Protest Art: Quiet Acts of Resistance and Storytelling in Paper Crafting
Telling stories through art matters. It can be a quiet form of protest, or it can simply be preserving important stories that need to be told.
Hi, crafty friend! I usually keep my paper crafting to sharing inspiration only, but recent events have me thinking about what my Oma (grandmother) would be saying. It further got me thinking about the importance of storytelling.
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The Importance of Storytelling | Quiet Acts of Resistance | Recreate the Flowers | Shop the Supplies
Ruth's Story & The Importance of Storytelling
Meet my Oma, Ruth. She was born in 1920 and was an Austrian citizen. Her mother was Jewish and her father Catholic. And if you are putting two and two together, by now you've realized that she was considered Jewish and was living in 1930s and 40s Europe.
Yes, my Oma was a Holocaust survivor. She may not have considered herself that since she never saw the inside of a concentration camp, but the sheer fact that she survived that time period as someone who was considered Jewish, makes her one.
My Oma's parent's became Protestants when they got married. It was highly unusual to be Lutheran in a Catholic country such as Austria, but my great grandfather was disaffected with Catholicism and my great grandmother was tired of antisemitism. So my Oma grew up celebrating Easter and Christmas.
From a young age, though, she did know who her mother was. In fact, her father's parents did not care for his wife. So while their relationship was strained with my great grandmother, it fortunately was not with my Oma. In fact, my Oma had a very close relationship with her father's mother.
My Oma did not talk about her life during this time period often, but when she did, it was always to impress upon me the importance of learning to respect everyone and their differences, and for standing up for what is right.
One of the stories she told was about a boy who was a member of her Lutheran youth group she was a part of. He had blond hair and blue eyes, but a slight hook to his nose. The other kids in the group started a rumor about him being Jewish, making fun of him. It was one of my Oma's earliest experiences with antisemitism that she could remember.
Another scarier situation was later on with that same youth group, but this time, my Oma, only 17 years old, was the target. Members of her youth group wanted to go to a meeting of the "Hitlerjugend" and convinced her to come with. She just wanted to be accepted and to fit in. But it was announced at the start of a meeting that she was "unfit to be among them." Very few people knew my Oma's secret, and someone had ratted her out. My Oma left and hid at home for 2 weeks, too terrified to go to school or leave her home. My Oma said she was what would have been considered a "dirty half-Jew."
She also recalled her neighbor who was a train engineer. He had come home from a job in Poland and recounted a horror story. He had witnessed SS Troopers force a bunch of Jewish women dig a mass grave. When they were done, they shot the women, then threw their children in after them still alive. Many of his neighbors did not believe him--times were so different then. People didn't have cameras on cell phones and the government was putting out propaganda, and the truth was hard to come by. My Oma said her neighbor couldn't live with what he saw, and ended up becoming an alcoholic.
By the time my Oma was old enough to go to University, the "man with the mustache" was in power in Austria. Because she was considered Jewish, she had to ask for permission to go to University. My Oma wanted to be a doctor, but her dreams were denied when she was told she would not be allowed to continue her education.
Later on, my Oma met a Christian man who had fallen in love with her. She admitted that she was not so much in love with him, but the idea that he could be another layer of protection against the same fate many other Jews found themselves facing. But as with her higher education, she also had to ask permission to marry a Christian man. She was again told no.
My Oma said that this man was later called up to serve in the German Army. She didn't hear from him after that, though she seemed to think he would have, and believed that he either died soon after joining the Army, or worse, was outright killed for having the audacity to fall in love with a Jewish woman. My Oma carried guilt over that to her dying day.
She carried a lot guilt. She once told me she wished she died in the gas chambers with the other Jews, including some of her own uncles and aunt. She even said there was one time that she wished her mother was not her mother. Her father afforded her protection and did things she couldn't even bring herself to say--not even once. Guilt that no one believed her neighbor; guilt that she wanted to fit in and went to that meeting. So much guilt.
At the end of the war, she was near starving and not living with family. She crossed the border illegally on foot and bike to get back to Austria. She nearly died from hunger. She could have been shot or jailed. But she made it. I can't imagine the amount of courage that took.
