Round yellow patch to mark Jews in Ukraine and in Ostland during World War II. The patch belonged to a Jewish resident of the city of Minsk. extremely rare.
In occupied Ukraine, the order instructing the Jews to wear an identification mark was given on August 5, 1941 in the city of Sarni in the Volhyn region, which was annexed to Ukraine in June 1941. The Jews were required to wear a white armband with a blue Star of David on their right sleeve. On October 1, 1941 the armband was replaced by two round yellow patches. The Jews ordered to sew the patches on the front of the garment and on the back of the garment. In Minsk the instruction was given even earlier. On July 10, 1941, all the Jews of Minsk, which was annexed to the Reichskommissariat (RKU) Ostland, were ordered to register in the Judenrat. The registration lasted until the 15th of the month, and according to it there were about 55,000 Jews in the city. Around that time, the Jews were ordered to wear a Round yellow patch on their chest and back. Jews were marked with a round yellow patch in the areas that belonged to the Reichskommissariat Ukraine and the Reichskommissariat Ostland.
A round Ukrainian yellow patch is extremely rare because compared to other ghettos where the population was much larger – in the Warsaw ghetto for example at the time of the peak there were 450,000 Jews, in the Lodz ghetto 205,000 Jews, in the Reichskommissariat areas the Jews numbered less than a quarter of this number.
The round patch was actually the earliest known sign that the Jews were forced to wear historically. In 1551 Ferdinand I, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire imposed on the Jews a decree requiring them to wear a circular patch on their clothing. It is also known about an illustration of a German Jew from the 16th century who has a round yellow identification patch on the front of his garment.
A similar patch in the collection of Yad Vashem items. see here
A photograph of Jews with round yellow patches in the Minsk ghetto see here
Provenance: Marcus family that the patch belonged to their grandfather from the city of Minsk during the Holocaust.
Size: 10×8.5 cm. Stains. Good condition.
