KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Inside the Museum of Kansas City, you'll find an interactive exhibit where you can ask questions answered by Sonia Warshawski. The experience works like a conversation using technology and an about life-size monitor of Sonia, featuring her own answers to hundreds of questions.
On View Now: New Media Featuring Sonia Warshawski – “Big Sonia” – The Museum of Kansas City
You might know 100 year old Warshawski from her tailoring shop in Johnson County that just closed a few years ago, or from Big Sonia. The documentary told the story of her life, surviving the Holocaust, and her message of love that has spread around the world.
For the exhibit, she sat in an animal print chair also part of the display and answered over 300 questions. Using technology, you can ask one of the suggested questions or ask your own.
I asked one of the suggested questions, "Why is it so important for people to know about what happened in the Holocaust? "
After a brief moment, Sonia on the monitor answered "Why its so important... Its important to speak for those who didn't make it. How many times when I was watching people dying and they managed to say to us, I'll never forget, 'If you make it, tell the world!'."
Chiluba Musonda, COO of the Museum of Kansas City, talked about what he has seen watching people use the exhibit. "The emotional reaction of our patrons. We've seen tears. We've seen laughter. Sonia does crack some jokes in this interactive, and you're gonna get to see that but it's just a mixture of emotions, but what's important is hearing that Holocaust story."
You can scroll through suggested questions that are also grouped into several different topics ranging from Sonia's family, her life before the war, during the Holocaust, her message, and more.
The exhibit launched last fall and the Museum hopes it will be there for at least two years if not longer. To present the exhibit, the museum worked with Sonia's family, Inflatable Films, and Storyfile (a part of Authentic Interactions).
The Museum of Kansas City is free and open to the public Thursday through Sunday.
