KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Sonja DuBois survived the Holocaust -- but with a new name and a foster family.
DuBois will discuss her autobiography, "Finding Schifrah: The Journey of a Dutch Holocaust Child Survivor," at a Brown Bag lecture and book signing. The event will take place at the East Tennessee History Center at noon on Oct. 22.
Her story is one of tragedy, hidden identity, and strength.
DuBois was born Clara van Thijn. She lost her parents in 1942, when they reported for the first Jewish transport headed for Auschwitz and were murdered soon after their arrival.
DuBois's parents left her in the care of a family friend, an artist named Dolf Henkes. A Dutch Christian couple took her in -- and she escaped the Holocaust as Sonja, the couple's foster child.
The family emigrated to the U.S. when DuBois was 12. Now that she was safe, they told her who her parents were -- but they didn't let her discuss it.
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DuBois told the Tennessee Holocaust Commission that her parents did the bravest possible thing in a devastating situation.
“I did resent [that] I was adopted. I resented a lot of things, but now I don't,“ Sonja said. “My parents didn't stand a chance at that time and they knew it. They did the bravest thing on Earth.“
Decades later, DuBois lives in Knoxville -- and she tells her story all over Tennessee. She was featured in the Tennessee Holocaust Commission’s Living On exhibit and has donated artifacts to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.
The event is part of the East Tennessee Historical Society's Brown Bag Lectures, a free lunchtime series. The ETHS invites guests to bring a lunch and hear DuBois' story.