preview

Jews During World War II: The Yellow Star

Good Essays
Open Document

Cxxxxxx
Mxx. Pxxxxx
English 9
22 March 2013
The Yellow Star
Jews were not much different from other citizens in the 1930s. They were teachers, doctors, farmers, and factory workers. Their social status ranged from wealthy to poor. Their children attended school, learned a trade, or continued on to college for a degree. The Jews, however, were different than other citizens due to their Jewish beliefs. During World War II a symbol of their beliefs, the Star of David, was used to identify and label them. The Star of David was made into a Yellow Star icon which became a symbol of separation and humiliation for the Jews.
The Star of David was the symbol that the Jews adapted for their religion. When looking at the star, you see two sets …show more content…

The separation of the Yellow Star meant a Jew had to leave the house at a certain time during the day, had to shop in certain stores, and were not allowed to leave the area and visit friends or family. These rules not only applied to adults; they were also enforced on the children. They were not able to watch movies, play on playgrounds, or attend schools with Gentiles (Levine 22). If any Jew was caught not following one of these rules, they would be severely punished.
Separation from these daily activities was hard on all Jews, but the hardest part was being separated from friends of other faiths. According to Levine, author of Hana’s Suitcase, “Every week seemed to bring a new restriction ... and with each new restriction ... their world grew a little smaller” (Levine 24). Can you imagine being separated from all that is important to you? Many Jews felt lifeless, confused, terrified and humiliated.
The Jews didn’t want to be treated as subhuman, which they were during the Holocaust. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, to humiliate is “to reduce to a lower position in one’s own eyes or others’ eyes.” Hitler took the Star of David and transformed it into a humiliating symbol for the Jewish people. The Yellow Star humiliated and tortured those who wore it. Not only were they humiliated, but it became like torture to the

Get Access