Yellow badge

History

Muslim world

The practice of wearing special clothing or markings to distinguish Jews and other non-Muslims (dhimmis) 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 began to harden their attitude on ghiyār (غيار), differentiating 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 began the long tradition of differentiation by colour, though the colour and badges would change with time and place.

The clothing was also enforced outside of the Islamic heartlands. In Aghlabid Northern Africa and Sicily dhimmis were required to wear a patch (Arabic: رقعة, ruq'a) of white fabric on the shoulder of their outer garment, with the patch for Jews being in the image of an ape and for Christians in the image of a pig. It is not clear how long this humiliating decree remained in force, but it is clear that in the Maghrebi case, the purpose of the patch was not merely ghiyār 'differentiation' but also dhull (ذل, 'humiliation'), in keeping with the qoranic injunction (Sura 9:29) that non-Muslims should be humbled. A genizah document from 1121 gives the following description of decrees issued in Baghdad:

Two yellow badges [are to be displayed], one on the headgear and one on the neck. Furthermore, each Jew must hang round his neck a piece of lead weighing [3 grams] with the word dhimmi on it. He also has to wear a belt around his waist. The women have to wear one red and one black shoe and have a small bell on their necks or shoes.

The Jews of Egypt were forced in 1005 to wear the zunnar on their garments and a wooden calf to remind them of the golden one. In the late 12th century, the Almohads forced the Jews of North Africa to wear yellow cloaks and turbans, a practice the subsequent Hafsid dynasty continued to follow. In 1250, under Hafsid caliph al-Mustansir, Jews had to wear some sort of distinguishing badge (Arabic: شكيلة, shikla), though it is not exactly known how it looked and may have referred to both a special patch and an overall attire unique to Jews. At the same time, the Ayyubid Sultan decreed that the life and property of any Jew or Christian found in the street without a distinguishing badge (Arabic: علامة, 'alāma) or zunnar would be forfeit. In 1301, Jews were required to wear a yellow turban.

Mid-15th century reports describe the shikla as a piece of yellow cloth worn on the outer clothing that Tunisian Jews were obliged to wear. The shikla ceased to be used in Morocco from the 16th century, but it continued to be such a regular defining mark of Tunisian Jews up to the 19th century that they were commonly referred to as shikliyyūn ('those who wear the sign').

Medieval and early modern Europe

From the thirteenth century onwards, secular authorities in Medieval Europe started to distinguish different people, affecting both Christians and non-Christians, and occupations by distinguishing clothing. With the Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215 headed by Pope Innocent III it was for the first time specifically declared that Jews and Muslims must wear distinguishing garb (Latin habitus). These measures were not seen as being inconsistent with the papal bulls Sicut Judaeis. While some historians argue that the reason was to keep Jews out of Christian society, many clothing restrictions also applied to Christians and the stated and likely reason was to prevent intermarriage and thus proselytisation. This wording of the council decree may have been influenced indirectly by the Muslim requirements for Jews.

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, the largest Jewish population in Europe. Spanish Jews normally wore turbans, which presumably met the requirement to be distinctive. Elsewhere, local laws were introduced to bring the canon into effect. The identifying mark varied from one country to another, and from period to period.

In 1227, the Synod of Narbonne ruled:

That Jews may be distinguished from others, we decree and emphatically command that in the center of the breast (of their garments) they shall wear an oval badge, the measure of one finger in width and one half a palm in height.

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; and in 1265, the Siete Partidas, a legal code enacted in Castile by Alfonso X but not implemented until many years later, included a requirement for Jews to wear distinguishing marks. On 19 June 1269, Louis IX of France imposed a fine of ten livres (one livre was equivalent to a pound of silver) on Jews found in public without a badge (Latin: rota, lit. 'wheel', French: rouelle or roue). The enforcement of wearing the badge is repeated by local councils, with varying degrees of fines, at Arles 1234 and 1260, Béziers 1246, Albi 1254, Nîmes 1284 and 1365, Avignon 1326 and 1337, Rodez 1336, and Vanves 1368. The "rota" looked like a ring of white or yellow. 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:

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 six inches [150 mm] and of the breadth of three inches [75 mm].

In Europe, Jews were required to wear the Judenhut or pileum cornutum, a cone-shaped hat, in most cases yellow. In 1267, the Vienna city council ordered Jews to wear this type of hat rather than a badge. There is a reference from a dispensation to the badge in Erfurt on 16 October 1294, the earliest in Germany. There were also attempts to enforce the wearing of full-length robes, which in late 14th-century Rome were supposed to be red. In Portugal, a red Star of David was used.

Enforcement of the rules was variable; in Marseille the magistrates ignored accusations of breaches, and in some places individuals or communities could buy exemption. Cathars 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. From the 16th century, the use of the Judenhut declined, but the badge survived 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 – 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 hat tipping 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. Protestors rallied outside the store, and Stetson announced they would no longer sell hats to the store. The practice of wearing yellow stars in protests against responses to the COVID-19 pandemic spread to Montreal, London, Amsterdam and Paris, and was condemned by various Jewish advocacy groups and Holocaust survivors.

On 31 October 2023, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations Gilad Erdan, as well as other Israeli 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 October 7 attacks, and said that he would wear the star "as a symbol of pride". However, this decision was immediately condemned by Yad Vashem chairman Dani Dayan, calling it a "[disgrace to] the victims of the Holocaust as well as the state of Israel", pointing out that the slaughter of Jews by Hamas differs from the Holocaust in that "Jews have today a state and an army. We are not defenseless and at the mercy of others." According to Ynet, unnamed officials from Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs were also highly critical of the decision, with one calling it a "cheap gimmick that doesn't serve our goal", and others describing it as an attempt to appeal to Likud party members.