us-005578-irn521889-irn515320
date: approximately 1942
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn521889-irn515320/alternateIDs/1
title: Star of David badge printed Jude worn by a German Jewish woman
scope and content: Star of David badge worn by Emma Jonas, circa 1942, in Berlin, Germany, to identify her as a Jew. The Star was carefully cut out and handstitched so the outline shows on the front as required. The Nazi regime decreed on September 1941 that Jews must wear Judenstern at all times to humiliate them and mark them as outcasts from German society. After Kristallnacht, November 9-10, 1938, Emma, her husband Martin, and daughter Helga, 13, tried but failed to get visas for the family to leave Berlin. They then got Helga passage on a Kindertransport to England on March 2, 1939. Emma and Martin were arrested February 13, 1943, and taken to a series of detention centers. Martin died of heart failure on October 2, 1944. On November 24, Emma was deported to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp in German occupied Czechoslovakia and was slave labor in a glimmer [mica] factory. Soviet troops liberated the camp on May 9, 1945. In July, she was moved to Deggendorf displaced persons camp in Germany. All of her family, as well as Martin's, perished in the camps. Emma was reunited with Helga in England in 1947.
identifier: irn515320
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Worn dark gold cloth badge in the shape of a 6 pointed Star of David. The star outline is formed from 2 overlapping, dyed triangle outlines and has the German word Jude in pseudo-Hebrew font in the center. The badge is carefully cut so the star outline is visible on the front. The cloth is folded over to cover each point with a vertical and horizontal row handstitched in gold thread to keep the cloth neatly in place. The cut out dash lines are visible on the back points and there are some loose threads.
archival history: The Star of David badge was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2004 by Helga Carden, the daughter of Emma Jonas.
has or had holder: us-005578
biographical history: Emma Pariser was born on December 14, 1889, in Inowraclaw, Germany (now Poland) to Albert and Rosalie David Pariser. Albert was born on March 10, 1862, in Tremessen, Germany, and died in 1904 in Hohensalza. Rosalie was born January 5, 1864, in Strelno, Germany, and died in 1902. Emma had three sisters: Clara, Gertrude, and Helcha. Albert and Rosalie owned a clothing store and, after their deaths, the sisters took it over. On May 7, 1919, Germany had to return Posen to Poland, in accordance with the Treaty of Versailles. Emma moved to Berlin where she opened a ladies undergarment franchise called Etna. She remet Martin Jonas, formerly a watchmaker, now a businessman. They had known each other as children and married in 1924. Martin was born on June 5, 1885, in Lobzenica, to Beta Ehrlich and Jakob Jonas. He had two brothers, Oscar and Siegfried, and a sister, Clara. He had a serious heart ailment contracted during his service in the German Army in World War I (1914-1918). The couple had a daughter, Helga, on June 4, 1925. The family did not keep a kosher home, although Emma and Helga went to temple and observed Shabbat. In 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor and Jews were subject to persecution and multiple legal restrictions. In 1937, Helga was forced to leave public school and attend a Jewish school. During the November 9-10, 1938, Kristallnacht pogrom, the family watched from their apartment window as the pharmacy across the street was vandalized. Living solely on Martin’s army pension, money was scarce and they rented out rooms to Jewish tenants. Emma and Martin could not obtain visas to leave Germany due to Martin’s illness and because his assets had been frozen by the government. They arranged for Helga to leave on a Kindertransport to England on March 2, 1939. She lived with the Posnansky family, a wealthy Orthodox Jewish family with three children. Helga wrote her parents each week and they called on her birthday. After Germany invaded Poland on September 1,…
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
is or was included in: us-005578-irn521889
record resource extent: overall: Height: 3.750 inches (9.525 cm) | Width: 3.250 inches (8.255 cm)
has or had some members with language: deu
has record set type: Item
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
type: RecordSet
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn521889-irn515320/acquisitions/1