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Between Humiliation and Pride: Describing Resistance and Other Responses to the Yellow Star Badge in the Netherlands Through Images, 1942 

by Amber Zijlma

On 3 May 1942, it was made mandatory for Jewish people in the Netherlands to wear the Jodenster - a Yellow Star they were forced to sew onto their clothing. The Netherlands followed other German-occupied and annexed countries in eastern Europe by implementing this discriminatory measure, though it was the first occupied country in western Europe – before France or Belgium – to sanction this marker.[1] The introduction of the Yellow Star was part of a collection of acts promulgated by the Nazis since the beginning of the Second World War, in a cruel effort to ‘deal with’ the so-called Jewish Question. It was also one of the last anti-Jewish measures before systematic deportations of Jews from the Netherlands to concentration camps began.

The images below provide insight into the introduction of the badge and highlight some of the responses that arose within Dutch society shortly after Jews were forced to wear the ‘Jodenster’.

The Dutch Jewish Council as efficient distributor of the Yellow Star

Joodsche Raad voor Amsterdam.jpg
Figure 1. Circular issued by the Dutch Jewish Council regarding the sale of Yellow Star badges in Amsterdam, 29 April 1942. Reproduced in: J. Presser, Ondergang. De vervolging en verdelging van het Nederlandse jodendom 1940-1945.

On 29 April 1942, many Dutch newspapers published an announcement informing their readers that from 3 May onwards, all Dutch Jews would be obligated to wear a Yellow Star badge with the word 'Jood' written in the centre in quasi-Hebraic script. The notice above (figure 1) was circulated in Amsterdam on the same day as the announcements: it is a message from the Jewish Council of Amsterdam, informing the reader of the practicalities of how to comply with the measure.[2] It states how many badges were allocated to each person, their cost, how to wear the badge and when and where to buy them. Jews had to exchange a textile voucher for their Yellow Star badges and pay four cents per badge, though the cost seems to have varied in different parts of the country: for example, in Groningen the badge cost two cents.[3] While this payment was intended to compensate the costs of production, in hindsight, it is an especially cruel detail, as Jews were essentially paying for a marker that would lead to their deaths.

NIOD Beeldbank WO2 - 161579.jpg
Figure 2. Simon Peereboom and Roosje Peereboom-Beesemer pose in front of 'Beis Jisroeil - Joodsch Ons Huis' in Amsterdam in May 1942. On the door is a sign that says 'Stars sold out'.
Joods Historisch Museum Amsterdam Collection, BeeldbankWO2 no. 161579

The notice circulated by the Jewish Council also emphasizes that they allocated a maximum of four badges to every Jew 'for the time being'. Yet, in the evening of 3 May, the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) announced that Jews who were caught for not wearing the now-mandatory Yellow Star badge could be released if this was due to the stock of badges running out.[4] As Presser notes in his book, this message came two minutes after the SD received a considerable number of complaints from non-Jewish Dutch citizens that there were still Jews who were walking around without the Yellow Star badge, and ordered the local police to investigate these cases and bring offenders to the headquarters of the SD. Clearly, not enough badges had been produced to supply the Jews of Amsterdam with four Stars each, as can be seen in the photo above (figure 2): the sign behind the couple clearly states 'Stars sold out'. While it could be that the Jewish Council had underestimated the number of Jews in Amsterdam altogether, it certainly illustrates the scale of this project of supplying the whole Jewish community in Amsterdam with Yellow Stars in such a short time-span. However, the SD announced not even twenty-four hours later that there were again enough Yellow Star badges.[5]

32.-Jodensterren-op-de-rol-g.jpg
Figure 3. Part of a roll of Yellow Star badges. Joods Historisch Museum Amsterdam Collection

The efficient production of these badges and their distribution by the Jewish Council was a bitter pill for the Dutch Jewish community to swallow. The leaders of the Jewish Council, Abraham Asscher and David Cohen, had only received orders to implement the Yellow Star-measure from the SS-Hauptsturmführer Aus der Fünten in the early morning of 29 April 1942.[6] Although reports from both Cohen and SS-Hauptsturmführer Wörlein state that Asscher and Cohen were decidedly against this measure, the staff of the Jewish Council worked throughout the night to prepare and carry out the distribution of the Yellow Star badge – one of the personnel complained that if this had only been left to the Germans, it would have taken them weeks to manage it.[7] The picture above (figure 3) gives an idea of how these badges were mass-produced, being printed on cloth as if they were merely a decorative pattern.

