Yellow badge
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A yellow badge, also referred to as a Jewish badge, was a mandatory mark or a piece of cloth of specific geometric shape, worn on the outer garment in order to distinguish a Jew in public.
It is associated with anti-Semitism in Christian countries and with humiliation of Jews in Muslim ones. [1] [2] In some countries at times a badge was accompanied or replaced by identifying garb or hat. In the Middle Ages, clothes worn by different groups of people were regulated by sumptuary law. In the Muslim lands the practice of marking Muslims from Jews and Christians had its origin in early medieval Baghdad and was the most degrading of the regulations, although its enforcement was erratic. [3]
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[edit] Origins and development
The use of distinctive clothing or marks for Jewish and other religious communities has been traced by historians to ancient times. In the early Islamic period non-Muslims might be required to wear distinctive marks, such as metal seals fixed around their necks. This appears to have derived from practices general in the ancient world including tattooing and branding of slaves and captives. However, both Jewish and Islamic religious authorities disapproved of the application of permanent markings and this may be why leaden or copper seals were used at some times in the Islamic world as a distinguishing mark for those who were non-Muslims or slaves or both. [4]
[edit] In Muslim lands
Non-Muslim residents in medieval Islamic states were set apart from Muslims in various ways. Islamic law and custom required them to carry signs of their difference and to adopt different dress. They had to avoid colours associated with Islam, particularly green. However, the enforcement of these rules was highly erratic. [5]
The practice of differentiating Muslims from Jews and Christians is not found in the Qur'an or hadith but appears to have been invented in early medieval Baghdad. [6] It was the most degrading of a series of regulations imposed upon non-Muslims (dhimmi).
According to Bernard Lewis:
Christians and Jews were to wear special emblems on their clothes. This, incidentally, is the origin of the yellow badge, which was first introduced by a caliph in Baghdad in the ninth century and spread into Western lands in later medieval times. Even when attending the public baths, non-Muslims were supposed to wear distinguishing signs suspended from cords around their necks, so that they might not be mistaken for Muslims when disrobed in the bathhouse.(Under Shi'a rules, they were not allowed to use the same bathrooms) [7] ...Finally, there was a third consideration, which became more important and perhaps dominant in the later centuries: the desire to humiliate, to remind the dhimmi of his inferiority, and to punish him if he ever tried to forget his quality and his place. The stigma of inferiority is expressed in a number of ways. The requirement that Jews and Christians, their families, and their slaves wear cloaks and headgear of distinctive colors is not in iteself necessarily hostile. However, the requirements that they wear a patch of a different color on their outer garments is clearly intended to degrade as well as to differentiate.[8]
[edit] In Christian lands
Similar dress codes were later imposed in Christian states for Jewish and Muslim residents. The Jewish Encyclopedia article on the Jewish badge[9] cites D'Ohsson's 1854 "Histoire des Mogols"[10] and Lane-Poole's 1901 "History of Egypt" [11]:
The idea of such a discrimination seems to have been derived from Islam, in which the dress of the Jews was distinguished by a different color from that of the true believer as early as the Pact of Omar (640), by which Jews were ordered to wear a yellow seam on their upper garments. This was a distinct anticipation of the Badge. In 1005 the Jews of Egypt were ordered to wear bells on their garments and a wooden calf to remind them of the golden one.
(The document known as the Pact of Umar is now considered by historians to be of much later date.)
