The Jewish Badge
82. To facilitate the activities of isolating the Jews and
their concentration for deportation, they were obliged to
wear the Jewish Badge. On 21 August 194,1 Rademacher, the
Referent on Jewish affairs at the time in the German Foreign
Ministry, prepared a memorandum intended for the
Under_Secretary of State, Luther, for the purpose of
receiving a decision from the Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Ribbentrop. It read (T/682):
“Sturmbannfuehrer Eichmann of the RSHA telephoned me
and informed me confidentially that he (Heydrich)
received a cable from the Fuehrer’s headquarters,
according to which the Fuehrer agreed that the Jews in
Germany bear a distinguishing mark. Eichmann asked my
opinion as to whether this could be applied to Jews of
foreign nationality…”
Already on 1 September 1941 (T/635) a “Police Regulation in
Regard to the Marking of Jews,” signed by Heydrich on behalf
of the Minister of the Interior of the Reich, was published
in the German Official Gazette. This Regulation obliged
Jews of German nationality within the Reich and the
Protectorate to carry the Jewish Badge (a star bearing the
word “Jew”) from the age of six, and forbade them to leave
the district of their residence without special permit.
To implement this “Police Regulation,” two urgent letters
(T/209) were dispatched from the Accused’s office on 15
September 1941 for action or information, to a considerable
number of central and local institutions.
Paragraph 4 of the original Regulation (T/635) provided:
“(a) Anyone wilfully or negligently acting against the
prohibition contained in paragraphs 1 and 2 will be
punished by a fine of up to 150 Reichsmark or by arrest
of up to six weeks.
“(b) This does not exclude far-reaching police security
measures or regulations according to which a more
severe punishment may be inflicted.”
On the other hand, two letters, included in exhibit T/209,
mention in connection with “offences” regarding the wearing
of the Jewish Badge, “wilful violation of the Regulation or
of the executive orders…are punishable on principle by
protective custody” – that is, by deporting the Jew to a
concentration camp. The instructions, which were phrased in
extreme language according to T/209, were passed on to their
recipients in secret, with special emphasis that they were
not to be made public.
Last-Modified: 1999/05/27
