Four Perfect Pebbles

Content Warning: The section of the guide contains discussions of discrimination, graphic violence, and death.

Hope and resilience are the primary traits that each of the Blumenthals shared, and the main reason why they were able to survive the Holocaust and go on to live meaningful, thriving lives. In her dedication, Marion writes, “out of darkness comes light”; her life and her mission to share her story are a testament to this fact, and to the importance of hope. Unlike many other survivors, Marion was a child during the Holocaust, and the resilience she displayed was often rooted in innocence—her belief in small rituals, like collecting pebbles, allowed her to maintain hope even when surrounded by horror. Marion and her family went through a horrific experience that lasted years, and yet she was able to come out the other side and turn that experience into a reason to affect change. Marion, Albert, Ruth, and Walter each exhibited courage, strength, endurance, hope, and resilience, and each was able to see liberation day.

Marion collected four perfect pebbles at Bergen-Belsen as a symbol of her hope and her belief that by doing so, her family would survive. Marion was just a child and did not remember life before the camps; for her, it was the only life she knew. Still, somewhere deep within herself she also knew that she and her family deserved more and would one day find it. Unlike Marion, Ruth found it difficult to maintain hope at times, particularly as the harsh reality of the Holocaust fully set in around them: “We hoped we would be safe, at least until the time came for us to sail to the United States. Yet in our hearts we sensed that this was going to be the start of an uneasy and worrisome life—and, yes, an uncertain future” (36). While Marion filled her days with something which gave her purpose, Ruth and Walter worked, and Albert forged for ways to feed and otherwise help his family. In many ways, each member of the Blumenthal family found different ways to cope: Walter clung to education and his German-English dictionary, Albert took on the role of protector, and Ruth focused on providing emotional stability for her children. Together, these individual acts of resilience created a collective strength that carried them forward.

Marion writes on the importance of hope in survival, particularly in the darkest days of Bergen-Belsen: “The only way we managed to survive in those early months of 1944—cold, hungry, and completely degraded—was on hope” (62). The conditions of the camp were unimaginably awful, and people were dying around them, but hope drove them to press on and to continue rising up from their beds every day, even in their weakened and starving state. Walter was a particularly strong example of hope, as he carried his German-English dictionary with him everywhere and did so until he died. When the family lost Walter, it was like losing a piece of hope they had long since held onto: “We had come so far, through flight, imprisonment, evacuation, the Nazis’ final attempt to destroy us, liberation at last, and now this—freedom and sorrow” (97). Still, hope led the Blumenthals to America and to the prospect of a better life. Even after enduring so much, Marion’s ability to rebuild and find purpose in sharing her story is a testament to how hope can carry survivors through unimaginable trauma.