Ger, Sonia

Sonia Ger grew up in Pinsk, Poland.  Her family had their own house with a bakery in the front, run by the father and his brother.  When the Nazis invaded Poland, they were moved into a ghetto. Sonia’s father opened up another bakery in the ghetto.  He made friends with the German soldiers by selling them baked goods. The soldiers told Sonia’s family to leave the ghetto, but her brother stayed behind and became part of the resistance; he was killed during an attack.  Her family went into hiding in her housekeeper’s cellar, where they stayed for 22 months. Sonia and her family were liberated by the Russians; with the end of the war was over, she went to a DP camp in Berlin. After, she moved to Munich where she met her husband and had her first child.  She then moved to Argentina and Brazil, and had a child in both countries. In 1966, she moved to Canada.  We met Sonia at Baycrest’s Cafe Europa in December 2019, when a delegation of Grade 10 history students heard her testimony.