TIME: 3 PM EST | PLATFORM: Zoom | REGISTER: bit.ly/3nIEbp0

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.

Max and Helene married in 1923 and Steve’s mother, Inge was born in 1924. After Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, things got progressively more difficult for the Schlonau family. Inge had to take a five-hour train ride to Hanover to attend a Jewish school as Jewish children were not allowed in German schools. Max was arrested on Kristallnacht and held at Buchenwald Concentration Camp for three weeks until his wife paid a fine to get him released.

By 1938, they had made plans to leave Germany. Helene had a cousin who was already settled in Seattle, Dr. Hans Lehmann. Lehman provided the Schlonaus with an affidavit, and with Max’s agriculture experience, the family was able to expedite the visa process.

They sailed from the Netherlands on September 1, 1939. The Schlonaus family settled in Seattle where Dr. Lehmann was a prominent physician and Steve’s mother, Inge attended Seattle University, graduating with a degree in nursing. She married Howard Pruzan, a Seattle attorney. 

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.