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.
Bet they can wear Che Guevara and Chairman Mao shirts in Europe though.
Corn?!!
The ACLU should go after him for mentioning God.
Ping to post 2
Perhaps the museum is also making a preemptive statement, knowing that some will object, out of ignorance.
It's recent connections to neo-Nazis cannot be denied. A symbol of hope, now relegated as a symbol of hate.
I wonder how many more of such-styled quilts remain hidden in attics b/c of PC sentiments and for the reasons the donating family wants to remain anonymous? ...or how many were destroyed?
If the Nazis had used a pink swastika, the 1930s and 1940s would have been much different. Thanks Daffynition.
I was given one of these early 20th century quilts just yesterday. It was one of several quilts and was in very good condition compared to the others. Likely it was in better condition because it was put away and didn't get used due to the negative connotation of the symbol. In searching the net to see what I could find out about it, I ran across this discussion.
Most of the blocks on the quilt are "spinning" in a clockwise motion, so they are the opposite of the swastika, but there are a couple that are spinning counter-clockwise and are a swastika, probably a mistake of the quilter and used anyway because nothing went to waste back then.
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