BIG SONIA’S BIG IMPACT

Standing at 4 feet 8 inches, Sonia Warshawski, aka Big Sonia, is a local celebrity. As one of the few remaining Holocaust survivors in Kansas City, Sonia uses her platform to share her story and educate the youth about the Holocaust.

Sonia Warshawski lived in Międzyrzec, Poland and at only 17 years old, was sent to the Majdanek death camp. She was then transported to the AuschwitzBirkenau and Bergen-Belsen camps, the latter of which was liberated by the British on April 15, 1945. In 1948, Sonia and her husband, John, moved to Kansas City.

The Midwest Center for Holocaust Education (MCHE) Historian and Director of Education, Shelly Cline, met Warshawski while she was a graduate student at KU and interning for MCHE. The two were introduced during an event hosted by the organization, and Cline was immediately taken by Warshawski’s story.

“She was actually the first [Holocaust] survivor that I met. So I listened to her story. I knew she was going to be at this event, and so, I went up and introduced myself to her and she was really lovely,” Cline said. “She grabbed my hand and she looked at me, and she thanked me for what I did and for people like me, historians who were interested in her story. And that, to me, was just really meaningful because of course, I found her story so powerful.”

As the director of education, Cline works towards helping the center promote Holocaust education through programs and implementation in history curricula.

“We focus on helping teachers learn more about the Holocaust and giving them more tools to then use in their classrooms. What we’re trying to do is balance the commemorative portion because commemoration is really important, [with] using education to learn those lessons from the past to impact positive change in our world now and in the future,” Cline said. “It isn’t just ‘oh, this one thing happened,’ but ‘what can we learn from this event and those who suffered?’ and ‘how [can] this event [be taught] to look at our world today and learn about other genocides as well?’”

Cline gave advice on how to approach hate and antisemitism in today’s society.

“When you see things like this happen, they can be jarring, right? It reminds you that racism and homophobia and antisemitism are still really present among us. I think that the biggest thing we can do is try and have empathy towards one another, and be good allies,” Cline said. “When you are one of the targeted groups, it’s sometimes hard to speak out for yourself. It can sometimes be easier for people in positions of privilege to use that privilege for good, to stand with those that were targeted. I think there’s a really powerful message when people stand together. It tells those who are doing the targeting that their opinion is in the minority.”

Freshman Sydney Kort is Warshawski’s great-granddaughter. According to Kort, her great-grandmother’s stories have given her new perspectives.

“I think it’s important for young people to become more educated about the Holocaust so history doesn’t repeat itself. Sonia always tells me and my brother to read and become more educated about history,” Kort said. “My greatgrandmother’s story inspires me in my everyday life because whenever I have an issue or problem that I think is really huge, I think about what she had to go through, and it puts all of my issues into perspective.”

Kort is inspired by Warshawski’s positivity and love.

“Another thing that inspires me about Sonia is that she refuses to hate people. She says she doesn’t even hate the Nazis. She teaches everyone around her to forgive – not forget, but to forgive,” Kort said. “Sonia perseveres and that’s a trait that really inspires me, and actually for my Bat Mitzvah, I wrote a speech called a ‘Dvar Torah,’ and I wrote about her perseverance and how she refuses to give in to negativity. Even now, there are people that are antisemitic, and she doesn’t give in to that. She stays on the positive side.”

While Kort is filled with gratitude and love for great-grandmother, she said there are struggles with being Warshawski’s great-granddaughter.

“[Sonia] has a great family now. I’m [a part of] the third generation and if she didn’t survive, none of us would be here, so that’s inspiring for me,” Kort said. “To be her granddaughter is a blessing and a curse. Of course I’m grateful, I could not be more grateful to be able to teach my kids and other people about what my great-grandma went through. But I feel like there’s a high expectation for me to spread her story, and I feel like if I don’t exceed that expectation, I’m disappointing my family.”

Kort hopes to continue to spread awareness and educate fellow young people about the Holocaust.

“I think young people in general should be more sympathetic to people that survived the Holocaust. I don’t think many people understand how hard it was for Jewish people, and I feel like it’s hard for young people to be really sympathetic to something because the story sounds so unrealistic,” Kort said. “For young people to spread the story and to spread awareness, I think people need to be more sympathetic, that’s the bottom line, and get more knowledge on the subject.”