Номер объектаM2018/065
ОписаниеYellow Star of David belonging to Anne (Anny) Rossler (Rössler). The word 'Jude' is in the centre; the star has been lined on the reverse with striped fabric. Anne was married to Josef Rossler, the identical twin brother of Karel Rossler, father of the donor Peter Rossler. The extended Rossler family lived together in a multi-floored apartment in Prague. Josef and Karel were wholesale merchants.
Since the Middle Ages Jews had been intermittently forced to wear markings that separated them from majority populations. Signalling a return to such discrimination in Poland in October 1939, the Jews of Wloclawek were forced to wear a yellow badge. Similar initiatives occurred throughout occupied Poland, and on 23 November 1939 a general order was issued that all Polish Jews over the age of 11 wear a white armband with a blue Star of David. In September 1941 the Nazis introduced the yellow star in Germany. Other occupied territories quickly followed in implementing this discriminatory decree and further isolating Jewish populations.
Anny was ordered to wear the star and took it with her when deported to Theresienstadt (Terezin) ghetto/concentration camp in 1942, keeping it until liberation in May 1945. It was sewn onto the left breast of her outer garments. Anny and Josef never had children; they were guardians for Peter and his older brother Honza (Henry) after the war, as they had been orphaned.
The donor, Peter Rossler, was born on 4 June 1930 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He and his parents and brother were taken to Lodz ghetto in October 1941. Five months after their arrival, Peter’s father died from the lack of food and the unsanitary conditions. Soon after Peter’s mother Lilly also died, so he and Honza stayed in Marysin Orphanage until the ghetto was liquidated in August 1944. Together they were sent to Auschwitz and later Kaufering Lager IV (Dachau). Peter and Honza were taken on a fifty kilometre forced death march to Camp Allach (near Dachau) in April 1945, where they were liberated by the United States armed forces on 30 April 1945.
Peter and Honza briefly returned to Czechoslovakia after liberation. Peter migrated to Australia on the Derna, which transported 58 Jewish refugees and 700 displaced persons from Europe in 1948. Josef and Anny migrated shortly after, arriving in Sydney in 1949.
This item was donated by Peter Rossler in memory of his aunt.
History of the yellow star:
Since the Middle Ages Jews had been intermittently forced to wear markings that separated them from the general population. Signalling a return to such discrimination in Nazi occupied Poland in October 1939, the Jews of Wloclawek were forced to wear a yellow badge. Similar initiatives occurred throughout occupied Poland, and on the 23 November 1939, a general order was issued that all Polish Jews over the age of 11 wear a white armband with a blue Star of David. In September 1941, the Nazis introduced a yellow star in Germany. This Jewish badge became the distinguishing emblem that Jews in Nazi Germany and Nazi-occupied countries were forced to wear to enable their debasement and identification as Jews.
This regulation required all Jews over the age of six to wear a yellow, six-pointed star, the size of a fist, on the left side of the breast, with ‘Jude’ inscribed on it in black. The date of its application, as well as the word embossed on it, varied across Nazi-occupied territories. In occupied France, the decree to wear the yellow star inscribed with ‘Juif’ (Jew), came into effect on 3 June 1942; in the Netherlands, the yellow star was inscribed with Jood (Jew), issued on 29 April 1942, and in Bulgaria, the distinctive sign for a Jew/Jewess took the form of a yellow and black button sewn onto clothing, issued in August 1942. In some countries like Hungary, Romania and Moldavia Jews wore yellow stars without any lettering. The distinctive mark imposed on Jews became an integral part of the preparation for the Final Solution.
Since the Middle Ages Jews had been intermittently forced to wear markings that separated them from majority populations. Signalling a return to such discrimination in Poland in October 1939, the Jews of Wloclawek were forced to wear a yellow badge. Similar initiatives occurred throughout occupied Poland, and on 23 November 1939 a general order was issued that all Polish Jews over the age of 11 wear a white armband with a blue Star of David. In September 1941 the Nazis introduced the yellow star in Germany. Other occupied territories quickly followed in implementing this discriminatory decree and further isolating Jewish populations.
Anny was ordered to wear the star and took it with her when deported to Theresienstadt (Terezin) ghetto/concentration camp in 1942, keeping it until liberation in May 1945. It was sewn onto the left breast of her outer garments. Anny and Josef never had children; they were guardians for Peter and his older brother Honza (Henry) after the war, as they had been orphaned.
The donor, Peter Rossler, was born on 4 June 1930 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He and his parents and brother were taken to Lodz ghetto in October 1941. Five months after their arrival, Peter’s father died from the lack of food and the unsanitary conditions. Soon after Peter’s mother Lilly also died, so he and Honza stayed in Marysin Orphanage until the ghetto was liquidated in August 1944. Together they were sent to Auschwitz and later Kaufering Lager IV (Dachau). Peter and Honza were taken on a fifty kilometre forced death march to Camp Allach (near Dachau) in April 1945, where they were liberated by the United States armed forces on 30 April 1945.
Peter and Honza briefly returned to Czechoslovakia after liberation. Peter migrated to Australia on the Derna, which transported 58 Jewish refugees and 700 displaced persons from Europe in 1948. Josef and Anny migrated shortly after, arriving in Sydney in 1949.
This item was donated by Peter Rossler in memory of his aunt.
History of the yellow star:
Since the Middle Ages Jews had been intermittently forced to wear markings that separated them from the general population. Signalling a return to such discrimination in Nazi occupied Poland in October 1939, the Jews of Wloclawek were forced to wear a yellow badge. Similar initiatives occurred throughout occupied Poland, and on the 23 November 1939, a general order was issued that all Polish Jews over the age of 11 wear a white armband with a blue Star of David. In September 1941, the Nazis introduced a yellow star in Germany. This Jewish badge became the distinguishing emblem that Jews in Nazi Germany and Nazi-occupied countries were forced to wear to enable their debasement and identification as Jews.
This regulation required all Jews over the age of six to wear a yellow, six-pointed star, the size of a fist, on the left side of the breast, with ‘Jude’ inscribed on it in black. The date of its application, as well as the word embossed on it, varied across Nazi-occupied territories. In occupied France, the decree to wear the yellow star inscribed with ‘Juif’ (Jew), came into effect on 3 June 1942; in the Netherlands, the yellow star was inscribed with Jood (Jew), issued on 29 April 1942, and in Bulgaria, the distinctive sign for a Jew/Jewess took the form of a yellow and black button sewn onto clothing, issued in August 1942. In some countries like Hungary, Romania and Moldavia Jews wore yellow stars without any lettering. The distinctive mark imposed on Jews became an integral part of the preparation for the Final Solution.
Место изготовленияPrague, Czech Republic
Дата 1941 - 1945
Темаantisemitism, ghettos, child survivors, orphanages, liberation, migration
Наименованиеyellow Star of David
Размерность
- width: 80.00 mm
height: 90.00 mm
depth: 3.00 mm
Кредитная линияSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Peter Rossler