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The Yellow Star badges in the Netherlands were all manufactured at

De Nijverheid (The Industry), a Dutch factory in Enschede, in the eastern part of the country. This was discovered in 1997 by researchers from the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam, as previously it was believed the Stars were made through forced labour in a Polish ghetto. That De Nijverheid had been owned by the Jewish family Van Gelderen before anti-Jewish measures stripped Jewish people of their right to own businesses, adds another layer of cruelty to the conduct of the German occupiers. Eventually, there would be over half a million Yellow Star badges distributed across the whole country.

A 'humiliation' to the Dutch nation

NIOD Beeldbank WO2 - 96839.jpg
Figure 4. “Jew and non-Jew are united in the fight!”,  pamphlet printed by De Vonk, 1942.
NIOD Collection - 96839

On Labour Day, 1 May 1942, hundreds of sheets of paper with an image of a Yellow Star printed on them by socialist resistance paper De Vonk fell from the roof of the luxurious department store De Bijenkorf in Amsterdam (figure 4). Below the word ‘Jood’ is the phrase: “Jew and non-Jew are united in the fight!”.[8] Besides dropping the pamphlets off the roof, the resistance group also distributed them on the ground throughout the city of Amsterdam, totaling around 300.000 pamphlets.[9] This was three days after the anti-Jewish measure was announced and two days before it would be enforced, and it was a swift act of discontent from a resistance group composed of mostly non-Jews to the announcement. Their message seems to convey the belief that this new measure of isolating part of Dutch society through an external mark would not work, because De Vonk emphasizes their togetherness in this 'fight'.

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Highlighting that this measure, which was solely aimed at the Jewish community, formed an attack on the whole of Dutch society seems to have often been one of the main arguments made by non-Jewish people who protested against the Nazi occupation. This sentiment was reiterated in De Vonk almost a month later: “The introduction of the so-called ‘Jewish star’ is not only a cowardly humiliation of defenseless people […]. But it is also a disgusting and vile insult to the entirety of Dutch people”.[10] Similarly, the Dutch radio programme Radio Oranje, broadcast by the Dutch government in exile from London, reacted to the measure by calling it 'hateful', and asking all Dutch people to do everything they could to oppose this attempt by the occupiers to divide the society. There are also examples of diary entries, in which non-Jews write that the Yellow Star badge measure is a ‘humiliation’ to the whole Dutch nation: Jan Voûte, for example, wrote that "The Jews wear the Yellow Star: I feel it – every time I see it – as a humiliation".[11]

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This attitude was intended to be a form of solidarity, as the image of the De Vonk pamphlet makes clear, but at the same time it could also diminish the awareness of the atrocities committed towards the Jewish community specifically. By broadening this attack by the Nazis from targeting Jews exclusively to all Dutch people, it universalizes the unique experience that Jews were going through. Roni Hershkovitz, basing himself on Dutch underground newspapers, makes a similar argument when he states that the persecutions against Jews were seen by non-Jews within the broader context of persecutions of the whole Dutch society.[12] Hershkovitz notes that it might have been on purpose, in order not to turn this war into a racial war (‘Us vs. the Jews’) as the Nazis did, and to not evoke any anti-Semitism.[13] Interestingly, the evocation of this rhetoric is not exclusive to non-Jews, as De Vonk, and undoubtedly other underground newspapers, had Jewish members – sometimes even in higher editorial positions. These Jews, similarly, could have wanted to emphasize the collective struggle against the German occupation, de-emphasizing Jewish hardships, to be more inclusive and to increase the support for resistance. Whatever the intentions behind it, these sentiments did resonate with some Dutch people, as this rhetoric is also found in people’s diaries. [14]