[edit] Timeline
- 717
- Possible date of the Pact of Umar which stipulates that Christians (and by implication also Jews) living in Muslim lands are required to wear distinctive clothing. Although there are questions about the status of this document as a historic source, the use of distinguishing marks is consistent with documentary and archaeological evidence from seventh century and eighth century Iraq and Syria. [12]
- 807
- Abbassid Caliph Harun al-Rashid orders Jews to wear yellow belt, blue for Christians. [13]
- 850
- A decree of the Abbassid Caliph Al-Mutawakkil, reported by the tenth century historian Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, requires Christian and Jewish subjects to wear honey-coloured hoods and belts of a particular type. Distinguishing marks are also prescribed for their slaves. [14]
- 1005
- Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim, orders Jewish and Christian residents to wear bells on their garments and a "golden calf" (made of wood) around the neck when bathing with Muslims. [15]
- 1058
- Start of less tolerant policy towards Christians and Jews by the Seljuk authorities in the Abbasid empire. Existing laws imposing distinctive dress are enforced. Non-Muslims in Baghdad are forced to wear signs on their dress.[16]
- 1085
- Non-Muslims are required to wear distinctive signs on their turbans.[16]
- 1091
- Abbasid Caliph Al-Muqtadi decrees that the "non-believers" had to wear yellow headgear and girdles of various colors, and a sign of lead around their necks to show they had to pay the poll-tax. Women had to wear shoes of different colors, such as one red and the other black.[16]
- 1121
- A letter from Baghdad describes decrees regulating Jewish clothes: "two yellow badges, one on the headgear and one on the neck. Furthermore, each Jew must hang round his neck a piece of lead with the word dhimmi on it. He also has to wear a belt round his waist. The women have to wear one red and one black shoe and have a small bell on their necks or shoes." [17]
- 1215
- Fourth Lateran Council headed by Pope Innocent III declares: "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." [18]
- 1219
- Pope Honorius III issues a dispensation to the Jews of Castile.[9]
- 1222
- Archbishop of Canterbury Stephen Langton orders English Jews to wear white band, two fingers broad and four long. [9]
- 1227
- Synod of Narbonne rules: "That Jews may be distinguished from others, we decree and emphatically command that in the center of the breast (of their garments) they shall wear an oval badge, the measure of one finger in width and one half a palm in height." [19]
- 1228
- James I orders Jews of Aragon to wear the badge.[9]
- 1265
- The Siete Partidas, a legal code enacted in Castile by Alfonso X but not implemented until many years later, includes a requirement for Jews to wear distinguishing marks. [20]
- 1267
- In a special session, the Vienna city council forces Jews to wear Pileum cornutum (a cone-shaped head dress, prevalent in many medieval illustrations of Jews). This distinctive dress is an addition to yellow badge Jews were already forced to wear. [21]
- 1269 June 19
- France. (Saint) Louis IX of France orders all Jews found in public without a badge (French: rouelle or roue, Latin: rota) to be fined ten livres of silver.[22] This regulation is repeated by local councils at Arles 1234 and 1260, Béziers 1246, Albi 1254, Nîmes 1284 and 1365, Avignon 1326 and 1337, Rodez 1336, and Vanves 1368.[9]
- 1274
- The Statute of Jewry in England, enacted by King Edward I, enforces the regulations. "Each Jew, after he is seven years old, shall wear a distinguishing mark on his outer garment, that is to say, in the form of two Tables joined, of yellow felt of the length of six inches and of the breadth of three inches." [23]
- 1294 October 16
- Erfurt. The earliest mention of the badge in Germany.[9]
- 1315–1326
- Emir Ismael Abu-I-Walid forces the Jews of Granada to wear the yellow badge.[9]
- 1321
- Henry II of Castile forces the Jews to wear the yellow badge.[9]
- 1415 May 11
- Bull of the Avignon Pope Benedict XIII orders the Jews to wear a yellow and red badge, the men on their breast, the women on their forehead.[9]
- 1434
- Emperor Sigismund reintroduces the badge at Augsburg.[9]
- 1528
- The municipal board of Venice allows famous physician and professor Jacob Mantino ben Samuel to wear the regular black doctors' cap instead of Jewish yellow hat for two months (period extended later), upon the recommendation of the French and English ambassadors, the papal legate, and other dignitaries numbered among his patients. [24]
- 1555
- Pope Paul IV decrees, in his Cum nimis absurdum, that the Jews should wear yellow hats.
- 1566
- King Sigismund II passes a law that required Lithuanian Jews to wear yellow hats and head coverings. The law was abolished twenty years later.[9]
- 1710
- Frederick William I of Prussia abolished the mandatory Jewish yellow patch in return for a payment of 8,000 thaler ($360,000 in today's money) each.[25]
- 1933–1945
- The Nazi regimes in the occupied countries of Europe force Jews to wear an identifying mark under the threat of death. There are no consistent requirements as to its color and shape: it varies from a white armband to a yellow Star of David badge.
- 1940
- The Danes undertake heroic efforts to shelter their Jews and help them escape from the Nazis to neutral Sweden. A popular legend portrays king Christian X of Denmark wearing an armband as he makes his daily morning horseback ride through the streets of Copenhagen, followed by non-Jewish Danes responding to their king's example, thus preventing the Germans from identifying Jewish citizens and rendering the Nazi order ineffective. The Queen Margrethe II of Denmark described the legend: "It is a beautiful and symbolic story, but it is not true… To me, the truth is an even greater honor for our country than the myth."[26][27]
- 2001
- During the reign of the Islamist Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the Hindu minority in the country were forced to wear yellow badges in public to identify themselves as such. This was part of the Taliban's plan to segregate "un-Islamic" and "idolatrous" communities from Islamic ones[28].The decree was condemned by the Governments of the United States and India as a gross violation of religious freedom.In the United States, chairman of the Anti-Defamation League Abraham Foxman compared the decree to the practices of Nazi Germany, where Jews were required to wear labels identifying them as such[29].Widespread protests against the Taliban regime broke out in Bhopal, India. The Government of India condemned this decree as a violation of religious freedom[30].In the United States, congressmen and several lawmakers wore yellow badges on the floor of the Senate during the debate as a demonstration of their solidarity with the Hindu minority in Afghanistan[31][32].
