Yellow badge

The yellow badge, also known as the yellow patch, the Jewish badge, or the yellow star (German: Judenstern, lit. 'Jew's star'), was an accessory that Jews were required to wear in certain non-Jewish societies throughout history. A Jew's ethno-religious identity, which would be denoted by the badge, would help to mark them as an outsider. Legislation that mandated Jewish subjects to wear such items has been documented in some Middle Eastern caliphates and in some European kingdoms during the medieval period and the early modern period. The most recent usage of yellow badges was during World War II, when Jews living in Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe were ordered to wear a yellow Star of David to keep their Jewish identity disclosed to the public in the years leading up to the Holocaust.

The practice of wearing special clothing or markings to distinguish Jews and other non-Muslims (dhimmis) in Muslim-dominated countries seems to have been introduced in the Umayyad Caliphate by Caliph Umar II in the early 8th century. In the 9th century, Islamic authorities began to harden their attitude on ghiyār (غيار, differentiating non-Muslims from Muslims. The Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil issued a decree in 850 that ordered Jews and Christians to wear the zunnar (زنار), honey-coloured outer garments and badge-like patches on their clothing and their servants' clothing. This began the long tradition of differentiation by colour, though the colour and badges would change over time and place.

The clothing was also enforced outside of the Islamic heartlands. In Aghlabid Northern Africa and Sicily dhimmis were required to wear a patch (Arabic: رقعة, ruq'a) of white fabric on the shoulder of their outer garment, with the patch for Jews being in the image of an ape and for Christians - in the image of a pig. It is not clear how long this humiliating decree remained in force, but it is clear that in the Maghrebi case, the purpose of the patch was not merely ghiyār 'differentiation' but also dhull (ذل, 'humiliation'), in keeping with the qoranic injunction (Sura 9:29) that non-Muslims should be humbled. A genizah document from 1121 gives the following description of decrees issued in Baghdad:

Two yellow badges [are to be displayed], one on the headgear and one on the neck. Furthermore, each Jew must hang round his neck a piece of lead weighing [3 grams] with the word dhimmi on it. He also has to wear a belt around his waist. The women have to wear one red and one black shoe and have a small bell on their necks or shoes.

The Jews of Egypt were forced in 1005 to wear the zunnar on their garments and a wooden calf to remind them of the golden one. In the late 12th century, the Almohads forced the Jews of North Africa to wear yellow cloaks and turbans, a practice the subsequent Hafsid dynasty continued to follow. In 1250, under Hafsid caliph al-Mustansir, Jews had to wear some sort of distinguishing badge (Arabic: شكيلة, shikla), though it is not exactly known how it looked like and it may have referred to both a special patch and an overall attire unique to Jews. At the same time, the Ayyubid Sultan decreed that the life and property of any Jew or Christian found in the street without a distinguishing badge (Arabic: علامة, 'alāma) or zunnar would be forfeit. In the following century, in 1301, Jews were required to wear a yellow turban.

Mid-15th century reports describe the shikla as a piece of yellow cloth worn on the outer clothing that Tunisian Jews were obliged to wear. The shikla ceased to be used in Morocco from the 16th century, but it continued to be such a regular defining mark of Tunisian Jews up to the 19th century, that they were commonly referred to as shikliyyūn ('those who wear the sign').

From the thirteenth century onwards, secular authorities in Medieval Europe started to distinguish different people, affecting both Christians and non-Christians, and occupations by distinguishing clothing. With the Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215 headed by Pope Innocent III it was for the first time specifically declared that Jews and Muslims must wear distinguishing garbs (Latin habitus). These measures were not seen as being inconsistent with the papal bulls Sicut Judaeis. While some historians argue that the reason was to keep Jews out of Christian society, many clothing restrictions also applied to Christians and the stated and likely reason was to prevent intermarriage and thus proselytisation. This wording of the council decree may have been influenced indirectly by the Muslim requirements for Jews. Canon 68 reads, in part:

In some provinces a difference in dress distinguishes the Jews or Saracens from the Christians, but in certain others such a confusion has grown up that they cannot be distinguished by any difference. Thus it happens at times that through error Christians have relations with the women of Jews or Saracens, and Jews and Saracens with Christian women. Therefore, that they may not, under pretext of error of this sort, excuse themselves in the future for the excesses of such prohibited intercourse, we decree that such Jews and Saracens of both sexes in every Christian province and at all times shall be marked off in the eyes of the public from other peoples through the character of their dress. Particularly, since it may be read in the writings of Moses [Numbers 15:37–41], that this very law has been enjoined upon them.