"Big Sonia" Film Screening

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum
Independence, MO

Standing tall at 4'8", Sonia is one of the last remaining Holocaust survivors in Kansas City and one of the only survivors here who speaks publicly about her wartime experience. Her enormous personality and fragile frame mask the horrors she endured. Sonia's teenage years were a blur of concentration camps and death marches. At 15 she watched her mother disappear behind gas chamber doors. On liberation day, she was accidentally shot through the chest, yet again miraculously survived. Sonia is the ultimate survivor, a bridge between cultures and generations. Her story must never be forgotten.

Presented in partnership with the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education, "Big Sonia" interweaves Sonia's past and present using first-person narrative with stories from family and friends. Along the way, we learn valuable life lessons - "Soniaisms" - from a woman who can barely see over the steering wheel, yet insists on driving herself to work every day to run her late husband's tailor shop, John's Tailoring. Running the shop is Sonia's entire being - it is her reason for living and the center of her life. Her influence spans generations and cultures, and this documentary allows all of us to hear her story.

The screening will be immediately preceded by a 6:30 p.m reception. Admission is free but please register to attend.