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Despite the implications this emphasis held, or perhaps because of these implications, there are many examples of non-Jews also showing active resistance against the measure. Unified public acts of resistances were difficult and dangerous to organize, so protests usually took the form of individual instances of defiance. Common examples are that men would tip their hats to Jews wearing the Yellow Star badge, while others would offer up their seats on the bus or train to Jewish people, or would start singing the national anthem as signs of respect and solidarity with Jews.[15] Personal anecdotes, too, include these acts of sympathy towards the Jews: Edith van Hessen, a Jewish schoolgirl from the Hague, wrote in her diary entry on 4 May, that people would make comforting comments and that she was even told in the distribution centre to "Take that stupid thing off! Throw it away!", much to her joy.[16] In another anecdote, a Jewish woman of 38-years old, F. de Miranda-Boutelje, remembers a boy of fourteen coming to sit next to her to talk to her on the bus – he and his classmates had decided that whenever they saw a person ‘with a Star’ they would go and keep them company, so they would not feel so lonely.[17] Similarly, Sem Davids was approached by an elderly woman who congratulated him because he was able to 'wear orange', the national colour of the Netherlands.[18] These expressions of solidarity and sympathy happened not only in the cities, but also in small towns.[19] In fact, these daily acts of protest happened often enough for the pro-German newspaper De Telegraaf to denounce these people who 'defy the occupying power through provocative actions' with the emphasis that this sort of behaviour would lead to punishments – and to one being 'treated as Jew' themselves.[20] This warning was printed on the first page of the publication in mid-May 1942.

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Of course, it is not always possible to claim that this sort of speech of non-Jews is a straightforward show of solidarity, even if it was interpreted that way by the NSB, the National-Socialist Movement, which was the Nazi political party of the Netherlands during the Second World War. The space between intention and interpretation remains ambiguous in many cases, and it is important to note that seemingly supportive comments can be read in many different ways. In these cases, the Jewish diarist mentioned above were pleased with the recognition and solidarity they received from the strangers around them – but at the same time, wearing ‘orange’ meant that a Jewish person’s life drastically changed, in terrible ways most non-Jews would not be able to imagine.

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Surprisingly, there are also instances where Nazis and Nazi-sympathizers seemed to convey doubts about this specific measure. Edith van Hessen mentions in her diary, within the context of the friendliness of people around her towards her and other Jews, that a German soldier greeted her father in the street in the morning of 4 May. Edith seems to have interpreted this gesture as a Nazi transgressing their antisemitic ideology. When wearing his badge in Amsterdam, Andries Sternheim also recalls that:

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Yes, even the supporters of national-socialism in the Netherlands usually lowered their eyes when they saw a Star, apparently aware that this measure was too un-Dutch. Never have I met an NSB-member who dared to look me in the eye when I was looking straight at him.[21]

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Indeed, this sentiment can even be found in the diaries of NSB-members themselves. Corrie van B., 21-years old, wrote that on the one hand she found the Star to be 'laughable', but on the other hand she sometimes felt sorry for the Jews wearing them.[22] An older female member of the NSB, R. J. Schekman-Harmsen, wrote "I think it is also a painful measure, but it must be necessary."[23] Perhaps these doubts emerged partly due to the Yellow Star ‘uncovering’ the inaccuracies of the discriminatory caricatures assigned to Jews by the Nazis – NSB-member Frans Guepin observes that there were suddenly "non-Jewish-looking people who wore the Stars."[24] Moreover another resemblance is pointed out by an NSB newspaper, as they state that the Yellow Star marks the Jews as a group in the same way as "we wear our uniforms and insignias."[25] Though this was not meant to evoke sympathy – most likely even the opposite – it is possible that both these realizations of similarities between NSB-members themselves and Jewish people played into their doubts about this measure.

