Some years ago I bought a lot of hardanger needlework from the 1940s in the net. When I oppened the bundle to clean it, I found a surprise. It was a little paper card with a womans handwriting on it, that says “In Gefangenschaft aus alten Lumpen gefertigt”, witch means ” Made of old rags during captivity”.
I tried backtracking, where it came from, but didn´t get far. The seller had it from a friend, whose late wife was a collector of such things. All she could tell me was, that the lot was stored for years in a cellar.
So I will never know, who the unknown woman was, that made this beautiful needlework and what the card is really to tell about her destiny. Was she a prisoner in a warcamp? A prison inmate? Was she detained of political reasons or was she a victim of the Nazi regime and locked in a conzentration camp?
There is no answer. But the refinement and care she took to make little works of art from grey rags, talk for themselves. Obviously she was a experienced needleworker, who never gave up hope. Some pieces from the bundle, made with colored thread and apparently originated later, make it clear, she not only survived the war time but got on to her joyful needlework after all.
To honor this unknown woman and to remember her, I took as much of the little needlework pieces and some of the colored ones, added antique linen on and made a Messenger bag .
For the centerpiece I copied her handwriting from the papercard as good as possible and embroidered it.