The yellow badge, also known as the yellow patch, the Jewish badge, or the yellow star (, ), 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.
History
Muslim world
The practice of wearing special clothing or markings to distinguish Jews and other non-Muslims (
) in Muslim-dominated countries seems to have been introduced in the Umayyad Caliphate by Caliph
Umar II in the early 8th century.
In the 9th century, Islamic authorities begun to harden their attitude on ghiyār (غيار, or the differentiating of non-Muslims from Muslims.
The
Abbasid caliph
al-Mutawakkil issued a decree in 850 that ordered Jews and Christians to wear the
zunnar (زنار), honey-coloured outer garments and badge-like patches on their clothing and their servants' clothing. This begun the long tradition of differentiating by colour, though the colour and badges would change over time and place.
The clothing was also enforced outside of the Islamic heartlands. In Aghlabid dynasty Northern Africa and Sicily dhimmis were required to wear a patch (, ruq'a) of white fabric on the shoulder of their outer garment, with the patch for Jews being a in the image of an ape and for Christians the image of a pig.
In the late 12th century, the Almohads forced the Jews of North Africa to wear yellow cloaks and turbans,
Medieval and early modern Europe
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
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
habitus). This wording of the council decree may have been influenced indirectly by the Muslim requirements for Jews.
Canon 68 reads, in part:
Innocent III had in 1199 confirmed Sicut Judaeis, which was also confirmed by Pope Honorius III in 1216. In 1219, Honorius III issued a dispensation to the Jews of Castile,
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;[, although , say red was commonest for badges of all shapes, followed by yellow or green, or red and white together.] 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 Judenhut or pileum cornutum, a cone-shaped hat, in most cases yellow.
Enforcement of the rules was variable; in Marseille the magistrates ignored accusations of breaches, and in some places individuals or communities could buy exemption. Catharism 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.[, although The Jewish Encyclopedia cites a reference from 1208 in France. See The Jewish Encyclopedia for the Judenhut being more widespread than the badge.] From the 16th century, the use of the Judenhut declined, but the badge tended to outlast it, surviving into the 18th century in places.
Axis powers
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.
The requirement to wear the Star of David with the word 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)
and was gradually introduced in other German-occupied areas, where local words were used (e.g. Juif in French, 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 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.
Post–World War II
In May 2001, the
Taliban government in Afghanistan ruled that Hindus in the country must wear a yellow badge, causing international outcry.
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.
On 31 October 2023, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations Gilad Erdan, as well as other Israel delegates, began wearing yellow star badges with the words "Never again" written on them, in protest to criticism of Israel's conduct during the Gaza 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".
Timeline
Caliphates
- 847–861
- Caliph al-Mutawakkil reinforces and reissues the edict. Christians are required to wear patches. One of the patches was to be worn in front of the breast and the other on the back. They were required to be honey-coloured.
- 888
- Ibrahim ibn Ahmad, the Aghlabids ruler of North Africa and Sicily, proclaims an order according to which Jews have to wear a patch depicting a monkey and Christians one depicting a pig.
- 1184–1199
- The Almohad Yaqub al-Mansur orders that Jews must dress in Muslim fashion of mourning (dark blue or black). His successor requires Jews to wear yellow cloaks and turbans.
- 1249
- The Ayyubid Sultan issues an order according to which the property and life of Jews or Christians which are found on the streets without a distinguishing badge is forfeit.
- 1450
- The Algerian qadi Muhammad al-Uqbani and the Flemish traveller Anselm Adornes report that Tunisian Jews are obliged to wear a distinctive piece of yellow cloth on their clothing.
Medieval and early modern Europe
- 1215
- The Fourth Council of the Lateran headed by Pope Innocent III declares
- 1219
- Pope Honorius III issues a dispensation to the Jews of Castile.
- 1222
- Archbishop of Canterbury Stephen Langton orders English Jews to wear a white band two fingers broad and four fingers long.
- 1227
- The Synod of Narbonne rules
- 1228
- James I orders Jews of Aragon to wear the badge.
- 1265
- The Siete Partidas, a legal code enacted in Castile by Alfonso X but not implemented until many years later, includes a requirement for Jews to wear distinguishing marks.
- 1267
- In a special session, the Vienna city council forces Jews to wear Jewish hat]] (a cone-shaped head dress, common in medieval illustrations of Jews); a badge does not seem to have been worn in Austria.
- 1269
- France. (Saint) Louis IX of France orders all Jews found in public without a badge ( or roue, ) to be fined ten livres of silver.
- 1274
- The Statute of Jewry in England, enacted by King Edward I, enforces the regulations. "Each Jew, after he is seven years old, shall wear a distinguishing mark on his outer garment, that is to say, in the form of two Tables joined, of yellow felt of the length of and of the breadth of ."
- 1294
- Erfurt. The earliest mention of the badge in Germany.
- 1315–1326
- Emir Ismail Abu-I-Walid forces the Jews of Granada to wear the yellow badge.
- 1321
- Henry II of Castile forces the Jews to wear the yellow badge.
- 1415
- A bull of the Antipope Benedict XIII orders the Jews to wear a yellow and red badge; the men on their breast, the women on their forehead.
- 1434
- Emperor Sigismund reintroduces the badge at Augsburg.
- 1528
- The Council of Ten of Venice allows the newly arrived famous physician and professor Jacob Mantino ben Samuel to wear the regular black doctors' cap instead of Jewish yellow hat for several months (subsequently made permanent), upon the recommendation of the French and English ambassadors, the papal legate, and other dignitaries numbered among his patients.
- 1555
- Pope Paul IV decrees, in his Cum nimis absurdum, that the Jews should wear yellow hats.
- 1566
- King Sigismund II Augustus passes a law that required Lithuanian Jews to wear yellow hats and head coverings. The law was abolished twenty years later.
Axis powers
1939
- 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.
1940
- 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.
1941
- Jews in the Independent State of Croatia, a puppet state of Nazi Germany, were ordered to wear "Jewish insignia".
1941/1942
Romania started to force Jews in newly annexed territories, denied Romanian citizenship, to wear the yellow badge., 1 July 1942]]
1942
- 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.
1944
- 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.
See also
-
Antisemitism in Christianity
-
Antisemitism in Islam
-
Cathar yellow cross
-
History of antisemitism
-
Jewish visibility
-
Nazi concentration camp badge
-
P (Nazi symbol)
External links
Denmark: The king against the yellow badge
