AUBURN -- As author, speaker and Holocaust survivor Marion Blumenthal Lazan prepared to leave the stage at Casey Park Elementary School Monday night, she summed up her message of what she hoped most to convey to those in attendance to hear her speak of her harrowing experiences.

"One of my favorite quotes is by Edmund Burke," Lazan said. "He said 'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.' I hope that by listening all of you here tonight will carry on these stories and share them with your friends and family and that you will not let our past become our future."

Lazan, who in 1996 along with Lila Perl, authored "Four Perfect Pebbles," a book about her life during World War II, began with a book signing before taking the stage.

Bob Montgomery, a literacy coach at East and West middle schools, helped organize Lazan's appearance, her sixth in central New York.

"This is an outstanding opportunity," Montgomery said. "This really is a once in a lifetime event for so many of us to be able to hear her speak."

Lazan gave a brief background of her life leading up to the war, one similar to other Jews. She said that growing up, she, her parents and brother Albert had a comfortable life, with her father in the shoe business, running a store downstairs from their home, until 1935 when the Nuremburg Laws were passed that began the process of isolating the Jewish community.

"That is when the anti-Semitism really began," Lazan said. "Jewish people could only go shopping at certain times of day and were segregated from the public schools. Non-Jewish people were not allowed to associate with Jewish people. And we had IDs and passports all stamped with a big letter J for Jew."

To read the full report see Tuesday's edition of The Citizen