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Image
copyright Yad Vashem
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The
Jews in Poland
were forced to wear the Yellow
Star from 1939. Wearing the star was not something
new as Jews had often been made to wear badges to identify
themselves since Medieval times. Jews in other countries were
forced to wear the star once they were occupied.
There
were many types of stars or identification badges. For example
in Vilna, Lithuania, Jews were made to wear a yellow circle
with a letter inside it. The stars were often printed on coarse
yellow cloth and were a garish yellow colour. The star of
David was outlined in thick, black lines and the word 'Jew'
was printed in mock-Hebraic type. In the Warsaw ghetto,
Jews wore a white armband with a blue Star of David on their
left arm. In some ghettos, even babies in prams had to wear
the armbands or stars. Shops were also marked with a Yellow
Star if the owners were Jewish.
The
star was intended to humiliate Jews and mark them out for
segregation and discrimination. It made it easier to identify
them for deportation to camps.
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