us-005578-irn616248-irn616258
type: RecordSet
archival history: The badge was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by Sigrid Jean Ansbacher Strauss.
biographical history: Selma Ansbacher (nee Schlossberger, 1897-1956) was born in Wachbach, Germany to Bertha Schlossberger (nee Strauss, 1864-1936) and Sigmund Schlossberger (1863-1942, died from chronic illness). She had four siblings: Palma (1894-?), Josef (1899-?), Hedwig (later Holzer, 1903-1995), and Gisela (later Levi, later Feuchtwanger, 1906-2003). In 1921, at 24 years old, she married Ludwig Ansbacher (1888-1950), a veteran of the German army in World War I. Ludwig lost an eye during the war and was awarded the Iron Cross for his service. Initially he worked in the family business as a cattle dealer and later ran a fabric store. The couple had three children: Manfred (1922-2012), Heinz (1925-1942), and Sigrid (b. 1928). The family lived in Dinkelsbühl, Germany, in an apartment above Ludwig’s fabric store. 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. In 1936, 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. 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 America. The United States…
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 are folded over and hand sewn to a gray backing fabric with thin, paired, black horizontal stripes. The front and back are heavily stained and creased and there is a rip in the seam on the upper right corner and edges. There are many loose black threads along the seam edges, where it would have been attached to clothing.
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: 1
has or had identifier: 2
has or had some members with language: deu
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn616258
is or was included in: us-005578-irn616248
record resource extent: overall: Height: 3.375 inches (8.573 cm) | Width: 3.000 inches (7.62 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 in public by a family member in Frankfurt am Main, Germany after a 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 star was sewn onto outer clothing and contributed to the stigmatization and control of the Jewish population following Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 and the passage of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935. Before the war, Selma’s husband, Ludwig, owned a fabric store in the small town of Dinkelsbühl, Germany, but eventually closed it and moved the family to Frankfurt in 1937. Selma’s oldest son, Manfred, immigrated to Australia by 1939. In May 1942, her other son, Heinz, was deported to Majdanek killing center in German-occupied Poland and was killed in August. Selma, her husband, Ludwig, and daughter, Sigrid, were deported to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp in German-occupied Czechoslovakia in September 1942. Initially, Selma worked as a group leader in the kitchen. She later worked in the mica-splitting facility, a job that contributed to the war effort, which she tried to use as leverage when Sigrid was assigned to a transport out of Theresienstadt. In 1944, Sigrid was deported to a number of concentration camps, including Auschwitz in German-occupied Poland and Bergen-Belsen in Germany, where she was liberated by British forces on April 15, 1945. Selma and Ludwig remained at Theresienstadt until the Soviet Army liberated the camp on May 9, 1945. The couple moved back to Frankfurt before immigrating 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