[edit] References
- ^ "Another instrument of 12th-century anti-Semitism, the compulsory yellow badge that identified the wearer as a Jew, was also revived by the Nazis." Anti-Semitism, Encyclopædia Britannica, 2006.
- ^ Lewis 1984 p.32 "One important point should be made right away. There is little sign of any deep-rooted emotional hostility directed against Jews — or for that matter any other group — such as anti-Semitism of the Christian world. There were, however, unambigiously negative attitudes... On the whole, in contrast to Christian anti-Semitism, the Muslim attitude toward non-Muslims is one not of hate or fear or envy but simply contempt.. the contempt of the Muslims for those who had been given the opportunity to accept the truth and who willfully chose to persist in their disbelief."
- ^ Lewis, Bernard. Semites and Anti-Semites: An Inquiry Into Conflict and Prejudice, 1999, W. W. Norton & Company press, ISBN 0-393-31839-7, p.131.
- ^ Robinson, Chase F. (2005). "Neck-Sealing in early Islam". Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient Volume 48 (Number 3): pp. 401-441. Retrieved on 2006-08-09.
- ^ Hourani, Albert, A History of the Arab Peoples, London: Faber and Faber, 1991, ISBN 0-571-16663-6, p.117
- ^ Bernard Lewis, Semites and Anti-Semites: An Inquiry Into Conflict and Prejudice, 1999, W. W. Norton & Company press, ISBN 0-393-31839-7, p.131
- ^ Lewis, Bernard. The Jews of Islam, Princeton University Press, Jun 1, 1987, pp. 25-26.
- ^ Lewis, p. 36.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Jewish Encyclopedia: Yellow badge
- ^ D'Ohsson, "Histoire des Mogols," 1854, iii. p.274
- ^ S. Lane-Poole, "History of Egypt," 1901, vi. 126
- ^ Robinson, Chase F. (2005). "Neck-Sealing in early Islam". Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient Volume 48 (Number 3): pp. 401-441. Retrieved on 2006-08-09.
- ^ Ye'or, Bat (2002). Islam and Dhimmitude. Where Civilizations Collide. Madison/Teaneck, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press/Associated University Presses, pp. 91–96. ISBN 0-8386-3943-7.
- ^ al-Mutawakkil's decree of 850 (JVL)
- ^ Roumani, Maurice M. (Summer 2003). ""The Silent Refugees: Jews from Arab Countries"". Mediterranean Quarterly Volume 14 (Number 3): pp. 41-77.
- ^ a b c Fatimids and Seljuks: 909 CE - 1100s CE. How Spain Became the Intellectual Center of the Jewish World (jewishgates.com)
- ^ Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews (1987), p.204
- ^ Fourth Lateran Council, Canon 68
- ^ Fourth Lateran Council, Canon68
- ^ Medieval Sourcebook, Las Siete Partidas: Laws on Jews[1] accessed 18-09-2006
- ^ Judenhut (Jewish Encyclopedia)
- ^ Eli Birnbaum. This day in Jewish History. The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved on 2006-08-09.
- ^ A Day in the Life of 13th Century England. BBC. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
- ^ Jacob Mantino ben Samuel, (Jewish Encyclopedia)
- ^ Amos Elon: The Pity of It All: A History of the Jews in Germany, 1743-1933 (Metropolitan Books, 2002) p.15. ISBN 0805059644
- ^ Anne Wolden-Ræthinge, Queen in Denmark
- ^ Did King Christian X of Denmark wear a yellow star in support of the Danish Jews? (USHMM Research Library). Accessed 2006-08-17.
- ^ Taliban to mark Afghan Hindus,CNN
- ^ Taliban: Hindus Must Wear Identity Labels,People's Daily
- ^ India deplores Taleban decree against Hindus,Rediff.com
- ^ US Lawmakers Condemn Taliban Treatment Of Hindus,CNSnews.com
- ^ US lawmakers say: We are Hindus,Rediff.com
[edit] See also
- Anti-Semitism
- Apartheid laws
- Blood money
- Caste system
- Devşirme system
- Dhimmi laws
- History of anti-Semitism
- Islam and anti-Semitism
- Jim Crow laws
- Jizyah tax
- Judenhut
- Ottoman Millet system
- Nazi concentration camp badges
- New anti-Semitism
- Nuremberg laws
- Ethnic segregation
[edit] External links
- The Jewish Badge at About.com
- "Wear It With Pride, The Yellow Badge" by Robert Weltsch Juedische Rundschau, No. 27, April 4, 1933
- An Exemplary Response - Denmark
- Rescue of the Danish Jews at auschwitz.dk
- King of Denmark and yellow stars at Snopes.com's Urban Legend website
