Sonia Warshawski, known as “Big Sonia” and star of the award-winning documentary of the same name, recently celebrated her 99th birthday with her family on Nov. 10.
Warshawski, a local Holocaust survivor and retired tailor, grew up in Poland and was 17 when, in 1942, Nazis forced her and her family into the ghetto. She was sent to multiple concentration camps before the British liberation. She met her husband, John, in a displaced persons camp, and the couple came to Kansas City in 1948. They owned John’s Tailoring at Metcalf South Mall.
The family and Inflatable Films, the company behind the “Big Sonia” documentary (led by her granddaughter Leah Warshawski), are having a campaign to try and sell 99 Big Sonia Education Packages this year in honor of Sonia Warshawski’s 99th birthday.
Those interested in purchasing one of the remaining education packages can email Leah Warshawski at for more information.
Sonia Warshawski celebrated her 99th birthday on Nov. 10. (Jason Kort and Rachel Black)