 

While these sentiments of doubt were voiced by NSB-members in the security of personal documents, there was also an awareness amongst the high-ranking Nazis of these feelings of doubt amongst members of the national-socialist party: in a report from 8 June 1942, Wilhelm Zoepf writes that "even in the circles of the NSB this measure [the Yellow Star badge] is not completely understood."[26] After the introduction of the measure, various articles appeared in national-socialist newspapers that attempt to justify their discriminatory attitudes towards the Jews. There were already rationalizations of the discrimination towards Jews in newspapers before May 1942, for example in the form of a short answer to a letter submitted by a reader – the latter had offered doubts about the measure of Jews being prohibited from employing non-Jews.[27] However, these rationalizations were not as extensive as the articles published after 3 May. For instance, Volk en Vaderland had a full-page article which claims that the Yellow Star is a sign rooted in the tradition of Judaism and intertwined with the history of Jews in the Netherlands, thus claiming that this measure simply provides continuity with the past.[28] In a similar way, an article in Het Nationale Dagblad attempts to provide legitimate reasons for their aversion to Jews by arguing that Jewish people are ‘raceless’ and do not belong to any country.[29] These articles read as desperate attempts to provide a justification for discrimination (and all the terrible consequences of it), and could perhaps also be seen as a response to the sorts of doubts that had begun to sprout amongst members of the NSB, as the diary entries have shown – as an attempt to convince their members that they were in the ‘right’.

Non-Jews wearing the Yellow Star badge

Haarlemsche courant - 17-09-1942.png
Figure 5. "Fake patriotism": newspaper article about a non-Jewish woman who wore the Yellow Star badge. Haarlemsche courant: nieuwsblad voor Noord-Holland. Haarlem, 17-09-1942, p. 2. Obtained at delpher.nl, KB C 37.

Besides the everyday protests described previously, some non-Jews opted for more literal forms of showing solidarity: they wore Yellow Star badges themselves. In an article published in various newspapers controlled by the Nazi authorities, a woman is condemned because she listened to the underground radio, and also because she "wore the Yellow Star badge on her clothes and wore it on the street, although she is completely not Jewish."[30] Her actions are called "fake patriotism" (see figure 5).

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This was not an isolated case, because on the evening of the first day that wearing the Yellow Star had become mandatory, a telegram from the SD in Amsterdam stated that they wanted all the non-Jews wearing Yellow Star badges to be brought to them.[31] In Groningen, too, it was mentioned in a monthly report that "it has come to pass that an Aryan has worn the Jewish Star. For this two people have been arrested by the Sicherheitspolizei and sent to an internment camp."[32] Similarly, in Deventer, a group of twenty-three students also started wearing the Star, but they were quickly sent to a concentration camp in Amersfoort for two weeks as punishment.[33The latter two examples present the reason why these acts in particular were not widespread and did not last: those non-Jews who opposed the anti-Jewish measures risked being arrested and sent to a concentration camp. Non-Jewish citizens could avoid danger and trouble if they did not attract attention to themselves.

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The diary entry of 3 May 1942 of Els van Lohuizen from Epe, shows how quickly the resolve of non-Jews wearing the Yellow Star badge in solidarity faltered, due to the swift suppression of any forms of protest by the SD:

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Joop [her son] came to church with the so-called Yellow Star. I was scared that that there was too much at stake, [I] want to go to jail for my beliefs if necessary, but this helps so little. If everyone did it, it could impress, but there are only a few. […] It’s difficult to know what you should do. In the evening, he [Joop] said that he took it off in the afternoon because the granddaughter of Dr Lugtenberg had already been arrested for it.[34]

