Four Perfect Pebbles

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

Six years after the start of the Holocaust, the Blumenthals returned to Holland with refugee status and, alongside many other Jews, temporarily settled in Amsterdam with Walter’s cousins. Marion and Albert enjoyed this time and the new experiences of luxuries they had never known, but Ruth was plagued by worry and the burden of knowing that she had to start over with nothing. The Blumenthals moved to a sponsored apartment for a time, and Marion and Albert soon moved to a youth home to learn Hebrew and Orthodox Judaism in preparation to move to Palestine. Marion underwent an operation to correct her eyesight, which temporarily terrified her and reminded her of the lonely feeling she often experienced at the camps.

Ruth trained to be a beautician and earned enough money to visit her children once a week, but Marion missed her mother. When the family found out that only children were being sent to Palestine, Ruth rejected the idea, unwilling to separate herself from her children for such a length of time. Her eyes turned to America instead, and with an affidavit from an in-law as well as tickets purchased years before, the Blumenthals prepared to head to the United States by ship.