25 - Run For Your Lives
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(From Tapestry): “October 31, 1942. After our night in the fields, Mania and I went back to Ksiezomiesz, to Dudzinska’s house, where Mania had worked. When she saw us, she pushed us out into the fields and said, ‘God help you, run for your lives! Everyone knows you are Hersh’s daughters, and the Gestapo were just here.”‘
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Embroidery and fabric collage, 1994.
32″W x 23″H.
Transcript of Narration
"After spending the night in the fields, Esther and Mania returned to Ksiemozierz, to the house of Dzudinska, for whom Mania had worked. As soon as she saw them, she shouted at them to run for their lives because the Gestapo had just been in the village. Esther and Mania turned and ran to the woods once again to hide.
"It was growing dark, and Esther realized that if they were seen in the woods then, people would be suspicious. So Esther told Mania that they had to continue on to the village of Grabowka, where they would go straight to the sheriff’s house and tell him their story. Mania was terrified at the thought of going to the authorities, but Esther said, 'If we’re going to pretend to be Maria and Josefina Grochowiezka, then we have to act like them.'"