These quilts were the aftermath of a "roots" trip I took with my mother in 1997.  She had spent  the year 1925, with her grandparents in Jaslo, a town in Poland, and yearned to see it again -- if it still existed.  No only was the town still there, so were the house and the courtyard where my great-grandfather had had his bakery.  The synagogue was gone, of course.  In its place stood a seedy restaurant.  And the Jewish cemetery, on the outstkirts, was locked, abandoned, and overgrown. 

Forgotten Memories - Jaslo

Our tour took us to Prague, Warsaw, Krakow, and Budapest.  Warsaw is full of flat, anonymous, monolithic cement apartment buildings -- dirty, crumbling, with laundry waving from every balcony.  Prozna Street was once the heart of the Warsaw Ghetto.  Nothing remains.

In Krakow, we saw Schindler's factory (of Schindler's List fame) which is still being used.  These days they make electrical components.  And we spent a day at Auschwitz-Birkenau, which stands exactly as it was when the Allies liberated it. There simply are no words.

Prozna Street - Warsaw

Quilt 21/2000

Last Stop

Sacred Threads 2003

Generated by a  postcard photo of relatives we can't identify, this piece commemorates those who were lost and those who were lucky enough to emigrate before it was too late.

Journey

Click on images to enlarge

top

        rayna gillman

Finally, my tribute to the Righteous Gentiles - those 'ordinary people' who risked their lives to save members of my family and others; those who hid Jewish children in convents, barns, attics, cellars, and put their own lives on the line because, as they said, 'how could we NOT?'  Remarkable.  As Rabbi Hillel said, "to save one life it is as if you had saved the whole world." 

  If Not Now, When?

    30" x 36"

Poland Series

studio 78