in the video.
Questions 9 - 10 Critical Level
9. How does Marion see the role of individuals and personal responsibility in society?
10. How does Marion‟s message apply to your daily life?
11. Describe the link between prejudicial attitudes and racist violence or hate crime.
Some people have
described the line of progression from everyday discrimination to genocide as a
“slippery slope.”
How or why might this be true? Describe how a community can become increasingly
intolerant and the ultimate consequences of such intolerance. Can you see examples
of discrimination in your community that could theoretically lead to violence and
tragedy?
Questions 12 - 13 Creative Level
12. Write a skit dramatizing the difficulties a member of a minority group might
experience in mainstream culture. (You can set this in any historical and cultural
period you chose.) Describe some of the experiences of this person. What kind of
societal expectations would this minority member have to face? How would this
person cope with these expectations and experiences? What kinds of institutional
discriminations might this person experience?
13. Contrast this documentary with other literary works dealing with young people
facing different forms of institutionalized racism. (For example, you could compare
Marion‟s experiences with those described in Anne Frank‟s Dairy of a Young Girl,
Mark Mathabane‟s Kaffir Boy and Richard Wright‟s Native Son.) How do young people
respond to these pressures and injustice? What are the obligations and
responsibilities of those who are witness to injustice?
STUDENT INVOLVEMENT GROUP ACTIVITIES
1. Draw a timeline from 1933 to 1945 that depicts the major incidents in the lives of
the Blumenthals. Although the narration in the documentary does not always
indicate a year, use additional reference materials to research when certain of these
major events would have occurred.
2. Invite a Holocaust survivor to come speak to your class. Record on video or
audiotape his or her life story.
3. Trace on a world map the different locations and countries mentioned in the
documentary. (Note that some places were mentioned but not visited.)
4. What happens when people stereotype each other and themselves? Have each
student write a paragraph describing his or her identity that may include gender,
ethnicity and peer group affiliation, as well as unique aspects of each person
unknown to others in the class. Have each person read aloud his or her self-
description. How do we create our identities? How are we different from each other?
How should differences be celebrated? Do we have preconceived notions of others
that do not match up with the self-description?
5. As a class discussion, compare and contrast parallel experiences of discrimination
and racism from different cultures and historical periods.
6. How might the experiences of a Holocaust survivor be similar or different?
7. List and discuss the moral choices “bystanders” can make in confronting examples
of discrimination and intolerance we might see every day.
8. Compose a definition of courage. How do we measure and evaluate courage? How
is MARION’S TRIUMPH a story about courage?
ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENTS
1. Make a list of adjectives that describe Marion. Make another list that describes
Ruth.
2. List examples of family loyalty, courage, cruelty, betrayal, and hope in discussed
or depicted in MARION’S TRIUMPH.
3. Compose definitions of selfishness, love, sacrifice, and bravery.
WEB SITES
www.adl.org The Anti-Defamation League.
www.museumoftolerance.org The Museum of Tolerance / Simon Wiesenthal Center.
www.ushmm.org United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
www.vhf.org Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation.
www.yad-vashem.org.il Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs‟ and Heroes‟
Remembrance Authority.