WATCH: Meet Nonagenarian ‘Big Sonia,’ Among Last Holocaust Survivors of Kansas City
Image by Vimeo
It’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, and as the number of survivors steadily dwindles, there’s a heartwarming documentary out there that follows the life of one of them, the nonagenarian Sonia Warshawski.
She lives in Kansas City, Missouri and still drives on her own and runs a tailor shop. Joie de vivre permeates “Big Sonia,” from Warshawski’s cheetah-print steering wheel to her bright-red lipstick. She arrived in Kansas City after World War II, and now serves as a Holocaust educator in her city and region, traveling to schools and community gatherings to discuss her experiences in Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz.
“Big Sonia” (she’s not even cracking five feet) has been screening at film festivals since last fall, and it won the Napa Valley Film Festival’s prize for documentary. Check out the trailer here.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
