ETTY HILLESUM - Prayer Shawl

I would like to share with you a fleece fabric “Biographical Prayer Shawl”. The subject of the Shawl is my impressions of the life of “Etty Hillesum”. I got acquainted with “Etty” both through reading excerpts of her literary work, An Interrupted Life: The Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943 and by attending your class lectures, Dr. Lalonde.

Etty’s Diaries share her struggles as a young woman searching for a life-of-meaning as a marked Jewess in Nazi-occupied Holland. Through her Diaries, Etty also shares how she comes to accept her destiny and fate because of these circumstances. (3 July 1942, “… my life has, so to speak, been extended by death, by my looking death in the eye and accepting it…”)

Let’s stop and take a look at the Shawl…

You will note that the main piece is blue with black paws. These paws represent Etty’s steps forward and backward in her quest to “find herself”. They also are a symbol of her resolve to go forward-- towards her ultimate destiny.

As noted in class, Etty was bi-polar. The left-hand side fringe describes both Etty’s manic and depressive moods—moods that could likely have coloured her viewpoint of her life’s gains and struggles.

The pocket with Chelsea cats inside depicts Etty’s want/need to “own” those who were dear to her. This oftentimes included men, herein characterized by felines. (Sunday, 9 March 1941, “And so I wanted to own him.”) There is another grinning Chelsea cat that is outside the pocket. He represents “S” (Julius Spier), a charismatic man whose personality was too strong to be contained. (Tuesday morning, half-past nine, “…inwardly I am much less bound”).

Starting in 1941, the Nazi regime required Jews to wear a “yellow badge”, a Star of David, on their outer garments. This badge was a cloth patch that was sewn on, as represented on the Shawl.

Amongst other groups, it was Hitler’s intent to completely annihilate the Jewish people. As Etty notes, “…we are all marked men”. (3 July 1942. This ever-present threat is shown on the Shawl by the ferocious hunter polar bears.

Etty used meditation and readings (including The Bible) (8 June 1941”…so that something of ‘God’ can enter you”). By the end of her Diaries, she said she “shall always feel safe in God’s arms” (11 July 1942). On the Shawl, the teddy bear with wings symbolizes God. Etty (invisible) is cozy inside his pocket.

How important—to her and to us--that Etty was able to hand off her Diaries to Klaas Smelik! See the little book and hands that illustrate this triumph.

Unfortunately, Etty’s path was interrupted at age 29. For her—as for millions of others—the concentration camp furnace was her end. An end that she had prepared for (as best as could be possible): spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. (June 11, 1942 “I may face cruelty and deprivation the likes of which I cannot imagine even my wildest fantasies. Yet all this is as nothing to the immeasurable expanse of my faith in God and my inner receptiveness”). See the right-hand fringes that picture fire and scattered ashes.

It has been a privilege to share my impressions of Etty Hillesum with you through this Biographical Shawl. “My” impressions are--as any art piece is, regardless of intent—actually autobiographical of myself, its creator, if only in the subjects chosen to be portrayed. In any case, Etty leaves much for us to contemplate and to share…

(I, RHOnda, got permission to participate in a project at University!! Very rewarding...)

RHOnda

Got Prof's comments back today (11/30)... "A very thoughtful and engaging work of art. You chose some provocative themes and images that were central to Etty's quest. It deserves top marks! Well done."