Reinhard Heydrich recommended that the Jews be forced to wear badges following the Kristallnacht progrom in November 1938. The German government first introduced mandatory badges in Poland in November 1939. Jews who failed to wear them risked death. On July 26, 1941, the Judenrat (Jewish Community Council) of Bia_ystak announced that "the authorities have warned that severe punishment--up to, and including death by shooting--is in store for Jews who do not wear the yellow badge on back and front."

The German government's policy of forcing Jews to wear badges, and then confining all who wore them to ghettos, was a tactic aimed at isolating the Jews from the rest of the population. It enabled the German government to identify, concentrate, deprive, starve, and ultimately murder the Jews of Europe under its control. In 1942 Helmut Knochen, the German government's chief of the Security Service and the Security Police for occupied France and Belgium, stated that the yellow badge was "another step on the road to the Final Solution."

This policy was a part of what the Germans euphemistically called the "Special Treatment" of the Jews. Under this "Special Treatment," the Jews also endured:

1) A consistent propaganda campaign labeling them as the embodiment of evil and the misfortune of German society.

2) The revoking of all their rights of citizenship.

3) The confiscation of their property and businesses.

4) Their removal from jobs, schools, professions, and all social and professional intercourse with the rest of society.

These measures culminated in the "Final Solution":

1) Mass murder in various localities under German control.

2) Deportation of all remaining Jews to concentration and death camps.

3) Death in gas chambers built especially for the Jews.

FRANCE - Yellow Star of David outlined in black. The French word for "Jew" is written in Hebraic style.

BELGIUM - Yellow Star of David outlined in black. The Hebraic letter is an abbreviation of the word "Jew."

HOLLAND - Yellow Star of David outlined in black. The Dutch word for "Jew" is written in Hebraic style.

GERMANY, ALSACE, BOHEMIA-MORAVIA - Yellow Star of David outlined in black. The German word for "Jew" is written in Hebraic style.

PART OF SLOVAKIA - Gold Star of David outlined in blue with an abbreviation of the Slovak word for "Jew."

PART OF SLOVAKIA - Gold Star of David outlined in blue.

PARTS OF POLAND, EAST AND UPPER SILESIA - Blue Star of David on a white armband.

PARTS OF BULGARIA, PARTS OF POLAND, HUNGARY, GREECE, LITHUANIA, LATVIA - Yellow Star of David.

PARTS OF GREECE, SERBIA, BELGRADE, SOFIA - Yellow armband.

PARTS OF BULGARIA - Gold Star of David outlined in black with a black and a yellow button.

ROMANIA - Yellow Star of David on a black background.