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 of triangles, but upon further inspection there is a hexagon surrounded by six little triangles. According to Psalm, "The Lord is my strength and my shield..
. " ("The NeW'). This psalm relates to the star because it represents how God is their strength and their shield. The middle of the Star of David looks like a shield that protects the Jews, and with this protection they receive affirmation of God's strength to cope with everyday life.With this example in mind, during World War II, Hitler decided to use a tar as the symbol to identify and label the Jews. He used the shape of the Star of David and made a Yellow Star badge.
He used the color yellow because it stood out, so anyone who saw the yellow star would know that the person wearing it was different. The star also had the German word "Jude" in the middle, which meaner "Jew' in German ("Holocaust"). Jews were required by law to wear the star on the front of their shirt or coat every time they went out in public. Regardless of age, child or elder, the star had to be worn.
If they were caught not wearing the star, they would be punished, fined, or even killed ("Holocaust"). In 1941, Engine Reproached, a six year old Jewish girl, said, "l was so little, and the star seemed so big. I didn't feel shame, but I was scared when I wore it. We were branded. It was like we wore a large yellow neon sign pointing to us as Jews.
" (Adler 53) By identifying the Jews, the star caused the Jews to be separated from the Gentiles. 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 Henna'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 Jewish people. "When they went into the streets, they were immediately recognized, monitored, shunned, abused, and marked for death" ("1939").This symbol made them easy prey for bullying and hysterical harm. The Star of David no longer represented the Jewish faith; it now symbolized the Holocaust.
The Star of David was a special symbol that was used to express the Jews' beliefs, but Hitler turned it into the Yellow Star, which was used as a way to separate and humiliate the Jewish race. The Jewish people had lives and Jobs just like the other citizens of Germany. Then they became the unwanted citizens all because of this Yellow Star. It didn't matter if they were a child or an elder, wealthy or poor. With the mandatory Yellow Star, they were treated inhumanly by the Nazis.
All that mattered to the Jews was their religion, being treated with respect, and living a good and free life.