And I say courage during this time period because people went into hiding or risked being abducted off the streets. People were shot dead simply because the government said that person was a threat. In America, these themes are feeling all too familiar and close right now.
As the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, I feel compelled to speak out.
My Oma was too afraid to speak out at the time because she was the target of hate. And that is why I find it so important to tell her story. She didn't want this out. She lived in fear until her death that someone would find out she was Jewish, that someone like Trump would come to power in the US and deport a little old lady who had given up her Austrian citizenship when she became an American citizen. That she would be a person without a country. That she would be persecuted simply for being born to a Jewish woman.
And as that granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, I'm telling you that what this world needs now is more empathy. “Othering” people who don’t look, pray, vote or love like you does not make you safer. It does not make you better.
So today, I’m honoring my Oma's memory by doing the one thing she couldn’t do without losing her life–telling her story and speaking out through my art. So speak out, my friend, on whatever your heart tells you is important--because it is important. Tell your stories and the stories of your family in a meaningful way.
Quiet Acts of Resistance
I chose to speak out on socials and this blog when I created this layout. But if I didn't, this would have been a quiet act of resistance. Did you know that the Edelweiss flower was considered one of the unofficial symbols of the resistance during WWII? The "Edelweißpiraten" (Edelweiss Pirates), were a loosely organized group of youths who opposed the status quo of Nazi Germany. They were a response to the "Hitlerjugend." You can learn more about them here.
Just making art is a form of resistance, a form of protest. You don't always have to overtly tell people that it's protest. Often, the right people will know it is without you having to say so. But even small, quiet acts like this matter.
The arts and literature tell us the story of humanity--what is in the hearts and minds of the people. History books tell of who one wars, strategies and politics, but not about the people, not really. So make art. Make a card to brighten someone's day. Make a scrapbook layout about a really great day you had. Art is joyful. Joyfulness is its own form of protest and resistance to the status quo.
Recreate the Flowers in this Layout:
My Oma's favorite flower was the Enzian flower. But being Austrian and loving to hike in the Alps (in a Dirndl no less), Edelweiss and Alpenrose also remind me of her. The dried Edelweiss surrounding the layout in my photo are real and are the variety that come from the Alps, though they were grown and preserved in Canada. The Enzian flower pins were my Oma's, a treasured family heirloom and keepsake.
I don't have specific dies for the Edelweiss, Enzian and Alpenrose flowers, but I was able to combine several dies together to recreate them as best as I could. If you also appreciate wildflowers of the Alps, here are the combinations you can use to create these flowers too.
- Edelweiss Flower:
- Flower Petals: Scrapbook.com Sunny Lane Florals
- Flower Centers: Spellbinders Poinsettia Spray
- Cardstock: Doodlebug Crushed Velvet, Sizzix Muted Surfacez - Harvest and Sand
- Enzian Flower:
- Flower Petals: Spellbinders Hummingbird's Delight
- Flower Leaves: Sunny Stems
- Cardstock: Spellbinders Cosmic Sky, Spellbinders Muted Opulent - French Navy Pearl
- Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Speckled Egg
- Gem: Spellbinders Color Essential Gems Gold Mix
- Alpenrose Flower:
- Flower Petals: Spellbinders Sunny Stems
- Flower Stems: Spellbinders Sunny Stems
- Flower Leaves: Sizzix Greenery Layers #1
- Cardstock: Spellbinders Wild Berry, Sizzix Festive Surfacez - Pink Fizz, Sizzix Muted Surfacez - Pine
I hope that you enjoyed this slightly different blog post about paper crafting and storytelling. I know it was long, and for those that read the story of my Oma, thank you. I really appreciate it. Until next time, happy crafting.
Adrienne
Shop the Supplies:
Scrapbook.com, A Cherry On Top, Sizzix, Prima Marketing, Spellbinders, Etsy & Amazon
I am an affiliate with multiple companies. When you shop the links below, I receive a small commission from the affiliate, at no additional cost to you. This helps me balance the costs of the time and love I put into my projects and blog so I can continue to share my ideas with you for FREE. If you shop the links, thank you! I greatly appreciate it.
Below are products that I used for this project.
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