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Although this sort of protest did not last, stories about it did. For example, multiple diary entries  show that there were stories of people wearing similar badges with different words on them, such as ‘R.K.’ (Roman Catholic), ‘non-Jew’ or ‘Aryan’, though most of the diarists who mention these stories had not seen this themselves.[35] In another instance, Radio Oranje told their Dutch listeners that the Belgians had responded to the same measure by all wearing the badge, which eventually caused the Nazis to pull the measure back.[36] This story is untrue – though it seems that the idea that widespread solidarity could overthrow the malicious intent of the Nazis was one that circulated at the time. Unfortunately, the reality was much harsher, and as Els van Lohuizen’s diary entry above makes clear, those who tried to oppose the Nazi regime were quickly punished.

Volk en Vaderland, 22-05-1942.jpg
Figure 6. A national-socialist comic strip depicting a non-Jew wearing the Yellow Star badge. Peter Beekman, “Rare, maar ware commentaren” (Odd, but true comments). Volk en Vaderland, 22-05-1942.

In addition to denouncement of those who wore the Star in solidarity that were published in newspapers, non-Jewish people wearing the Yellow Star badge were also mocked in comic strips, which were meant for a pro-German audience. In the comic strip above (figure 6), published on 22 May 1942, a non-Jew wears a Yellow Star with ‘Goy’ in the centre, the Hebrew word used for non-Jews. He is greeted amiably by Jews, drawn as discriminatory caricatures. Yet, as Kees Ribbens aptly shows, the creator of the comic strip also implies, through the usage of the word ‘Goy’, that the Jews see themselves as separate and superior to others, including the man who wears the Star in solidarity with them.[37] This feeling of superiority of the Jews is further highlighted by the box of soap powder next to the comic strip, which has rabbinical approval: the text above the comic mockingly states that "Even our soap turns out to be unclean to the sons of Israël." This comic then fulfills a dual role: first, to undermine the believed effects of non-Jews wearing the Yellow Star as a form of protest by mocking them in the comic strip; second, to solidify the position of Jewish people as the ‘evil enemies of the state’ by implicitly portraying them as people who thought regular, non-rabbinical approved soap was not good enough for them.

Active and passive resistances of Jews

Het Joodsche weekblad - 15-05-1942.jpg
Het Joodsche weekblad - 21-05-1942.jpg
Figure 7. Reminders issues by the Dutch Jewish Council on how to wear the Yellow Star badge according to the German occupiers. Het Joodsche weekblad : uitgave van den Joodschen Raad voor Amsterdam. Amsterdam, 15-05-1942, p. 1 and 21-05-1942, p. 1.

Reminders about how the Yellow Star should be worn were published in the weekly publication of the Dutch Jewish Council, the only Jewish publication allowed in the Netherlands (figure 7). They state "Please pay attention that the Yellow Star must be worn on the left-side at chest height"; and six days later "Please pay attention that the Yellow Star, according to the recent announcement, must be sewed on the piece of clothing. Attaching it with pins and the like is not sufficient and can lead to punishments."[38] The publication of these reminders on the first page shows clearly that Jews themselves also did not passively accept the Yellow Star measure. While overt forms of resistance were nearly impossible because of the swiftness and brutality of the forms of punishment with which they were met, there were small ways in which Jews could make their discontent known, while technically still adhering to the imposed measure of wearing the Yellow Star: by wearing the badge in the ‘incorrect way.’[39] The diary entry of Edith van Hessen showcases this when she writes "I also had sewn my star on my scarf, which is not allowed, but I’ll wait until someone says something of it."

