DISPLAY AT THE MIGHTY EIGHTH AIR FORCE MUSEUM, POOLER, GA., OF EMBROIDERY AND HANDICRAFTS MADE BY WOMEN POLITICAL PRISONERS AWAITING EXECUTION

(Click on an image to enlarge it.  Click a second time to enlarge it further.)

DETAIL OF SONGS THEY SANG, EMBROIDERED BY CHARLOTTE AMBACH

LEGEND IDENTIFYING EMBROIDERIES AND HANDICRAFTS ON DISPLAY

EXPLANATION BY CHARLOTTE AMBACH OF EMROIDERIES AND HANDICRAFTS

Charlotte Ambach prepared a four-page explanation of the above display of embroideries and handicrafts.  It was used as a handout at the 8th AF Museum at the time the display was on view.  To be able to see the explanation, click on the following pdf file: Explanation of Embroidery and Handicraft Display.  The numbers used in the legend above appear in her explanation.  The explanation also includes songs they sang to keep up their spirits while awaiting execution.

According to the Wikipedia article on Henriette Roosenburg (“Jet”), an embroidery done by her but not shown in the display above, showed “a crude drawing of a gun to indicate that the prisoners had heard what they thought was Allied gunfire, as well as the names ‘Nell’ and ‘Joke’ (pronounced ‘Yoe-kuh’) in Morse code to indicate that she was in solitary confinement, that Nell and Joke were in the two adjacent cells, and that they communicated by tapping Morse code on the walls.”

A photo taken in May 2018 at the escape and evasion exhibit of the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum provides further explanation of the embroideries: