The Yellow Star of Doom
Web. 14 May 2012.
_In 1939, the German government took their segregation of Jews to a new
level. In order to easily identify any Jew in public, they mandated that
all Jews wear a yellow star on the outermost layer of clothing. This
marking did not merely pronounce that person as a Jew but it was a
marking that limited their lives. By wearing that star, Jews lives were
severely restricted. For instance, Jews were not allowed to listen to
radios, ride bicycles, or talk to non-Jews in public. If any Jew refused
to wear the star, they could easily be caught by SS officers and shot
to death on the spot. Not only did this badge limit what Jews could and
could not do in public, the star was a tactic of humiliation by the
German government. Jews would walk the streets knowing every non-Jew was
staring at them as if they were some kind of monster and that they for
some reason were different from everyone else. They knew they were being
talked about and made fun of simply because they were marked as a Jew.
The yellow star degraded their lives, as it made the Jews feel like they
were an exotic species.
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What's in a Name?Web. 14 May 2012.
_ As Hitler’s “Final Solution” was being carried out, millions of prisoners were being brought in to work at concentration camps. In order to keep track of the prisoners, each person was given a serial number for identification that was tattooed onto their arm. Their name was no longer important to any SS officer or official. That number became their name. The officers would tell the prisoners that from there on out they would no longer respond to their name, but they would respond to that number. All identity was lost among the prisoners. To the Nazis, the Jews were like cattle. They would be tagged with number, and when that number was called, the cattle would line up at the slaughtering house where death awaited for them.
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