<Yellow Badge in the Nazi Period.

[since 1939: The yellow badge in Wloclawek (Leslau) - the model is copied in whole NS occupied Poland]

In 1938 the Nazis compelled Jewish shopkeepers to display the words "Jewish business" in their windows but did not introduce distinctive signs to be worn by Jews until after the occupation of Poland. The first to issue an order on his own initiative without a waiting instructions from the central authority, was the town Kommandant [[commander]] of Wloclawek [[German 1940-1945: Leslau]], S.S. Oberfuehrer [[supreme leader]] Cramer, who, on Oct. 24, 1939, ordered that every Jew in Wloclawek was to wear a distinctive sign on the back in the form of a yellow triangle at least 15 cm. in size.


Map with the position of Wloclawek (German: Leslau) between Berlin and Warsaw

The order was published in the Leslauer Bote [[Leslau Herald]] (Oct. 25, 1939). The order applied to all Jews, without distinction of age or sex.

This device was rapidly adopted by other commanders in the occupied regions in the East and received official approval, in consideration of the anti-Semitic sentiments prevailing among the local Polish public, which received the new German measure with enthusiasm. The dates of application of the measure varied. There were regions (col. 71)

where the instructions were applied even before they were issued in the General-Gouvernment [[General Governorate]], such as in Cracow, where the Jews were compelled to wear the sign from Nov. 18, 1939, whereas the date throughout the General-Gouvernment was Dec. 1, 1939.

In Lvov [[German: Lemberg]], the order was applied as from July 15, 1941, and in eastern Galicia from Sept. 15, 1941.

On the other hand, in certain places the instruction is known to have been applied only after publication of the general order, as for example in Warsaw on Dec. 12, 1939, and not on Dec 1, 1939, even though Warsaw was included in the General-Gouvernment.

In the smaller communities, the official German instructions were replaced by an announcement of the *Judenrat.

Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Badge in the Nazi times, vol. 4, col. 69: Communication sheet with the order for all Jews over 12 years of age to wear a white armband with a blue star of David, issued by the German commander of Cracow on November 18, 1939. Jerusalem, Yad Vashem Archives.

[since 1941: Yellow badge in the Third Reich - and step by step in the occupied countries]

In the West, the situation was totally different. In the Reichsgebiet (the territory of the Reich proper, as opposed to the occupied territories), the order was issued on Sept. 1, 1941. It was published in the Reichsgesetzblatt and was applied as from Sept. 19, 1941. This date was also valid for the Jews of Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia. The age from which the wearing of the sign was compulsory was six years for Germany and Western Europe and ten years for Eastern Europe. In certain places the age differed.

In Holland, the order was applied as from May 1942, while in Belgium and France the Jews ere compelled to wear the distinctive sign from June 1942. A meeting had been held in Paris in March 1942 to coordinate the application of the order in these three countries. In Bulgaria, the order was applied from September 1942, in Greece from February 1943, and in Hungary from April 1944.

[Variations of the yellow badge / Jewish star / yellow star  - and some armbands with the Jewish star]

The type of distinctive sign varied, the following being the principal forms:

Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971), vol. 4, col. 72: different Jewish stars and armbands decreed by the Nazis during their occupation of Europe in World War II. 1. Bulgaria, Poland (part), Lithuania, Hungary, Greece (part) (yellow star). 2. Germany, Alsace, Bohemia-Moravia (black on yellow). 3. France (black on yellow). 4. Holland (black on yellow). 5. Greece (part), Serbia, Belgrade, Sofia (yellow armband). 6. Belgium (black on yellow). 7. Slovakia (blue star on yellow background). 8. Bulgaria 8black on yellow). 9. Slovakia (yellow star). 10. Poland (part), East and Upper Silesia (blue star on white armband. Jerusalem, Yad Vashem Archives.