 

Others, as becomes clear from the reminders above, would pin – instead of sew – their badge on. This happened frequently enough that some NSB-members felt compelled to send in letters of complaints to their newspapers.[40] In one of the letters, the writer describes in a very discriminatory way how a Jewish woman took off her Star in the train, and he says "The disappearance of the Star in the bag is worth our attention. Is it not mandatory, that the Star is sewn on?".[41]

 

Of course, the pinning on of the badge was not solely rooted in defiance. Often it was merely a necessity: with a limited number of Stars per person and the obligation to have the badge visible at all times, it was nearly impossible to limit it to a single piece of clothing.[42] And so, whenever a Yellow Star was pinned on the clothing, even after multiple reminders that this was against the prescribed way to wear the badge, it cannot be characterized solely as defiance, as it was often simply done out of necessity. Though perhaps necessity and resistance in this context were more closely intertwined and thus not mutually exclusive.

 

In some cases, resistance to the measure was more overt. For example,

J. Hemelrijk, a teacher, refused to wear the Star: "Because I do not acknowledge their authority; because I deny them the right to violate me; because I will not be a lamb to the wolves."[43] An elderly woman, named ‘aunt Josien’ goes even further, according to a diary entry written by one of her relatives: Josien had burnt all her Stars – though her relative was also aware that this could only end badly.[44] Many of these acts of resistance were short-lived, because it quickly became apparent that the consequences were very serious.[45]

NIOD Beeldbank WO2 - 221894.jpg
Figure 8. Portrait of Philip Silbernberg with Yellow Star badge, May 1942. Stadsfotograaf Wulms / Family collection Herman Silbernberg, NIOD Collection - 221894

Compliance did not immediately imply support for the measure nor acknowledgement of subordination. For many children, who were too young to understand its implications, the Yellow Star was often merely an exciting new accessory.[46] Other Jews were openly proud to wear the Star: the photograph above (figure 8) is a portrait of Philip Silbernberg, who had his photo taken specifically with his Yellow Star badge. According to the caption included with this image in the BeeldbankWO2, Philip Silbernberg also told his son to be proud of the badge.[47] Similarly, in Kampen, a Jew told a non-Jew that he was more ‘privileged’ because he was able to wear ‘orange’ – namely, the Star – daily.[48] These joking expressions happened regularly, both in public and in private, as Edith van Hessen writes: "I find it very amusing. It’s such nonsense this stuff with the stars. The jokes are spreading faster than the rumours." Samuel Cohen recalls that at his school people would speak of ‘a spring full of yellow flowers’, and in Amsterdam the Jewish neighbourhoods and streets were dubbed ‘Hollywood’, ‘Place de l’Étoile’ and the ‘Milky Way’.[49]  These lighthearted jokes and feelings of pride were resisting the measure in their own way, whether or not they were intended to: it showed that the spirits of these Jews could not be broken so easily, nor would they condemn their own identity. However, as Loe de Jong notes, these feelings masked the inevitable worries that festered within the Dutch Jewish community. Mieke van Creveld-Zeehandelaar recalls that, even as a child who found the Star very interesting, it was clear to her that the badge was not something to be happy about. The diary entry of non-Jewish notary from Vriezenveen, Jan Kruisinga, might exemplify the despair many Jews must have felt in this period: on 30 April 1942, he ironically praised the design of the Yellow Star badge in his diary and proposed improvements through his own drawing – though a few days later he drew another star, with a phrase from the Hebrew Bible underneath it, ending in "Yes, our end has come."[50] Some Jews became too afraid to visit their non-Jewish friends, or to go outside at all with their Yellow Star.[51] Even under the façade of optimism, Dutch Jews realized the terrible consequences this measure could – and eventually would – have.

MMNIOD01_AF_000335-VIII_00000219_u.jpg
Figure 9. Jan Kruisinga’s diary entry on 2 May 1942. The page shows a hand-drawn picture of a Yellow Star badge and an excerpt of the Hebrew Scripture. NIOD Collection - 244, 335, 2-5-1942.

Notes

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[1] Philip Friedman. "The Jewish Badge and the Yellow Star in the Nazi Era". Part 2 The Origins of the Holocaust, edited by Michael R. Marrus, Berlin, New York: K. G. Saur (2011), pp. 695-6.

