Posted on 06/28/2010 9:08:28 PM PDT by Daffynition
GREELEY — It was stitched with loving care, most likely to provide warmth and comfort to a family trying to brave another stark prairie winter.
Its creator had no idea the 66-inch-by-80-inch quilt would one day be seen as a cloth symphony of one of the world's darkest symbols.
Swastikas, 27 in all, cover the quilt that was donated to the Greeley Museums late last year. Some are pink, others red, still more are tan and white.
Museum officials say they think the quilt was created around 1900, certainly before the design was adopted as the national flag of Nazi Germany. It was found in a hope chest by members of a farming family in the Briggsdale area.
The family did not want to be contacted for this story. Museum manager Erin Quinn said she thinks the women who stitched the quilt probably put it away when Adolph Hitler was rising to power in the 1930s under the banner of the swastika.
Although happy to tuck it away, the family probably did not want the quilt destroyed because it was so well-made, Quinn said.
"It's beautiful with wonderful workmanship," she said. "It's in wonderful condition."
It is also not surprising a swastika was used, she said, because the design has been a popular fixture in many cultures for centuries.
Ancient cave drawings included swastikas. In the Sanskrit language, the word swastika means well-being, said JoAnna Luth Stull, Greeley Museums registrar.
The swastika quilt-block pattern is also known as the Battle X of Thor, Catch Me If You Can, Devil's Dark Horse, Whirligig and Zig Zag, Luth Stull said.
Yet Hitler's use of the swastika changed people's perception of it, Quinn said.
"Certainly a lot of different people would have a lot of different things to say about this," she said.
"Oh, my God," said University of Colorado history professor David Shneer, when told of what the family found in the hope chest.
Although the swastika is used innocently enough in many cultures — Thailand for instance — it still stirs hatred in many people, Shneer said.
"In many European countries, it is against the law to fly the swastika," he said. "It still provokes a lot of hard feelings for people."
Swastikas were already seen by many Germans as a symbol of their country's historical roots in early civilizations before Hitler came to power, Shneer said.
Hitler took the swastika one step further, using it to tout German superiority over others, he said.
"You can't even show that symbol in the United States without it being part of someone's political bent," Shneer said.
The Greeley Museums might one day put the swastika quilt on general display. But first it would be framed by plenty of context, Quinn said.
There will also be discussion beforehand, Quinn said.
"Would this make someone mad? Would this be hurtful? We will have those talks," she said.
I can hardly believe my eyeballs. ‘The Trail of the Ragged Fox’ was one of my Dad’s favorite books as a young man. A few years before he died in 2006 (at age 78) he asked me to try to find him a copy of that book.
I hope it’s not a painful memory for you. Were you able to find the book for him?
Is that the one in South Dakota? If so, I’ve been there. Is there still a swastika on it? I don’t remember that.
They change the design/theme every year, once the birds pick off all of the corn.
This is interesting. I know somewhere else where there is a partial quilt, framed, from at least 100 years ago, that has various patterns stitched into it including a swastika. I had always wondered about that, but I knew it had been a symbol in some American Indian art.
No, I never found it. I even requested help from the local librarian but got nowhere. This was actually about ten years ago that Dad asked me to try to find that book and I was not at all computer/internet savvy. Today I’m sure I could find that book - - and nearly anything else - - quite quickly. I still have the piece of paper on which he wrote the book title.
No painful memories at all - - nothing but great memories, although I sure do miss him.
Thanks for asking, and FRegards,
LH
Thanks for the link!
You sucker punched me with that one! I’m, literally, laughing out loud.
fylfot cross (fylfot meaning ‘four feet’)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/starycat/3317576632/
The swastika is an ancient symbol of good luck and was converted by early pioneers into a quilt pattern. Other names for this pattern are Rolling Cross, Broken Cross and Flyfoot. It was done by the owners grandmother around 1890. It was made in East Salem, PA. This quilt is in very good condition. The swastika symbol became the hated symbol of Hitler’s Nazi Germany. From the time of the Second World War...this quilt has been tucked away in a cedar chest.
Civilization is dead. History professors are at the intellectual level of reality TV.
Good finds!
That is the 'quirk of history'. Not the quilt.
It's not their fault a bunch of dipsh*ts over in Germany corrupted its meaning for generations to come.
Another surprise...
“Hopefully, it will educate in the positive way you describe. ;)”
Indeed. But if the opportunity is not offered, the education will not happen. It is a pretty quilt, and our family has a few, though nothing as confusing as that one.
Frankly, I’m rather surprised that folks are making as big a deal about it. The swastika is a pervasive historical/political/religious symbol, as evidenced by all of the pictures in this thread. I dare say, most people don’t know that. Being part Irish, part indian, and part human (as my German father told me) I suppose I should be pretty well imprinted on the swastika. It’s just a symbol though, with a complex history.
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