Between January 1940 and August 1941, Nazis murdered 70,273 physically and mentally disabled people – men, women, teens, boys, and girls. Though they never even laid eyes on the disabled person they were evaluating, the Nazi doctors read the medical files and, if from the words on the page, the person was deemed “unfit” or an “economic burden on society”, the doctor placed a red X at the bottom of the form. Three doctors were to read each medical file, and when two of them made a red X on the page, the disabled person’s fate was sealed.

This project commemorates those 70,273 voiceless, powerless people who were so callously and casually murdered by gathering 70,273 quilt blocks of white fabric (representing the paper the doctors read), each bearing two red X’s (representing one person). As I said in the initial post, we can’t change history – can’t unring that bell – but we can wrap it in kindness.

Thanks to countless compassionate people around the world, it took less than three years for us commemorated every one of these people. We’re not accepting more blocks or quilts at this time, however, if you’d like to get involved, we need help piecing and quilting blocks we already have. If you’re so inclined to make a donation – thank you! We promise 100% of your donation will be put to good use on needs for the project, as we are an all-volunteer organization. Just click the donate button on the right side of this page, and you’ll be whisked to where you need to go to make your donation. Again, thank you.

We may have commemorated these 70,273 people, but we’re not done just yet! There are many amazing, exciting things still in the works for The 70273 Project, and if you’d like to be updated periodically, please let us know via this contact form (because we’re reworking our newsletter).

Perhaps you’d like to fix yourself a cup your favorite beverage and peruse our photos and story archives.

You’re also welcome to join our Facebook Campfire Group and  like our Facebook page.

So glad you stopped by, and we look forward to having you become involved in one way or another.