-- a yellow Shield (Star) of David without inscription: in Bulgaria, Poland (part), Lithuania, Hungary, Greece (part)

Hungary, yellow Jewish star without inscription Lithuania, Vilna, armband in blue and white with yellow Jewish star without inscription	Hungary, armband in white with yellow Jewish star without inscription Hungary, armband in stripes with yellow Jewish star without inscription
Poland, forced labour with Jewish star badge without inscription, 1942 [[ev. foto composition because the stars seem to be too white]]	Poland, Jewish star in the Lodz ghetto
Hungary, intellectuals of the newpaper Esti Kuri with Jewish stars

-- a yellow Shield (Star) of David inscribed with J or Jude, etc. [[in any language]]:

oo in German "Jude": in Germany, Alsace, Bohemia-Moravia (black on yellow)

Sticker: "Wer dieses Zeichen trägt, ist ein Feind unseres Volkes" ("He who wears this symbol is an enemy of our people.")		Germany, boy with Jewish star with inscription "Jude" ("Jew")
Germany, Jewish star with inscription "Jude" ("Jew") 01, pattern	Jewish star with inscription "Jude" ("Jew") 02	Germany, Jewish star in a hexagon with inscription "Jude" ("Jew")
	Germany, armband in white with yellow Jewish star with black inscription "Jude" ("Jew")
	Germany, armband with Jewish star with inscription "Jude" ("Jew"), black on white
	Germany, striped armband with yellow Jewish star with inscription "Jude" ("Jew")

oo in French "Juif": in France (black on yellow)

France, Jewish star (French: étoile juive, étoile jaune) with the inscription "Juif", compulsory since 29 May 1942 (http://www.histoiredesjuifs.com/ articles.php?lng=fr&pg=1373)	France, girl in white with dark Jewish star with inscription "Juif" ("Jew")	France, boy with bright Jewish star with inscription "Juif" ("Jew")
	France, white armband with yellow Jewish star with inscription "Juif" ("Jew")
	France, white armband for children with yellow Jewish star with inscription "Juif" ("Jew")
	France, white armband with yellow Jewish star without inscription

oo "J": for Belgium [[bilingual solution]]

Belgium, Jewish star with inscription "J." 01, compulsory since 27 May 1942, (http://www.histoiredesjuifs.com/articles. php?lng=fr&pg=1373)	Belgium, Jewish star with inscription "J" 02,	Belgium, daddy with 3 children with Jewish star
Ghetto armband for Jews in Belgium		Belgium, two girls in white with dark Jewish stars, Keizerlei, Antwerpen 1942

oo in Dutch "Jood": in Holland (black on yellow)

Holland, Jewish star with the inscription "Jood" ("Jew")

Holland, Jewish woman with a bright Jewish star with the inscription "Jood" ("Jew"), 1942

-- a white (col. 72) armband with a blue Shield of David on it;

Poland, ghetto armband with blue star on white ground (01) Poland, armband in white with blue Jewish star (02) (cc Auschwitz) Silesia, white armband with blue Jewish star

Woman armband distributor with armbands with Jewish star on white background Armband distributor with armbands with Jewish star on white background

Poland, armbands and police Jewish stars, Krakow ghetto 1942-1943 approx. [[the armband of the man at the right is ev. composed]]	Poland, armband with Jewish star, Krakow ghetto 1943 [[ev. foto composition for propaganda, because the armband seems to be very white]]
Poland, armband with Jewish star, cyclist, Krakow ghetto 1943 approx. [[ev. foto composition for propaganda, because the armband seems to be very white]]	Poland, armband on two Jews, Krakow ghetto 1942-1943 approx.
Poland, tramway ("ghetto tram") with Jewish star 1942-1943 approx.	Poland, man with armband with Jewish star, Warsaw ghetto 1943

-- a Shield of David, with or without inscription and in various colors (col.73): e.g. in Slovakia a blue star on yellow background (col.72),

Slovakia, blue Jewish star on yellow ground without inscription

Slovakia, blue Jewish star on yellow ground with inscription HŽ (abbreviation for Slov. "Jew")

Slovakia, white ghetto armband with blue Jewish star on yellow background

or a yellow star on black background (col.72)

-- a yellow armband with or without inscription: in Greece (part), Serbia, Belgrade, Sofia (yellow armband)

Greece, yellow armband without anything

Yugoland, yellow armband with the inscription "Ž" in black

-- a yellow button in the form of a Shield of David; Parts of Bulgaria, Jewish star with two buttons (pattern)	Rumania / Romania, yellow Jewish star on black background (pattern
-- a metal tag inscribed with the letter J;  CSSR, metal sticker with Jewish star for Jewish police, Czestochowa ghetto	-- a yellow triangle; Yellow triangle
-- a yellow circle	-- or a blue [[braided]] star on white armband: in Poland (part), East and Upper Silesia. (col. 72) Poland, Stopnica ghetto, white armband with blue braided star

