This week includes the 27th January, which is designated Holocaust Memorial Day. The Holocaust included a Nazi programme (called Aktion T4) to eliminate all individuals with a disability who were considered ‘unworthy of life’. Until three and a half years ago, I was a teacher in a Special School for six years. The school catered for students with a wide range of disabilities. The time I spent working in the school taught me that every life is important. So, I was particularly moved by the 70,273 creative art-project, started by an American called Jeanne Hewell-Chambers, set up to commemorate the 70,273 individuals killed under the Aktion T4 programme.
Jeanne chose to use two red crosses as the central point of the art-project because under Aktion T4, two red crosses on a disabled person’s medical records (after examination by three doctors) meant a death sentence.
At the time of writing, 37,922 blocks have been received. I have sent my four blocks (pictured in this post) directly to Jeanne in the USA. You can do the same by checking out her website here.
Here is an image from the 70, 273 Facebook page (you can find that here), showing blocks sewn together as quilts:
From 25-29 January 2018, an exhibition of quilts made from 70,273 blocks can be seen in Durham Cathedral, UK. A local group, Coxhoe Quilting Group, has co-ordinated this particular exhibition. Here is their photograph from the Durham Cathedral website, in the ‘What’s On’ section:
You can find out more about the Durham exhibition here.
Thank you for reading my blog. Quilt patterns are here, Fabrics are here, Classes are here
This is my ‘Little Leaf – Red’ design. You can find it here.
