The bag

The rectangular (oblong) bag made of cotton fabric. The object was decorated with cross-stitch embroidery in two colours: navy blue and red. The pattern is geometric. On both sides there is a visible border - a geometric, rhythmic pattern, consisting of red rhombuses on a navy blue background. The central field (on both sides) shows geometrised figures. On one side there is a female figure wearing a red dress and navy blue apron, waistcoat, hat and shoes. Her hands are resting on her hips. Underneath the representation there is a geometric pattern similar to a triangle (pointing with the apex downwards). The pattern is filled with a rhombus pattern analogous to a bordering. On the other side there is a representation of a man wearing red trousers and a shirt, a navy blue waistcoat, shoes and a hat. The man has a black moustache, a sabre belt and (at his belt). His hands are also resting on his hips. The letter (initial) T is placed under the representation. The initial was made with the same trail (rhombuses) as the bordure. The edge was secured with a black rhythmic trail resembling twigs. The edges have been turned up (trace of pulling). The fabric was used secondarily. The colour and weave of the linen allow us to assume that a piece of clothing was used to make the bag.

The letter T embroidered on the bag most probably refers to the first letter of the name of Toni Lechtman, who sewed it herself or received it as a gift from one of her fellow inmates.

In one of the protocols (read out in the film Tonia i jej dzieci (Tonia and Her Children) by Marcel Łoziński) prepared during the interrogation, Tonia Lechtman recalls her first arrest. She recalls that she and her schoolmates (three girls) went to a factory in the Bałuty district of Łódź to hand out leaflets to the workers during a rally that was taking place there: the scuffle with the police started. We were put in a cell for 2 weeks. I was dismissed from the secondary school on disciplinary grounds. When I came home, my grandfather came. He asked if I was a communist. I replied that I was. That was the first and last time in my life that I was punched in the face by him. She was 14 at the time.

Marta Frączkiewicz