The following description comes from the event organizer.

Seattle attorney Steve Pruzan is a long way from his grandparent’s farm in Germany, yet he feels a deep responsibility to keep their story of escape to the United States alive.  

Steve’s grandparents, Max and Helene Schlonau, owned a large farm in Warmsen, Germany for many generations, a gathering place for nearby family. His grandfather, Max Schlonau, served in World War I. He had  studied agriculture, enlarging his land holdings, and employed the most updated agricultural methods, even inventing a breeding method for cattle. He was a leader in the area and in the small Jewish community in Warmsen.

After Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, things got progressively more difficult for the Schlonau family. 
By 1938, they had made plans to leave Germany, eventually sailing from the Netherlands on September 1, 1939. The Schlonaus family settled in Seattle where they developed into leading citizens.

Steve, a Legacy Speaker with the Holocaust Center, is proud to tell this story of his grandparents, his mother, and other family members who survived the Holocaust.  He has done extensive research on their lives in Germany and presents primary sources that reveal just how lucky they were to escape and immigrate to the United States.