The only way she could keep her fingers and toes from getting frostbite was by urine.

She wore the same clothes, day after day.

She tripped over dead bodies and slept on firewood next to her mother each night.

Marion Blumenthal Lazan shared her story of surviving six and a half years in concentration camps throughout Germany last night at Wesley United Methodist Church.

She said she remembers watching as the Germans tried to protect themselves by restricting Jews’ rights any way they could.

Jews were not allowed to use swimming pools, attend public schools or go into stores. They all had a curfew at night.

When Lazan was 4 years old, she and her family were forced to leave their home in Hoya, Germany, and move to the nearest large town, Hannover.

On Nov. 9, 1938, the Nazis began destroying synagogues, Jewish books and stores.

Lazan’s father was taken to a concentration camp in Buchenwald but was shortly released after showing proof of immigration.

When the Nazis invaded Holland, Lazan knew her family was trapped.

In Febuary 1944, they were exchanged for Germans and were moved by a cattle-car to a concentration camp in Bergen-Belsen.

The prisoners were pulled out, one-by-one, waiting to be released.

The Germans went down the list, calling about 200 people to be exchanged; however, Lazan and her family were not called.

Her father stepped forward and asked a head guard if their name had been missed.

His family then watched him get brutally beaten for questioning the Germans, and they were forced to go back to Bergen-Belsen.

Lazan said all she could do was keep faith that her family would stay alive.

The prisoners were deprived from food and water and forced to stand all day.

People were dying every day from lice, disease and dysentery.

In order to pass the time, Lazan played imaginary games.

One of her games involved four pebbles.

She decided if she found four pebbles that were the same size and shape – representing her mother, father, brother and her – they would all survive.

Lazan searched many days for the pebbles that she would keep with her, and if she lost one, she would find another.

“I cheated sometimes, but it was OK,” she said. “It was my game. I made it up, and it worked for me.”

In April 1945, Lazan’s mother found a way to make soup in their bunk bed.

The Nazis gave a surprise inspection, scrambling around to hide the evidence of the soup. The soup spilled on Lazan’s leg and scorched

Because of self-discipline, she didn’t say a word.

“We lost the soup that night, but not our lives,” Lazan said.

In 1945, Soviet troops entered the concentration camps, liberating survivors.

Six months after being freed from the prison camps, Lazan’s father died of typhus, a highly contagious disease caused by lice.

After being liberated and receiving medical attention, Lazan was eventually relocated to Peoria, where she graduated high school after learning what she missed during her time at the concentration camps.

Muriel Everton, communication studies professor, went to Lazan’s lecture after seeing her documentary, “Marium’s Triumph: Surviving History’s Nightmare,” on PBS.

“Anybody who can go through that and share it with other people is just amazing,” she said. “It gives us a view of a different place in time by someone who lived it.”

Eddie Barnes, junior sports management major, said he was glad he went, even though it was a requirement for one of his classes.

“It reminds people to appreciate everything they have in life and not to take advantage of those simple things, like a toothbrush or a bed,” he said.

Barnes was not surprised that the church was almost full.

“Her story is like a shot at your heart,” he said. “It takes a very strong-hearted person to go and tell her story to so many people.”