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Before World War II even began, Trudie's father fell victim to Stalin’s Campaigns of Terror.  When Trudie was 4, she and her mother were taken from their home by the Nazis and herded over 600 miles, first to the Lodz Ghetto and then to a labor camp.  An incomparable seamstress, Trudie's mother Masha was put to work wherever they landed.  Sewing saved their lives.  Sewing bought them enough precious time to see Liberation. However, this was not the end of their persecution as they bounced from Displacement Camp to homes for the Displaced.  Years passed.  Masha continued to sew to make ends meet, and they never abandoned their dream of coming to America.

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When they finally arrived in America, Trudie married and had two sons.  Life was busy and neither she nor her survivor husband ever spoke of the past.  In her fifties, with her sons grown and out of the house, the traumas of her childhood came surging back and she suffered a complete breakdown.  Because Trudie had stopped talking, a therapist suggested she attempt to express herself by drawing.  So she began to draw and soon she began to stitch her drawings.  And the body of work that she produced is stunning.

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You can listen to Trudie tell a little of her story in the video.