This is a selection of the badges that Jews were required to wear. Some were sewn onto clothing, others were worn as armbands. The words were the local languages.
Badges
Category: Photos
Memorials
IN OCTOBER OF 1944, HITLER overthrew the leader of the Hungarian government, Miklos Horthy, and replaced him with Ferenc Szalasi.
Szalasi, whose ideology closely followed Hitler’s, immediately established the Arrow Cross Party – a fascist, anti-semitic organization that brutally and publicly terrorized the Jews in Budapest by beating and killing them. Nearly 80,000 Jews were expelled from Hungary in a death march to the Austrian border and approximately 20,000 Jews were brutally shot along the banks of the Danube River. The victims were forced to remove their shoes at gunpoint (shoes being a valuable commodity during World War II) and face their executioner before they were shot without mercy, falling over the edge to be washed away by the freezing waters.
Passports
Note a few things here.
- The large, red, letter “J”. All “Jewish” passports were recalled and stamped accordingly.
- The red stamp of the word “Israel” above the name. This was done on all “Jewish” passports. It should be noted that this was well before the state of Israel was founded. In fact, the name “Israel” had not yet been chosen. Possibly this refers to the biblical name given to Jacob.
- The third passport/visa was signed by the American consul in Vienna GERMANY. In 1938. Hitler had forced the resignation of the Austrian Chancellor by demanding that he admit Nazis into his cabinet. The new Chancellor, a pro-Nazi, invited German troops to enter the country on the pretext of restoring law and order. Hence, annexing Austria to Germany
