A lot of Holocaust survivors find it difficult recalling their painful past and sharing their stories with others, but Sonia Warshawski, more popularly known as Big Sonia is braving her past in order to stop bullying and discrimination.
Big Sonia, 89 was forced to live in the Majdanek, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps when she was only a teenager during World War II. But even though she survived the war and moved to the United States after it ended, the experience never left her and she is still speaking up about her experience in different churches, schools, prisons, and juvenile detention facilities.
"Her ultimate hope is that the next generation can learn from her story to stop bullying and discrimination," Leah wrote in an e-mail to The Huffington Post.
Big Sonia had a traumatic experience during the Holocaust, where she saw her mother sent to the gas chamber and had to take part in death marches, but she bravely revisits her past in order to break down the prejudice that remains in society.
"She has not always spoken about her past so openly," Leah said. "But, over the years she saw that hate crimes and discrimination are still rampant and she felt it was important for her story to be heard."
Big Sonia has three children with her late husband, who passed away after suffering from Parkinson's disease. She even took over his tailoring business called John's Tailoring, before it closed last year.
Because of everything she has gone through, Big Sonia is not letting anything slow her down from accomplishing what needs to be done.
"When the mall closed she told us, 'Well, I survived Hitler, so this is just a small thing. No matter what happens I need to listen to my sixth sense and do what is right for me,'" Leah said.
