Video: 'Key Historical Concepts in Holocaust Education: The Jewish Badge'

(Monday, September 1, 1941, during The Holocaust, part of World War II) — The requirement to wear the yellow badges with the word Jude (German for Jew) inscribed in letters meant to resemble Hebrew writing was extended today to all Jews over the age of six in the Reich and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (by a decree issued today signed by Reinhard Heydrich, a high-ranking German SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust), effective Sept. 19, 1941.

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The requirement was gradually introduced in other German-occupied areas, where local words were used (e.g., Juif in French, Jood in Dutch).

The badges served to mark the wearer as a religious or ethnic outsider, and often served as a badge of shame.