Jewish badge
Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany required Jews to wear specific, identifying badges. Badges took several different forms, but all were designed to identify and segregate Jews from the rest of the population in order to facilitate their persecution.
Jewish badges were introduced in parts of German-occupied Poland as early as September 1939. In the Generalgouvernement, Jews above the age of ten were required to wear a white armband with a blue Star of David on the right sleeve, visible at all times.
Beginning in September 1941, all Jews in Germany were required to wear a yellow badge bearing a black Star of David with the word "Jude." Similar measures were introduced in other areas under Nazi occupation.
Elsa Eisne (the donor's aunt) walks down a street in Prague wearing the Jewish badge.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Alfred Eisner
Star of David badge with Jude worn by a German Jewish youth.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Gift of Fritz Gluckstein
White armband with a blue chain-stitched embroidered Star of David, worn in the Generalgouvernement.