16 - We Fled Across The Fields
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(From the Tapestry): “September 1942. After the morning raid, the Gestapo were returning. We fled across the fields to the woods, my mother directing me to separate.”
Embroidery on cloth, 1992.
22″W x 22″H.
Transcript of Narration
"Following the dawn raid, the family heard that the Germans were returning. Rachel took Esther and the two youngest girls to flee across the fields behind their house, while Ruven and Hersh headed to the river to hide. As they ran, Rachel told Esther to separate, to go off by herself so that in case they were discovered, Esther would be better able to save herself on her own, foreshadowing Esther’s ultimate separation from her family.
"In contrast to the very spare stitching of the previous picture, this picture is completely filled with stitches—every stalk of grass, every leaf in the forest, all elaborately stitched. After the earlier picture, Esther had a cortisone shot to treat the inflammation in her hands and wrist, and this outpouring of stitches was the result."