It was a dark, drizzling night when 5-year-old Sonja DuBois was woken up by her parents to join their neighbors singing the national anthem and flying flags in the streets of Holland – a vivid memory that later became a key to unlocking her past.
Later in her life, DuBois realized she had witnessed the liberation of the Netherlands during World War II. At that time, she had no idea she was a success story of the neighborhood being one of many hidden children who survived the Holocaust.
For the first decade of her life, DuBois did not know she was a Holocaust survivor, and it was not until her sixth decade that she decided to fully explore her past. Now dedicated to learning everything about her Jewish heritage, DuBois visits schools to share her story and teach others about the Holocaust.
On Feb. 26, DuBois visited ETSU to give a free public talk at 4 p.m. in Rogers-Stout Hall. Accompanied by a slideshow of pictures, which included important people and places in her life, she talked to ETSU students, faculty and local community members about her experiences and her Jewish identity.
DuBois, originally named Clara Van Thijn, was born in Rotterdam in 1940. She was separated from her parents on July 29, 1942, when her parents reported for the first Jewish train to Auschwitz. They were murdered shortly after their arrival, making them two among the six million Jews killed during the Holocaust.
She was given to Dutch artist Dolf Henkes, a close friend of her father who found a Dutch, Christian couple to take care of her. As a Christian family hiding a Jewish child, they were always in danger. The family moved three times during World War II to avoid major questions about their adopted daughter’s heritage.
Growing up, DuBois was not initially told of her Jewish identity or her parent’s fate.
She first found out about her heritage at the age of 12 when her family was immigrated to the U.S. She had to sign her given name, Clara van Thijn, on her passport, but she did not know why. At this time, her foster parents told her about her Jewish roots, and they revealed that her parents had died in a concentration camp. They tried not to go into detail because they did not want her to dwell on it, and for most of her life, she didn’t.
“I had it good; [I] really did,” DuBois said. “So, for many, many years, later in my life, I didn’t think I was a Holocaust survivor, and I was told that since I don’t remember any of that time and don’t remember my parents, I probably shouldn’t even think of that.”
After reuniting with Henkes in 1987 and meeting more Jewish relatives throughout her adulthood, DuBois decided to explore her past more in-depth. With the help of friends who she met at a hidden children’s conference, she was able to learn more about her Jewish roots. She used this new information to write her memoir, “Finding Schifrah: The Journey of a Dutch Child Holocaust Survivor,” which was published in April 2019.
DuBois now lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, and works closely with the Tennessee Holocaust Commission. She and her husband, Ron, have been touring upper East Tennessee talking to adults and children about the Holocaust. DuBois said she spoke to about 2,300 students total last year in Knoxville and surrounding areas.
DuBois said she wants to share her story because she is fearful that people will forget about the Holocaust and that young people may have never heard of it. A theme she circled back to several times throughout her talk was the danger of indifference.
“One of the reason’s we’re telling this story is that we cannot be indifferent to racism,” DuBois said. “We all can do something, to be kind to one another. Racism was the basis of the Holocaust. The indifference made it grow. It wasn’t just hate. It was the indifference.”
DuBois also hopes through educating people about the discrimination against Jews during the Holocaust, they can better understand and actively fight against racism in society today.
“We live in a country of freedom of speech,” DuBois said. “So, what I tell the kids is take it to a higher level. Take it to your teacher, take it to your preacher, take it to your rabi, and talk about what you’ve seen and what we won’t tolerate. We cannot tolerate. We cannot tolerate the indifference to racism.”
At the end of her talk, DuBois held a Q&A session, in which people asked her more in-depth questions about her experiences, family history and life in the U.S. For DuBois, this part of the event is her favorite because when her audience talks to her, she knows she did her job.
“Once I, my generation – the youngest hidden children – die, there’s no more interaction,” DuBois told the East Tennessean. “And that’s why I’m so keen on people talking to me during it. You know, I don’t want to just lecture. I want to understand that they got it.”
The event was organized by the ETSU Department of History’s outreach committee. ETSU history professor Stephen Fritz, who said he counted about 140-150 people at the event, said he thinks people were interested in DuBois’s talk because her message was human.
“She had the photographs of her family, she talked about her experiences and I think especially for the younger people – humanizing the holocaust,” Fritz said. “I mean, many of them probably have heard about this or maybe been taught this, but it’s all kind of impersonal facts, and you see – you maybe read textbooks or something like that – but this was made very personal, and I think that’s important.”
ETSU psychology majors, Amanda Parish and Blythe Lybrand, said they enjoyed listening to DuBois’s story because she shared her personal experiences.
“It was very nice to hear from somebody who had the experience, and who is very interested to go back in time and talk about her life and to really try and bring awareness to people,” Parish said.
For Lybrand, what was more important than hearing about DuBois’s experience, was knowing that DuBois chose to embrace that part of her life.
“It’s just very humbling to listen to someone who went through such awful experiences,” Lybrand said. “And the fact that she doesn’t remember them, but she still makes that a part of her identity because it is, but so many people would just ignore it and just move on from that position, and it’s kind of beautiful that she decided to embrace that aspect of her life even though it’s not something she needed to.”
To learn more about DuBois’s story or to order her book, visit https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Schifrah-Journey-Holocaust-Survivor/dp/1733549404.
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