[2] Circular issued by the Dutch Jewish Council regarding the sale of Yellow Star badges in Amsterdam, 29 April 1942. Reproduced in: J. Presser, Ondergang. De vervolging en verdelging van het Nederlandse jodendom 1940-1945, 2 delen. Den Haag: Staatsuitgeverij (1985), p. 29.

https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/pres003onde01_01/pres003onde01_01_0017.php

[3] Stefan van der Poel, “Liquidatie van de Joodse Gemeenschap in de Stad Groningen”, in Groniek. Historisch Tijdschrift 160 (2003), p. 398.

[4] Jacques Presser. Ondergang. De vervolging en verdelging van het Nederlandse jodendom 1940-1945, 2 delen. Den Haag: Staatsuitgeverij (1985), p. 223.

[5] Ibid., p. 223.

[6] Ibid., pp. 220-1.

[7] Ibid. p. 222.

[8] Ibid., p. 227; Dick Tukkers. “Rijssens Museum in het bezit van een zeer bijzondere Jodenster”, 6 November 2017. Accessed on 17 February 2022: https://www.hartvanrijssen.nl/nieuws/algemeen/20779/rijssens-museum-in-het-bezit-van-een-zeer-bijzondere-jodenster

[9] Presser, p. 227.

[10] “Vastberaden wil.”De Vonk. 's-Gravenhage, 29-05-1942, p. 2.

https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010445957:mpeg21:p002

[11] Translation of ‘vernedering’, in Bart van der Boom. ‘Wij weten niets van hun lot’: gewone Nederlanders en de Holocaust. Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Boom (2012), p. 170.

[12] Roni Hershkovitz. "The Persecution of the Jews, as Reflected in Dutch Underground Newspapers.” In Chaya Brasz and Yosef Kaplan (eds.), Dutch Jews as Perceived by Themselves and by others. Leiden: Brill (2000), p. 308 and p. 320; ‘nivellering’ (leveling) is also the critique that Remco Ensel and Evelien Gans had on Bart van der Boom’s work, see https://www.groene.nl/artikel/over-wij-weten-iets-van-hun-lot.

[13] Hershkovitz, p. 320.

[14] Van der Boom, p. 169.

[15] See ibid., pp. 170-172.

[16] To see Edith van Hessen read her own diary entries, see https://archief.ntr.nl/deoorlog/page/personen/780054/Edith+van+Hessen.html

[17] Presser, p. 226.

[18] Ibid., p. 227.

[19] Van der Boom, p. 173.

[20] ‘Nederlanders […] die door provocerend optreden de bezettingsmacht tarten’, in “Ter Overdenking.” De Telegraaf. Amsterdam, 17-05-1942, p. 3. https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:110583932:mpeg21:p003; see also the reaction of Het Parool on this article after the war: “TER OVERDENKING.” Het Parool. Amsterdam, 11-04-1949. https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ABCDDD:010828889:mpeg21:p010.

[21] Van der Boom, p. 173.

[22] Ibid., pp. 169-70.

[23] Ibid., p. 170. 

[24] Ibid., p. 174.

[25] “HET MERKEN DER JODEN.” Volk en vaderland: weekblad der Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging in Nederland. Utrecht, 08-05-1942, p. 4. https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:011190087:mpeg21:p004

[26] ‘Selbst teilweise in NSB-Kreisen wurde diese Anordnung anfänglich nicht ganz verstanden’, in Presser, p. 228.

[27] “Keurige Joden.” Volk en vaderland : weekblad der Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging in Nederland. Utrecht, 30-01-1942, p. 3. https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:011190073:mpeg21:p003.

