rayna gillman Poland Series studio 78 
These quilts were the aftermath of a "roots" trip I took with my mother in 1997. She had spent 1925 with her grandparents in Jaslo, Poland, and yearned to see it again -- if it still existed. Not 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.
Generated by a postcard photo of relatives we can't identify, "Journey" commemorates those who were lost and those who were lucky enough to emigrate before it was too late.
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."
Warsaw is full of 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 now being used to make electrical components. And we spent a day at Auschwitz-Birkenau, which stands exactly as it was when the Allies liberated it. There are no words.
