Szonja is a historian, a teacher and an experienced tour guide, with a deep interest in cultural, social and urban history. A native of Budapest, she has studied and lived extensively in Oxford, Jerusalem and New York. She holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford, and MA degrees from Oxford and Budapest. Her main field of research and interest is Hungarian Jewish history and cultural history, and she is especially intrigued by issues related to changes in national identity and language choice. She has lectured and published extensively in her field, in English, Hungarian, Hebrew and Yiddish. As an educator her passion is to tell the story behind the facts, and as a tour guide to show the stories behind various layers of a city or region - historical, social and architectural alike.