[28] “HET MERKEN DER JODEN.” Volk en vaderland : weekblad der Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging in Nederland. Utrecht, 08-05-1942, p. 4. https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:011190087:mpeg21:p004

[29] “De oorzaak van onzen afkeer tegen de Joden Zij zijn rassenloos!” Het nationale dagblad: voor het Nederlandsche volk. Leiden, 16-05-1942, p. 4. https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:011132573:mpeg21:p004

[30] Reproduced in many newspapers: “Zij droeg ook een Jodenster. Valsche vaderlandsliefde bestraft.” Haarlemsche courant: nieuwsblad voor Noord-Holland. Haarlem, 17-09-1942, p. 2. https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:110530536:mpeg21:p002

[31] Presser, p. 223.

[32] Van der Poel, p. 399.

[33] Presser, pp. 226-7.

[34] T.M. Sjenitzer-van Leening (red.). Dagboekfragmenten 1940-1945. Vierde druk. Utrecht/Antwerpen: Veen Uitgevers (1985), p. 167.

https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/sjen001dagb01_01/sjen001dagb01_01_0062.php?q=jodenster#hl1.

[35] Van der Boom, p. 170; Presser, p. 226.

[36] A similar story went around about the Danish king, who, it was claimed, wore a Yellow Star in solidarity with the Danish Jews when they were forced to wear the badge, see http://www.gestolengrootmoeder.nl/wordpress/deense-koning-droeg-de-jodenster/.

[37] Kees Ribbens, “Picturing anti-Semitism in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands: anti-Jewish stereotyping in a racist Second World War comic strip.” Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, 17:1, p. pp. 14-15. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14725886.2017.1380976

[38] “De Jodenster.” Het Joodsche weekblad : uitgave van den Joodschen Raad voor Amsterdam. Amsterdam, 15-05-1942, p. 1. https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010318318:mpeg21:p001 and “De Jodenster.” Het Joodsche weekblad : uitgave van den Joodschen Raad voor Amsterdam. Amsterdam, 21-05-1942, p. 1.

https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010318319:mpeg21:p001

[39] Hershkovitz, p. 319. 

[40] “JODENSTER VERDWEEN IN DE TASCH.” Het nationale dagblad : voor het Nederlandsche volk. Leiden, 29-05-1942, p. 3. https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:011132583:mpeg21:p003; “STERRENGEGOOCHEL.” Het nationale dagblad : voor het Nederlandsche volk. Leiden, 06-06-1942, p. 4.

[41] “JODENSTER VERDWEEN IN DE TASCH.” Het nationale dagblad : voor het Nederlandsche volk. Leiden, 29-05-1942, p. 3. https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:011132583:mpeg21:p003.

[42] Friedman, p. 704.

[43] Presser, p. 229.

[44] Sjenitzer-van Leening (red.), p. 263.

https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/sjen001dagb01_01/sjen001dagb01_01_0104.php?q=josien#hl4.

[45] See also ‘Die Angehörigen der jüdischen Rasse, die den Stern zunächst mit Stolz trugen, sind inzwischen wieder kleinlaut geworden, weil sie weitere Massnahmen seitens der Besatzungsbehörde befürchten.’ In Presser, p. 228.

[46] Presser, p. 229; https://lab.nos.nl/projects/jodenster/index.html, interview Mieke van Creveld-Zeehandelaar (born 1936).

[47] Philip’s son, Herman, survived the war, and wrote a children’s book about his experiences of the war as a Jewish child. The title of his book is a phrase his father said to him: Son… you should be proud of it. See for more information: https://www.stolpersteinesittardgeleen.nl/Slachtoffers/Philip-Silbernberg.

[48] Loe de Jong, Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog, 1939-1945. Deel 5, Tweede Helft, p. 1089 (cited from A. van Boven, Jan Jansen in bezet gebied, p. 124.).

http://loe.niod.knaw.nl/grijswaarden/De-Jong_Koninkrijk_deel-05_tweede-helft_zw.pdf

[49] Presser, p. 229. 

[50] Diary of Jan Kruisinga, NIOD, 244, 335, 30-4-1942 and 2-5-1942. Cited in Van der Boom, p. 168.

[51] Presser, p. 229.

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