Marion Blumenthal Lazan is among the last of her kind, a Jewish Holocaust survivor who can bear witness to Nazi atrocities.

"Marion is the last generation of Holocaust survivors," said West Middle School teacher Bob Montgomery, who arranged Lazan's visit to Auburn High School Tuesday. "We're losing more and more of them every year."

Following Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Lazan, her mother, father and brother were trapped in Germany. They managed eventually to get to Holland, but then the Nazis invaded that country. For the next 6 years, the family lived as refugees and then in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany.

"We were given only one thin blanket and a straw mattress," Lazan said. Conditions were unsanitary and they were given little to eat. Lazan described seeing dead, naked bodies carted away each day.

"We as children saw things that no one, whatever the age, should see," she said. "There is no way this can be put accurately into words or pictures."

Even showers were frightening.

"We were never sure when the faucets were turned on what would come out - water or gas," Lazan said. "We had heard about the gas chambers."

In the spring of 1945, when Lazan was 10, her mother found some potatoes and made soup. As the soup was cooking, guards came for a surprise inspection. In their haste to hide the soup, the pot was knocked over and the liquid burned Lazan's leg.

Before it had time to heal, the Blumenthals were put on a train headed for an extermination camp. Typhus spread through the cramped quarters, and Lazan's leg became infected.

"One out of every five people on that train died en route or shortly after," Lazan said. "It was the Russian Army that liberated us from the train and led us to a small farming village. The Russians tried to help us the best they could. They brought me medical help for my leg."

Lazan's father died of typhus, but the rest of the family eventually made it to America, where they settled in Illinois. Lazan and her husband now live on Long Island.

Lazan calls her story one of "perseverance, determination, faith and hope."

She has spoken all over the country, particularly to students.

"Please share my story," she told them. "Someday, share them with your children and your grandchildren. When we are no longer alive, you will be the witness."