Description
Born in 1944, and raised in a Jewish family in Toledo, Ohio, Sonya Braverman knew about the Holocaust by the time she was a young woman pursuing a career in clinical social work. Nevertheless, her relationship with her second husband, Larry Lesser, taught her unexpected things about the psychological effects of Holocaust survival. Born Eliezer Leizerovich in Warsaw, Poland, in 1931, Larry smuggled food into the Warsaw Ghetto to support his family as a child. When his parents and younger brother were captured following the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, Larry escaped and survived in hiding. As a teenager after the war, he made his way to Israel where he served in the Israeli Merchant Marines. His world travels eventually brought him to the United States. After a ten-year battle with Alzheimer's Disease, Larry died in 2014. Author of the 2018 memoir, The Queen of Everything, Sonya Braverman's second book chronicles Larry's cathartic return to Poland after his Alzheimer's diagnosis. She recorded her Legacy Series oral history at KSU in 2024.
Citation
Sonya Braverman Interview, September 4, 2024, 2024-11-04, Legacy Series Oral History Program, 2013-, KSU/14/05/004, Museum of History and Holocaust Education, Kennesaw State University.
Identifier
ksu-14-05-004-01-01_022
