Exhibition of Sonia Warshawski now featured at The Museum of Kansas City. | Photo by Dorri Partain

Dorri Partain

Managing Editor

Storytelling and recording vital information for future generations is the vision of The Museum of Kansas City (3218 Gladstone Blvd.) On the Museum’s third floor gallery, its “Our City, Our Stories” exhibit launched a new interactive conversational experience on Thursday, Sept. 4.

Visitors — through the use of specific technology— have a chance to interact and ask specific questions of Kansas City resident Sonia Warshawski, a 99 year-old Polish immigrant who survived the Holocaust during World War II.  Known locally as “Big Sonia,” this mother, grandmother and great-grandmother arrived and settled in Kansas City in 1948.

StoryFile, a program utilizing Authentic Interactions, uses proprietary technology to capture and train Warshawski’s recorded answers to 400 questions, which allows users to engage in meaningful conversations with her recorded likeness, matching her responses to questions as closely as possible.

Leah Warshawski, Sonia’s granddaughter, is the director and producer of Inflatable Films, which also filmed and produced the documentary, “Big Sonia” in 2016. This project began in 2021, when Sonia — seated in her favorite leopard-print chair — was professionally recorded in a studio setting. 

An introduction to Sonia Warshawski, featuring her oldest daughter Regina Kort, begins the interactive conversation. Using a touch screen, users can select from 13 hints with questions ranging from her life in Poland to why sharing history is important. Users can also type questions on the screen or use a microphone to ask more specific questions. Warshawski’s responses are also captioned for users that may have difficulty understanding her Polish accent.

Her response to a question about her earliest memories of Kansas City relayed that at first she was very lonely. She knew some English and her husband worked all day. They lived in an apartment on Troost Avenue and her circle of friends included  other Polish immigrants.

A question about memories of her parents offered stories about how her father would make wine using a variety of fruit and how her mother made preserves. Warshawski was with her mother at the Majdenek death camp in Poland, where her mother died.

Born on Nov. 10,. 1925, Warshawski shared that her birthdate fell on Polish Independence Day — a big celebration before World War II.

StoryFile does not use artificial intelligence to generate, modify or alter Warshawski’s responses, so some questions may not be answered closely — the system selects the closest matching pre-recorded response.

Funding for this exhibit was provided by Barton P. Cohen and Mary Davidson Cohen Charitable trust. This exhibit is free and open during The Museum’s regular hours.

For more information about The Museum of Kansas City, visit www.museumofkansascity.org.