Tonia Rotkopf BlairTonia Rotkopf Blair was born in 1925 in Lodz, Poland, to a poor but educated Jewish family. A shy girl, she was fond of animals, books, and movies. After the Germans invaded in 1939, she volunteered and became the Lodz ghetto's youngest nurse, which aved her from deportation with her family. She went on to survive Auschwitz and two other camps and was liberated in Austria. After working as a nurse in Germany, she made her way to Paris, then Bolivia, Brazil, and finally the U.S., settling in New York City. There she met her filmmaker husband, raised two boys, became an administrative secretary, and enrolled in Columbia University, from which she graduated with a degree in sociology at the age of sixty-three. Ten years later, she immersed herself in creative writing. Her son and editor, Doniphan Blair, was born in 1954 in New York City, where he enjoyed a culturally complex childhood. After graduating from the Dalton School, he traveled for five years nationally and internationally, often hitchhiking. In San Francisco, he helped form a commune and art gallery, had a daughter, and earned a film degree from the Art Institute. In addition to working in film and graphics, he began publishing articles. He currently runs a design studio and publishes cineSOURCE magazine in Oakland, California. Read More Read Less