Hundreds of people from the student body and community jumped at the opportunity to hear the story of a Holocaust survivor in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union on Monday night. Marion Blumenthal Lazan came to speak to students and the community about her message of hope.

Spencer Cain, senior in kinesiology and health, met Lazan on a flight last year and struck up a conversation. The conversation turned into a bond, and Cain reached out to Lazan and asked her to come speak on campus.

“History is bound to repeat itself if changes aren’t made, and I think there’s a lot of uncertainty when it comes to racial issues and stuff like that in the world,” Cain said.

Lazan spoke of her life before and after the concentration camps, as well as her life in the camps. She and her family left Germany for the Netherlands in 1939 in an attempt to immigrate to America. Their attempt was thwarted, and in 1942, they were sent to the concentration camps.

They were sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. They received food and water once a week, rarely were allowed to bathe and at one point, she was not able to brush her teeth for a year and a half. She saw horrors that no one, especially a child, should be forced to see.

The Nazis, Lazan said, were experts at destroying people both physically and mentally. She said her mother, along with her youthful imagination, were what gave her hope to keep going.

Lazan also suffered a severe burn on her leg, which she survived because of the timely medical help she received from the Russians who liberated them when she was almost 11 years old.

Two years to the day after they were liberated, the surviving members of her family, her mother, older brother and herself, immigrated to America. Lazan learned English, received an education and raised a family.

Lazan preached tolerance and hopes her message inspires people to be kind and not judge a group of people off of the actions of a select few.

“Each and every one of us must do everything in our power to prevent such hatred, such destruction and such terrible things from happening again,” Lazan said.

She also wants her story shared. She realizes that one day there is not going to be any survivors left to spread awareness to people now, along with future generations. She emphasized that it is the only way to prevent the Holocaust or something like it from happening ever again.

“It is your generation that is the very last generation that will hear these stories firsthand, and I therefore ask you to please share my story or any of the Holocaust stories,” Lazan said.

Laura Riese, sophomore in accounting and finance, said hearing Lazan speak made her realize how real the Holocaust was.

“It’s not just like a story that people make up and that we do need to remember them,” Riese said.

In addition to speaking on campus, Lazan spoke Monday morning at Ames High School and Ames Noon Rotary. She will speak at Dowling Catholic High School on Tuesday morning and at Drake University on Tuesday evening. She will also speak at Stilwell Junior High School and Goodrell Middle School on Wednesday.