Star of David badge printed with Jude worn by a German Jew

Star of David badge that belonged to Beate Ada or Ernest Oppenheimer. Beate and Ernest emigrated separately from Germany to the United States in 1938-1939. The badge was worn by a family member who stayed in Germany. In September 1941, the Nazi government ordered all Jews over the age of six to wear a Judenstern [Jewish star] badge on their outer clothing at all times. Official persecution of the Jews following Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 made life extremely difficult. Ernest, who lived in Mannheim, was arrested with his father during the Kristallnacht pogrom on November 9-10, 1938. They were sent to Buchenwald concentration camp and later released. Twenty-seven year old Ernest left for the United States in 1939. His parents, Moritz and Margaret, were killed in Auschwitz in 1942, but his three siblings survived the war. Beate was from Lauenforde and she left for the United States in 1938. Her parents, Emma and Sali, were deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp, but were released to Switzerland in exchange for American currency.