The yellow badge, also known as the yellow patch, the Jewish badge, or the yellow star (German: Judenstern,), was an accessory that Jews were required to wear in certain non-Jewish societies throughout history. A Jew's ethno-religious identity, which would be denoted by the badge, would help to mark them as an outsider.[1] Legislation that mandated Jewish subjects to wear such items has been documented in some Middle Eastern caliphates and in some European kingdoms during the medieval period and the early modern period. The most recent usage of yellow badges was during World War II, when Jews living in Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe were ordered to wear a yellow Star of David to keep their Jewish identity disclosed to the public in the years leading up to the Holocaust.
The practice of wearing special clothing or markings to distinguish Jews and other non-Muslims (dhimmis) in Muslim-dominated countries seems to have been introduced in the Umayyad Caliphate by Caliph Umar II in the early 8th century. The practice was revived and reinforced by the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil (847–861), subsequently remaining in force for centuries. A genizah document from 1121 gives the following description of decrees issued in Baghdad:
In largely Catholic Medieval Europe, Jews and Muslims were required to wear distinguishable clothing in some periods. These measures were not seen as being inconsistent with the papal bulls Latin: [[Sicut Judaeis]]. Most significantly, the Fourth Council of the Lateran headed by Pope Innocent III ruled in 1215 that Jews and Muslims must wear distinguishable dress (Latin Latin: habitus). Canon 68 reads, in part:
Innocent III had in 1199 confirmed Latin: Sicut Judaeis, which was also confirmed by Pope Honorius III in 1216. In 1219, Honorius III issued a dispensation to the Jews of Castile,[2] the largest Jewish population in Europe. Spanish Jews normally wore turbans, which presumably met the requirement to be distinctive.[3] Elsewhere, local laws were introduced to bring the canon into effect.[4] The identifying mark varied from one country to another, and from period to period.
In 1227, the Synod of Narbonne, in canon 3, ruled:
However, these ecclesiastic pronouncements required legal sanctions of a temporal authority. In 1228, James I of Aragon ordered Jews of Aragon to wear the badge; and in 1265, the Spanish; Castilian: [[Siete Partidas]], a legal code enacted in Castile by Alfonso X but not implemented until many years later, included a requirement for Jews to wear distinguishing marks.[5] On 19 June 1269, Louis IX of France imposed a fine of ten livres (one livre was equivalent to a pound of silver) on Jews found in public without a badge (Latin: rota|lit=wheel, French: rouelle or French: roue).[6] The enforcement of wearing the badge is repeated by local councils, with varying degrees of fines, at Arles 1234 and 1260, Béziers 1246, Albi 1254, Nîmes 1284 and 1365, Avignon 1326 and 1337, Rodez 1336, and Vanves 1368. The "rota" looked like a ring of white or yellow.[7] The shape and colour of the patch also varied, although the colour was usually white or yellow. Married women were often required to wear two bands of blue on their veil or head-scarf.
In 1274, Edward I of England enacted the Statute of Jewry, which also included a requirement:
In Europe, Jews were required to wear the German: [[Judenhut]] or Latin: pileum cornutum, a cone-shaped hat, in most cases yellow.[8] In 1267, the Vienna city council ordered Jews to wear this type of hat rather than a badge. There is a reference to a dispensation from the badge in Erfurt on 16 October 1294, the earliest reference to the badge in Germany. There were also attempts to enforce the wearing of full-length robes, which in late 14th-century Rome were supposed to be red. In Portugal, a red Star of David was used.[9]
Enforcement of the rules was variable; in Marseille the magistrates ignored accusations of breaches, and in some places individuals or communities could buy exemption. Cathars who were considered "first time offenders" by the Catholic Church and the Inquisition were also forced to wear yellow badges, albeit in the form of crosses, about their person.
The yellow badge remained the key distinguishing mark of Jewish dress in the Middle Ages.[10] From the 16th century, the use of the German: Judenhut declined, but the badge tended to outlast it, surviving into the 18th century in places.
After Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939, there were different local decrees requiring Jews to wear a distinctive sign under 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.[11] The requirement to wear the Star of David with the word German: Jude (German for 'Jew') – inscribed in Faux Hebrew letters meant to resemble Hebrew writing – 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 1 September 1941, signed by Reinhard Heydrich)[12] [13] and was gradually introduced in other German-occupied areas, where local words were used (e.g. French: Juif in French, Dutch; Flemish: Jood in Dutch).
