Jewish badges from Lithuania

Distinctive Jewish badges (yellow stars) that the Jews of Lithuania were forced to wear on their clothing by order of the German authorities.

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Jewish badge that belonged to Polina Toker, from Siauliai, Lithuania.

Yad Vashem Artifacts Collection
Donated by Polina Toker, Jerusalem, Israel

With the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 and the subsequent occupation, the Jews were forced to mark their clothing, but not in the total and organized manner seen in other places. The murder of the Jews began immediately with the active cooperation of the local population. The ghettos were only set up after the mass killings had begun, with the result that the identifying badges in this area were not as uniform.

In the Yad Vashem Artifacts Collection the badges from the Baltic States vary. Many are in the shape of a Star of David with no marking at all.

Jewish badge that belonged to Polina Toker, from Siauliai, Lithuania.

Jewish badge that belonged to Elias Sesolis who was imprisoned in the Kovno ghetto.

Yechezkel Fleischer, a Jew in Siauliai, Lithuania, wearing the yellow star on his clothes, 1941.

Emanuel and Avraham Rosenthal from Lithuania wearing the yellow star on their clothes.

Jewish badges from Lithuania

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