Identity card of the Jewish woman Chotman Chaya Feige, issued by the OFICIUL JUDEȚEAN AL EVREILOR CERNAUȚI – “The Regional Office for the Jews of Cernăuți” – against a background illustration of a yellow Star of David. On the left appears a portrait photograph of Chaya. This is a registration certificate from the Jewish community of Chernivtsi, issued in accordance with national law in 1942.
The document includes the following entries: Residence permit in Chernivtsi – No. 356/1941, Authorization from the Commander of the Jews – No. 27237/1942, Registration approval by the Population Bureau – No. 16646/1942, Official stamps of the Chernivtsi Police
– Stamp of C.E.R. – Comitetul Evreiesc Regional (Regional Jewish Committee).
The document represents the policy of registration, surveillance, and restriction imposed by the Romanian authorities on the Jewish population during the period of the racial laws. After Chernivtsi was reoccupied in 1941 by the Romanian army (with German assistance), a Romanian civil administration was established, which immediately began implementing antisemitic policies. Anti-Jewish legislation was enacted without delay, including mandatory registration of Jews in the city and district, revocation of citizenship and residency rights, and the concentration of Jews in the local ghetto. Some of the city’s Jewish residents were deported to Transnistria – a Jewish identity card and proof of participation in the census were required in order to avoid immediate deportation.
The first orders concerning the wearing of the yellow badge in Romania were issued by local authorities. On July 4, 1941, notices from the local police chief were posted on the walls of buildings in the city of Bacău. In response to inquiries from military commanders, Mihai Antonescu, deputy to Ion Antonescu, instructed the Minister of the Interior to ensure that Jews throughout Romania would be required to wear the badge. The Minister issued a circular enforcing the order beginning August 7—one month before Nazi Germany adopted a similar directive. At the same time, an order was issued to mark Jewish identity cards in Chernivtsi with a yellow Star of David. The ghetto in Chernivtsi was established in October 1941, and at full capacity, according to records of the Jewish community, it held 75,000 people. One of the decrees that particularly characterized Jewish life in Romania—especially in the Bukovina region—was the requirement to mark Jewish homes with the word “Jew.” The ghetto was dissolved with the lifting of restrictions on Jewish movement in the city in October 1943.
A similar identity document bearing a yellow Star of David is preserved in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, catalog no. 15894.
8.5 × 14 cm. Good condition.