One observer reported that the star increased German non-Nazi sympathy for Jews as the impoverished citizens who wore them were, contrary to Nazi propaganda, obviously not the cause of German failure on the Eastern Front. In the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, government had to ban hat tipping towards Jews and other courtesies that became popular as protests against the German occupation. A whispering campaign that claimed that the action was in response to the United States government requiring German Americans to wear swastikas was unsuccessful.[14]
In May 2001, the Taliban government in Afghanistan ruled that Hindus in the country must wear a yellow badge, causing international outcry.[15] [16]
In May 2021, in response to the anti-vaccine movement in the United States, hatWRKS, a hat store in Nashville, Tennessee, sold badges that resembled the yellow stars with the words "Not vaccinated" on them. In response, the Stetson company announced they would no longer sell any hats to the store. This also sparked protests outside the store.[17] The practice of wearing yellow stars in protests against responses to the COVID-19 pandemic spread to Montreal, London, Amsterdam and Paris. The practice sparked condemnation by various Jewish advocacy groups and Holocaust survivors.[18] [19] [20] [21]
On 31 October 2023, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations Gilad Erdan, as well as other Israeli delegates, began wearing yellow star badges with the words "Never Again" written on them, in protest to criticism of Israel's conduct during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. Erdan claimed that the UN Security Council was "silent" about the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel, and said that he would wear the star "as a symbol of pride".[22] However, this decision was immediately condemned by Yad Vashem chairman Dani Dayan, calling it a "[disgrace to] the victims of the Holocaust as well as the state of Israel", pointing out that the slaughter of Jews by Hamas differs from the Holocaust in that "Jews have today a state and an army. We are not defenseless and at the mercy of others."[23] [24] According to Ynet, unnamed officials from Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs were also highly critical of the decision, with one calling it a "cheap gimmick that doesn’t serve our goal", and others describing it as an attempt to appeal to Likud party members.[25]
Local German occupation commanders ordered Jewish Poles to wear an identifying mark under the threat of death. There were no consistent requirements as to its colour and shape: it varies from a white armband, a yellow hat to a yellow Star of David badge. Hans Frank ordered all Jewish Poles over the age of 11 years in German-occupied Poland to wear white armbands with a blue Star of David.
A popular legend portrays king Christian X of Denmark wearing the yellow badge on his daily morning horseback ride through the streets of Copenhagen, followed by non-Jewish Danes responding to their king's example, thus preventing the Germans from identifying Jewish citizens. Queen Margrethe II of Denmark has explained that the story was not true.[31] [32] No order requiring Jews to wear identifying marks was ever introduced in Denmark.[33]
Jews in the Independent State of Croatia, a puppet state of Nazi Germany, are ordered to wear "Jewish insignia".[34] Jewish Poles in German-occupied Soviet-annexed Poland, Jewish Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians as well as Soviet Jews in German-occupied areas were obliged to wear white armbands or yellow badges. All Romanian Jews were ordered to wear the yellow badge.[35] The yellow badge was the only standardised identifying mark in the German-occupied East; other signs were forbidden. Jewish Germans and Jews with citizenship of annexed states (Austrians, Czechs, Danzigers) from the age of six years were ordered to wear the yellow badge from 19 September when in public. In Luxembourg, the German occupation authorities introduce the Nuremberg Laws, followed by several other anti-Jewish ordinances including an order for all Jews to wear a yellow star with the word "Jude".[36] The Slovak Republic ordered its Jews to wear yellow badges.
The Gestapo ordered Jewish Germans and Jews with citizenship of annexed states to mark their apartments or houses at the front door with a white badge.[37] Jewish Dutch people ordered to wear the yellow badge. Jewish Belgians ordered to wear the yellow badge. Jews in occupied France, covering the northern and western half of the country, were ordered to wear a yellow star by the German authorities. Bulgaria ordered its Jewish citizens to wear small yellow buttons. German forces invaded and occupied the zone libre, i.e. the south-eastern half of France, but did not enforce the yellow star directive there.
After the occupation of Hungary, the Nazi occupiers ordered Jewish Hungarians and Jews with defunct other citizenships (Czechoslovak, Romanian, Yugoslav) in Hungarian-annexed areas to wear the yellow badge.
Denmark: The king against the yellow badge