Jews During World War II: The Yellow Star

Yet, the Nazi occupation created a reality where the Jews were cut off from society in their countries of residence, thus casting the initial acts of persecution upon the Jews. Following the occupation, the Jews of France, the Netherlands, and other countries were subjected to discriminatory legislation that revoked their citizenship and banished them from economic life. Consequently, the Jews had to reorganize themselves separately in order to function as a self-sufficient group. In the course of time, the Jews in these countries, like those in Germany itself, were forced to wear the yellow star or the equivalent of such. Ultimately, Nazi policy became more extreme and Jews of Central and Western Europe were deported to death camps in Eastern Europe.”

At the beginning of WWII in 1939 Jews were required to wear the yellow star of David stiched into each article of clothing to ensure easy indentification. Many would be forced into sterilization while many others were sterilized unknowingly as an attempt to stop the procreation and growth of the Jewish

Wearing the Yellow Star was a Jewish custom that the Jews had to follow. The Yellow Star was a six pointed yellow star patch symbolizing the Star of David. Once you turned six years old the requirement was to wear the star in a public setting. The Yellow Star had to be worn on the left side of the chest while also being tightly sewed on. As far back as the 13th century, wherever a Jew lived, not

There are many discrepancies in the portrayal of Judaism, starting with its iconography. During his encounter with Sheik Ilderim presents Judah Ben-Hur with a Silver Star of David pendant. It is even called as much, and

When Hitler came into power he used his power to put jews people on the spot, he believed Jews were the one the to blame on why they lost the WWI. During pre-war times of WWII, Hitler targeted jews and his intention was to do everything that he could to ruin them. Jews were forced to wear the star of David on them at all time

To start, when Hitler came into power, everyone loved him and he was like any average ruler until things started to change. Hitler led Germany into battle in World War II and mostly everyone was convinced that it was only a matter of time before they won the battle, but when this was not the case Hitler was outraged. From the article in historylearningsite.co.uk it illustrates what Hitler felt, ““stabbed in the back” by the Jews” (Trueman). This was most likely the result of feeling like he needed someone to put the blame on, someone to be displeased at. The Jews didn’t purposely make Germany surrender or have any part of having Germany lose the war, after all it was their country too. After this event, things started to go down hill for the Jews and what most people refer to as mankind's worst mistake. Secondly, Hitler started to use his power to exterminate or control the population of all Jews, thus abusing it and doing things that should not be done with his power. Since he thought Jews took everything away from him and Germany he started dehumanizing them and treated them as if worse than animals. The novel Night states that they were deprived of all of their jewels and precious belongings, having to wear a yellow star so everyone knew they were Jewish, living in the ghettos,

Many today, interpret the star as the strength of the Jewish people. Others think of it just as a symbol of Judaism. But one thing is clear. The Star of David, along with the Jews, has gone through a lot in the past 200 years, from the French Revolution to the Holocaust. Throughout this long journey there have been ups and downs. Nevertheless, while the interpretation has drastically changed through time, the Star of David has remained a momentous symbol of the Jewish religion.“So whether it is a blue star waving proudly on a flag, or a gold star adorning a synagogue's entrance, the Star of David stands as a reminder that for the Jewish people... in God we trust”

Jews were discriminated during this time. They were treated unfairly. An example of how they were treated is from the book, “every jew had to wear a yellow star.” ( Wiesel, 11) They wore this because the Nazis wanted to single them out because of who they were. When they were in concentration camps, the prisoners had to shave their head bald and dress in rags. “ He ultimate affront to their identity was replacing of every prisoner’s name with a number.” ( The Guardian) Their own identities were taken away. “Hitler’s racial notions were implemented by measures that increasingly excluded jews from German society.” ( Holocaust Denial) Adolf HItler and the Nazi party were anti-semitic toward jews. That means

We had nothing but some candy bars, which we got in a ration, and one of my men gave the candy bar to one of these people who grabbed it and ran away and gulped it down so fast that he became unconscious and probably choked on it when he tried to swallow it before someone took it away from him. These Jewish people and these Polish people were like animals. They were so degraded, there was no goodness, no kindness, nothing of that nature, there was no sharing. If they got a piece of something to eat, they grabbed it and ran away in a corner and fought off anyone who came near them.”

