The case

The rectangular envelope case is made of colourful striped cotton fabric. The cover has a flap in the middle of which a handle is sewn in the form of a strip of the same fabric trimmed with black thread. The edges of the cover are decorated with bordure made with black thread in Zakopane embroidery technique. The fabric was reused. The colour and weave of the linen allow us to assume that a fragment of a colourful kitchen cloth or bedclothes was used to make the bag.

During her stay in prison, Tonia Lechtman and the women with whom she shared a cell were tortured. They were beaten and kicked. Their hair was pulled out. They were trampled with the heels of their shoes. They were interrogated for many days. They were watched so that they would not sleep. They were sent naked to the punishment cell, where they were made to sit on the concrete floor. They were repeatedly woken up during the night. In order to prevent the women from sleeping, they were ordered to dress and undress, and to run up and down the stairs at night. Harassment of female prisoners was the norm. They were spit in the face. The guards did everything they could to humiliate the women held in their cells.

Marta Frączkiewicz