[The inscriptions in Hebrew styled letters since 1939 - or a simple "J"]

This general use of the Shield of David as the Jewish badge was unknown in the Middle Ages. The inscriptions appearing on the badges were specially chosen to resemble Hebrew characters. After the Jews were compelled to reside in ghettos, they were also forced to wear the distinctive sign in conformity with the order applying to the region in which the ghetto was located. In the concentration camps they wore the signs which designated political prisoners on which was sewn a triangle or a yellow stripe to distinguish them from non-Jewish prisoners. In the Reichsgebiet, as well as in several of the occupied countries, the Germans introduced distinctive signs on Jewish business premises, passports, and ration cards, where the letter J was overprinted in a most conspicuous manner.

[Special stars in the concentration camps]


Germany, concentration camp Gross-Rosen, Jewish star in red and yellow for Jewish communists

[Special armbands in the ghetto and in the concentration camps]

Armband of the Jewish ghetto community (German: Jüdische Ghetto-Gemeinde)	Armband of the Jewish ghetto police (German: Jüdische Ghetto-Polizei)	Armband of the Jewish ghetto medical service (German: Jüdischer Ghetto-Sanitätsdienst)
Germany, armband of the camp police ("Lagerpolizei") with inscription L.P., white on red	Poland, Auschwitz, armband for medical service, white with red cross

REACTIONS.

[The anti-Semitic population in Eastern Europe welcomes the badge - the population in Holland wears the badge - the Danish king offers resistance to the badge]

Jews reacted with dignity to the order and wore the sign as if it were a decoration. However, they did not realize the danger which lay in wearing a distinctive sign. Non-Jews, especially in Eastern Europe, generally accepted this anti-Jewish measure with enthusiasm and saw in it an opportunity to remove the Jews from commercial, economic, and public life. In the West, reactions varied. The Jews could often rely on the hatred of the Germans by the public, and this even brought active support to the Jews.

The Dutch wore the badge out of solidarity with the Jewish citizens. Three-hundred thousand replicas of the badge were produced and distributed throughout Holland bearing the inscription: "Jews and non-Jews stand united in their struggle!"

In Denmark the badge was never introduced as a result of the courageous resistance of King Christian X, who was said to have threatened to wear it himself.

Holland, protest leaflet against the Jewish star with the inscription: "Jood en niet-jood één in strijd" (Jews and non-Jews stand united in their struggle"). The leaflet was distributed in the underground scene in 1942

King Christian X from Denmark, portrait

CONSEQUENCES.

The principal objective in introducing distinctive signs for the Jews was to erect a barrier between them and non-Jews and to restrict their movements. The Germans achieved this objective to a large extent, despite the various reactions which rendered application of the order difficult. The Jews increasingly concentrated in closed districts even before the establishment of the ghettos by the Nazis for fear of being arrested and deported to concentrations camps. A Jew had the choice of concealing the sign and thus becoming an offender liable to a deportation sentence to the concentration camps, or of wearing the sign and becoming an easy prey to his enemies.

The distinctive signs were thus an effective means in the hands of the Germans to facilitate their plan to exterminate the Jews. (col. 73)>


Bibliography

-- L. Poliakov: L'Etoile jaune (1949)
-- G. Reitlinger: The Final Solution (1953), index s.v. Judenstern> (col. 73)


Supplement

[[When you buy this on auctions: How to see if an armband is forged

In "USA" there exists the sad fact that armbands and prisoner clothes are forged and sold. Forged pieces

-- look practically new
-- the rubber stamps are practically new and not washed out
-- when the seller has many pieces to offer this is suspicious because after liberation normally all clothing was burnt because of the danger of epidemics and lice
-- when the seller of armbands is selling also coins this cannot be a serious thing
-- when the stains on the armbands are always in the same kind or even on the same place this must be forged
-- when the armband looks perfect it's probably from a Holocaust film and not from a real camp, and many Jews had to make their own yellow stars from scratch
-- check the sales-feedback: when the seller has sold more than 5 armbands in the last 2 months there is something wrong because real armbands are very rear]].

(see:
http://reviews.ebay.com/FAKE-HOLOCAUST-ARMBAND-SHOA-NAZI-CONCENTRATION-CAMP-PT1_W0QQugidZ10000000004315646?ssPageName=BUYGD:CAT:-1:LISTINGS:5)