Marion Baumann-Parkhurst

Marion Baumann-Parkhurst (August 21, 1912 – April 6, 2009) was an Olympian, registered Nurse, Writer, and survivor of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camps during the Holocaust.

Early life

Her parents were Frieda and Julius Rosenthal in Königsberg, Prussia. Marion grew up with a middle-class childhood until the Nazi years. She trained as a 1936 Summer Olympics contestant until her participation was rejected because she was Jewish. When the 1934 Nuremberg Laws went into effect, the Nazi government often refused to accept an honour won by a Jew. These laws cancelled the family's German Citizenship. Jews began to abandon Germany due to the escalation of Nazi cruelty, but Marion's family decided to remain. Soon after the government seized her father's advertising business, they finally decided to flee to the still-free country of Holland. While living there, Baumann-Parkhurst met and later married Walter Baumann.

Most Jews in Germany were sent to concentration camps. Marion, her husband, and her parents joined them. Both her parents lost their lives there. Marion and Walter were sent to Bergen-Belsen until they were freed by Allied forces towards the end of the war.

Post-war

They returned to Holland as displaced and stateless people. They had a newborn daughter and migrated to America; finally putting down roots in California. As neither was proficient in English, they began as house-cleaners, while Marion rose to become a registered nurse. Marion eventually divorced Walter and later married Don Parkhurst, a schoolteacher-lab tech. Their honeymoon led to years of travel that eventually landed them in Scotts Valley, California, where they spent the rest of their lives involving themselves with literature.

Works

Marion Baumann-Parkhurst wrote two published books: Searching Survivor and the answer I found'and Searching Survivor: Volume II. Her works were published by Genie Press.[1]

References
  1. "Marion Baumann-Parkhurst Books | List of books by author Marion Baumann-Parkhurst". thriftbooks.com. Retrieved 2018-11-09.

Sources
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