Here is My Story

The following is a synopsis of Sonja Sternberg’s book which recounts her life before, during and after the Holocaust.

Sonja was born in Berlin in June 1926 where she lived with her parents, Chaya and Leo, and elder sister Gisela. She had a happy early childhood but when Hitler came to power, everything changed. On 28 October 1938 Gisela’s father was taken away by two German men. As he was of Polish origin, he was deported to Poland. Following Kristallnacht, Sonja was forced to move to a school for Jewish children only and her family were ordered to leave their apartment.

Sonja’s mother organised the necessary paperwork, obtain visas and tickets to get to Cuba on the SS St Louis – a German liner of passengers fleeing the Third Reich. Sonja, Gisela, and Chaya set sail from Hamburg on 13 May 1939.

When the ship arrived in Cuba, the authorities refused the passengers entry and the ship remained in Havana port for seven days. They were stranded but eventually were given permission to come to England via Antwerp. While on board Sonja celebrated her 13^th birthday.

Sonja and her family settled near Finsbury Park in London. After the war, Sonja enrolled on a dressmaking course and later had a dressmaking business.

Sonja met Ad in 1956 and they got married in 1957 and had two children.

“Until the mid to late 1930’s I had not really experienced antisemitism. I had seen and heard Fascists and Communists fighting in the streets even before the rise of the Nazis…But the only time that I had really experienced antisemitism was when I visited Poland in 1934 and 1935 to see the family. There, the local children threw stones at us.”

Sonja Sternberg

“It was later that we found out that Canada had refused the captain’s request to allow the passengers to enter with the infamous response, ‘None is too many’”.

Sonja Sternberg

“I cannot cry anymore, not for my father because it is just too long ago and I have run out of tears.”

Sonja Sternberg

Here is My Story

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