Day 37
Jews and Good Citizenship
In loving memory of Michael Berman by his wife Esther, children and grandchildren.
In loving memory of Michael Berman by his wife Esther, children and grandchildren.
September 19, 1941 – Jewish badge law
After the German invasion of Poland in 1939 there were initially different local decrees requiring Jews to wear a distinctive sign, during the General Government. The sign was a white armband with a blue Star of David on it, in the Warthegau* a yellow badge in the form of a Star of David on the left side of the breast and on the back. The requirement to wear the Star of David with the word Jude (German for Jew) inscribed in faux Hebrew letters was then extended to all Jews over the age of six in the Reich and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (by a decree issued on September 19, 1941, signed by Reinhard Heydrich) and was gradually introduced in other German-occupied areas, where local words were used (e.g., Juif in French, Jood in Dutch).
*Warthegau was a Nazi German administrative subdivision formed from Polish territory annexed in 1939. It comprised the Greater Poland and adjacent areas.
Jerry Meents talks about how refusing to wear the yellow star on their clothing meant being sent to the concentration camps. He describes the difference between a concentration camp and an extermination camp.