A prized painting secretly sewn into the lining of a winter coat by a Ukrainian family to hide it from the Nazis in a forced labor camp has been restored in what viewers are calling The Repair Shop’s most moving revelation.
Last night’s episode of the BBC show saw 74-year-old Maria Kirk bring in a damaged 19th-century painting of Madonna and Child, which she described as the last connection to her Eastern European family.
Ms Kirk said that while her grandmother died in the labor camp in northern Germany, her mother and aunt survived. Her aunt gave her the painting in 1990, but it was missing large strips of paint and it was damaged.
And there were tears from Maria, and from the viewers, as the painting was restored and the retired florist wept as she said the artwork was “tangible proof that my family existed” and had been, for them, a “beacon of peace, faith and beauty’ through the horrors of World War II.
During the show, Maria explained that the artwork had been given to her grandfather by her father in the 1880s and hung in a village church in Skowiatyn, western Ukraine.
He then explained how the family took it with them when they fled to Poland at the start of the war and traded it from person to person hiding in a winter coat when they were captured and sent to a labor camp by their Nazi oppressors.
Poignant: Maria Kirk (left) with Lucia Scalisi, Jay Blades and the painting that was sewn into the lining of a coat to hide it from the Nazis during WWII that has been restored in an emotional episode of The Repair Shop
The earlier painting was restored (left) and then (right) in a reveal that is considered one of the most dramatic and moving in the exhibition’s history. The restoration consisted of carefully returning the painting to the folds where it had remained after hiding and rolling it up.
Irena, Maria’s mother (center), with other family members. Maria described the painting as her last connection to her Ukrainian family.
She said: ‘My grandfather Joseph had died. My grandmother Halyna, my mother Irena, and my aunt Stefania fled to Poland. The Russians were coming from one side and the Germans from the other.
‘They decided to take the painting. They took it out of the frame, rolled it up, and sewed it inside the lining of a winter coat.
Maria’s mother, Irena, who survived a Nazi labor camp with her sister. Irena’s mother died there.
“Eventually, they were all captured by the Germans and sent to a labor camp in northern Germany. They continued to exchange the coat.
In the episode, she cried as the show’s restoration expert, Lucia Scalisi, brushed away dirt and removed discoloration.
After surviving the war, Maria’s Stefania stayed in Germany and kept the extraordinary painting.
Irena’s mother moved to the UK where she met Maria’s Polish father.
Maria, a widow, is a retired florist from Eastwood, Nottinghamshire.
Describing what his family went through, he said: ‘They had to work in a German factory, making metal parts for fighter planes.
“She told me once that they had to hide under the wagons because they were being bombed. She also once spoke about a day when there was a pogrom against the Jewish population and they were gathered to go to work and they had to step over the bodies.
‘I couldn’t understand why they had taken this painting and not something more practical, but now I do. It was the precious link between them and their father… family and life as it used to be.
‘The painting is a beacon of peace, faith and beauty in the midst of the darkness and horror of war.’
Maria Kirk, 74, breaks down when she sees the restored image for the first time
The widow with her family and the artwork she called a “beacon of peace, faith and beauty”
Art expert Lucia Scalisi with the restored Madonna and baby Jesus
The BBC show often welcomes special guests to the restoration barn, including actress Judi Dench and strict judge Craig Revel Horwood.
But one notable guest was King Charles, who Jay Blades told the British public had “never seen” like this during his appearance on The Repair Shop.
Presenter Jay, 52, and the crew visited Dumfries House in Scotland for a one-off episode to mark the BBC’s centenary filmed when Charles was still the Prince of Wales.
In The Repair Shop: A Royal Visit, which aired in October, Charles needed help with an 18th-century bracket clock and a piece made for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee by British ceramicist Wemyss Ware.
He said the damaged 19th-century piece of pottery fell out when someone was opening a window, “they didn’t notice,” he joked.
speaking to MirrorJay described King as “a real pleasure” to meet him, saying it was an “amazing time” to have him on the show.
He said: “People often say never judge a book by its cover, so you never really listen to what people are saying until you meet the real person.”
‘It was a true joy and an honor to work with him, wait until you see him, you will be surprised. You never see it like that.
Jay previously spoke about the importance of Charles appearing on the show and speaking to someone “from a council state.”
He said: “You have someone from a council state and someone from a royal state who have the same interests in traditional apprenticeships and crafts, and it’s amazing to see that two people from so far away, from different ends of the spectrum, actually they have the same interests.’
Programme: Presenter Jay, 52, and crew visited Dumfries House in Scotland for a one-off episode to mark the BBC’s centenary filmed when Charles was still the Prince of Wales.
BBC hit: During the show, Maria explained that the painting had been given to her grandfather by her father in the 1880s and hung in a village church in Skowiatyn, western Ukraine.
In the episode, Charles met students from the Prince’s Foundation Building Crafts Program, a training initiative that teaches traditional skills like blacksmithing, masonry, and woodcarving.
The monarch said: ‘I still think the great tragedy is the lack of vocational education in schools, actually not all of them are designed for academics.
‘I know from The Prince’s Trust, I’ve seen the difference we can make for people who have technical skills that we need all the time, I have the greatest admiration for people.
“I think that has been the biggest problem, sometimes that is forgotten. Apprenticeships are vital, but they just dropped apprenticeships for some reason. It gives people intense satisfaction and reward.’
Charles said what he “really loves” is having students come back as tutors year after year, “filling in school gaps,” he said.
Before the results are revealed, Charles asked the crew: ‘Have you fixed this? The suspense is killing me.’
The monarch also loaned Prince’s Foundation graduate Jeremy Cash to The Repair Shop to work with metalworking expert Dominic Chinea on a third item described as a fire in the shape of a soldier with a poignant story behind its existence.
