Esther Nisenthal Krinitz (1927-2001) was a survivor of the Holocaust in Poland. In October 1942, after living under Nazi occupation for 3 years, the Jews of her village and town in central Poland were ordered to report to the nearby train station for "relocation." The 15-year old Esther decided she would not go but would instead take her 13-year old sister Mania and look for work among Polish farmers. Turned away by Polish friends and neighbors, the sisters assumed new names and evaded the Germans, pretending to be Catholic farm girls. They never saw their family again. After the war ended, the two sisters made their way to a Displaced Persons camp in Germany, where Esther met and married Max Krinitz. In 1949, Esther, Max, and their daughter immigrated to the United States.
In 1977, at the age of 50, Esther began creating works of fabric art to share her story of survival with her daughters. Trained as a dressmaker but untrained in art, she created a collection of 36 fabric pictures of strong, vivid colors and striking details with a sense of folk-like realism. Meticulously stitched words beneath the pictures provide a narrative. While her work exhibits great artistry, Esther never thought of herself as an artist, having created her pictures simply to pass on her memories to her children.