Thank you, Dora, for sharing your experience with us. I think it speaks volumes about the conditions for lacemakers in a communist environment. It may have been better than starvation... but only just that...
Clay ----- Original Message ----- From: "dora.northern" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, February 01, 2004 2:05 PM Subject: Re: [lace] Communism good for lace? long > Hallo All. > > In 1980 Elena Holeczyova came to England and having seen only one or two > laces of hers, I was eager to meet her and offered to translate from German > into English. We stayed with Margaret Hamer. The big day came when all the > crates were unpacked in the presence of the Authorities. > Out came one large piece of lace after another. Perhaps some of you can > remember the exhibition. Not everybody liked her laces. > I mentioned that I was going to Prague and she invited me to visit her in > Bratislava. How could I refuse ? > > In Prague, the museum showed me some lovely pieces of lace, dresses, coats > and shoes. but not one piece of Elena's And then someone took me to the > College of Art in order to meet Marie Vankova. And she could speak English. > So we had a lot to talk about. From here I was send to a school in order to > buy lace pieces because I > complaint that I could not see any laces in the shops. > > From Prague I went to Bad Lauterbrunnen /Switzerland on a lace course. And > on the back home I made a d-tour to Bratislava. Only 2" on the map, I > informed my husband. > So different, Elena's laces were mainly coloured and in Prague mostly > white. > > One day we were taken into the country to visit one of the lacemakers, who > worked for her. There was a lace roll, I swear about 2 metres long. and > massive bobbins, but not as used for Beds. or Bucks lace.No ,big ones to > hold lots of thread. I had a go but found going from side to side tiring. > She was one of about 8o lacemakers working for Elena, who was employed by > the Staat and had to overlook that the laces are being delivered on time. I > asked if I could buy some of their threads or even a piece of lace, but was > told that the thread, when it is delivered is weighed, so were the finished > laces and left-over threads. If there was a shortcoming, the lacemaker had > to pay. Elena had many pieces of her lace showing in Government places and > museums. > > Another exciting day we had was going to the filmstudio. No .. nothing like > Elstree. Just a large room in a flat at the back of a house. Here they were > making a Video. When the money ran out to pay the Lacemakers, some pieces > of lace were used to finish the picture and it worked. I was allowed to > watch. AND I HAVE THE VIDEO. And some of her lovely laces. laces. > I went once more with the head of the School in Nordhalben. Alas she was too > ill and we stayed just a short time. She died in January 1983. > > I hope you found it interesting, but apologise for it being so long. > > Dora the Knotter UK > > http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dora.northern > > - > To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: > unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