After a short time, Hitler put restrictions on the Jews so they could feel like even less of a human. "After May 1940 the good times were few and far between: first there was the war, then the capitulation and then the arrival of the Germans, which is when the trouble started for the Jews. Our freedom was severely restricted by a series of anti-Jewish decrees: Jews were required to wear a yellow star; Jews were required to turn in their bicycles; Jews were forbidden to use trams; Jews were forbidden to ride in cars, even their own; Jews were required to do their shopping between 3.00 and 5.00 p.m.; Jews were required to frequent only Jewish-owned barbershops and beauty salons; Jews were forbidden to be out on the streets between 8.00 p.m. and 6.00 a.m.; Jews were forbidden to go to theatres, cinemas or any other forms of entertainment; Jews were forbidden to use swimming pools, tennis

This identity as disgusting, impure creatures helped to set them apart from the pure Aryan race in society. This set up the Aryan race as superior and the Jewish race as inferior. This was reinforced physically through structural discrimination such as the Nuremberg laws and the forced wearing of the Star of David. The Germans the then found a false concreteness in this distinction that the Jews were evil and were ‘rats' who conspired against them. This allowed them to find concreteness in their belief that the Holocaust was legitimate. However, it was false considering that the Jews had fought in the German army and proved their loyalty to the German state. The Germans' perception of the Jews' identity allowed them to deny the freedoms of the Jews. They began by denying the Jews' right to be Germans, which opened the door for other denial of freedoms, such as even the right the life. These included the boycott of Jewish businesses in 1933, the Nuremberg

It was at first a slow progression from limiting the rights of the Jewish people, to wearing the Star of David and then to the attempted extermination. The Germans then began a race to kill the Jews as quickly as they could (Wiesel, 2008).

The 8 Stages of Genocide, (Source B) was a way the Nazi Government marginalized the Jews. In the second stage of genocide, Symbolism, expresses that symbolism is, "Names or symbols that are given to people classified as "different." Jews living in Nazi occupied Europe were made to wear the Star of David," (Source B). In other words, this was one of the laws that the Nazi Government put in place for the Jewish people to be marginalized from everyone else. The Star of David to everyone else that wasn’t a Jewish person was thought to be an easy way for them to target the Jewish Community. In The Dairy of Anne Frank, (Source A), the passage demonstrates the government putting rules on because it presents, "The Gestapo is treating them very roughly and transporting them in cattle cars to Westerbork, the big camp in Drenthe to which they're sending all the Jews," (Source A). This law was enforced to have the Gestapos gather up Jews and take them away to be killed by gas or other painful ways. This created fear in all of the Jewish people that weren't taken away yet, which made a lot of them go into finding. Both of these sources demonstrate the laws that were put in place to marginalize the Jewish

Last but not least, Judaism comes from the Hebrew word Yehudah meaning Judah. It is the religion and way of life for the Jewish people. Judaism is considered to be the oldest religion. The Hebrew Bible is called the Torah. A synagogue is their place of worship and their services are led by a rabbi. You can be born Jewish or you can convert. There are 14 million Jews worldwide. About 42% are in Israel and about 42% are in the U.S. The remaining Jews are spread worldwide. The spoken language of the Jews is Hebrew. Men wear a small beanie on their head called a kippa while praying, eating or saying blessings. Jews have kosher diets. They can eat chicken and turkey but not pig. The Jewish religion celebrates their own holidays and special days such as Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah. Imagine receiving

The first section of the film highlights how Jews lived a very religious life around the early to mid 1910s, before the start of World War I. There were very few Jews in the villages of Poland and the Jewish children did not often play with other children around them. An interviewee remarks on this as being quite a lonely life, but her religion made her content nonetheless. She even states that there was a Jewish star on the roof of her childhood home because her family was very proud to be Jewish. It is also explained that wooden synagogues would be prided upon since they would take a great deal of money and skill to complete (Waletzky).