All that changed dramatically after the Nazis took power in 1933 and began the campaign of anti-Jewish terror and murder afterward known as the Holocaust. To escape persecution, three-year-old Sonia and her family left their belongings and savings behind them and slipped into neighboring Switzerland. There she waited with her mother and two sisters for a year as refugees while their father went to America to arrange a home for them. Once the family was settled in the United States, young Sonia's parents worked mightily to recreate the family business; they were so busy that for several years Sonia was raised largely by one of her sisters.
"The Holocaust experience left its deep mark on me," recalled Levitin in an essay in Something about the Author Autobiography Series (SAAS). "It is agonizing for me as a Jew to realize that our people were almost exterminated; it is equally agonizing, as a human being, to have to admit to the evil that humans can do to one another." Although Levitin was forced to confront discrimination and suffering at an early age, she also learned the power of compassion, as her family was helped by a variety of non-Jews who sympathized with their plight.
This is a free page. This page contains 193 words. This
biography contains 2,872 words (approx. 10 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Biography with our Sonia Levitin Access Pass.
