us-005578-irn616248-irn616253
type: RecordSet
archival history: The badge was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by Sigrid Jean Ansbacher Strauss.
biographical history: Sigrid Ansbacher (later Strauss, b. 1928) was born in Dinkelsbühl, Germany, to Selma Schlossberger (1897-1959) and Ludwig Ansbacher (1888-1950). She had two older brothers, Manfred (1922-2012) and Heinz (1925-1942). Ludwig served in the German army during World War I, where he lost an eye. In 1935, he was awarded the Iron Cross for his service. Early in his career, he worked as a cattle dealer before transitioning into selling fabrics. The family lived in an apartment above Ludwig’s fabric store in Dinkelsbühl. Hitler came to power in 1933, and Ludwig was forced to close his store after the Nuremberg Laws were passed in 1935. He then began to work as a traveling fabric salesman, riding his bike into the countryside to sell to farmers. The family attended an Orthodox synagogue and had many good friends that were non-Jewish. However, those relationships changed as anti-Semitism increased. Dinkelsbühl did not have many Jews or children in the town, and Sigrid attended a public elementary school for two years, until she had to leave it in 1936 due to anti-Jewish legislation. That same year, Manfred was sent by his parents to an agricultural school near Hanover; by 1939, he immigrated to Australia, changed his surname to Anson, and eventually joined the Australian army. In 1937, anti-semitism in the small town had grown so much that the family decided to re-locate to Frankfurt, joining extended family. In Frankfurt, Sigrid attended a Jewish school and her father began working in the office of the Jewish community. The Ansbacher family did not live in Frankfurt’s central Jewish neighborhood, and therefore avoided the vandalism and damaged stores of the Kristallnacht attacks on November 9-10, 1938. The following day, however, the SS arrested Ludwig, sending him and 10,000 other Jews to Buchenwald concentration camp, where they received extremely cruel treatment. Ludwig was sent home after 2-3 weeks, and Selma attempted to obtain paperwork for the family to immigrate to Ame…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Yellow cloth badge in the shape of a 6 pointed Star of David. The star outline is formed by two black triangles, printed to overlap one another. In the center is German text in a font resembling Hebrew. The edges have been folded over and hand stitched to a tan backing fabric with a frayed slit down the center. The back is stained and the upper right point has a small patch.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: after 1941 September 01-approximately 1942 September 17
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 2
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: deu
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn616253
is or was included in: us-005578-irn616248
record resource extent: overall: Height: 3.375 inches (8.573 cm) | Width: 2.875 inches (7.303 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Yellow, factory-printed Star of David badge stitched to a backing fabric by Selma Ansbacher and worn at all times by her daughter, Sigrid Ansbacher (later Strauss) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, between September 1, 1941 and September 17, 1942. She began wearing the star after the September 1, 1941 decree that all Jews in the Reich six years of age or older were required to wear a yellow star badge. The badge was sewn onto outer clothing and used to stigmatize and control the Jewish population following Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 and the passage of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935. Before the war, Sigrid’s father, Ludwig, owned a fabric store in the small town of Dinkelsbühl, Germany, but eventually closed it and moved the family to Frankfurt in 1937. Sigrid’s oldest brother, Manfred, immigrated to Australia by 1939. In May 1942, Sigrid’s other brother, Heinz, was deported to Majdanek killing center in German-occupied Poland and was killed in August. Sigrid, her mother, Selma, and her father, Ludwig, were deported to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp in German-occupied Czechoslovakia in September 1942. Initially, Selma was assigned to work in the kitchens and later moved to the mica-splitting facility. In 1944, Sigrid was deported to a number of concentration camps where she performed forced labor, including: Auschwitz in German-occupied Poland, Kurzbach and Gross-Rosen in Germany, Mauthausen in Austria, and Bergen-Belsen in Germany, where she was liberated by British forces on April 15, 1945. Her parents, Selma and Ludwig, remained at Theresienstadt until the Soviet Army liberated the camp on May 9, 1945, and the couple moved back to Frankfurt. They immigrated to the United States in July 1946, where Sigrid joined them the following December.
title: Factory-printed Star of David badge printed with Jude, belonging to a German Jewish woman