“Poland was the first country where Jews were forced to wear a distinctive badge in order to isolate them from the surrounding population,” wrote Yad Vashem on its X account.
“On 23 November 1939 Hans Frank, the governor of the Generalgouvernement issued an order that all Jews aged 10 and above must wear a white cloth armband 10 cm wide marked with a blue Star of David on their right arm,” Yad Vashem added in a follow-up, directing readers to a more detailed article on the institute’s website for further context.
However, those who did not follow the link were left only with the original statement on X—one that omitted any reference to Germany or the Nazis, as well as the fact that Poland was under Nazi occupation at the time. Therefore, the wording risked implying that the Polish state itself had imposed the requirement that Jews wear the Star of David.
The post prompted immediate reaction from internet users, Polish politicians, and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum.
The museum’s response read: “It seems that if anyone should know the historical facts, it is YadVashem. They should be fully aware that Poland at that time was occupied by Germany and that it was Germany that introduced and enforced this antisemitic law.”
“Please specify that it was ‚German-occupied’ Poland,”Radosław Sikorski, Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, commented.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs remarked sarcastically: “We understand that Yad Vashem plans to open a branch in Germany soon. We sincerely hope this false and misleading message has nothing to do with that.”
The first to respond to internet users’ demands for clarification was the platform X, which added a note beneath the post stating: “At that time, Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany. Therefore, it was not Poland as a state that imposed this requirement. This part of Poland was annexed by Germany under the name ‘General Government.’ Do not confuse victims with perpetrators.”
Yad Vashem later also updated its post, posting a further clarification above the original entry: “As noted by many users and specified explicitly in the linked article, it was done by order of the German authorities.”
The article linked in the X post, titled Jewish Badges from Poland, opens with the statement: “Distinctive Jewish badges that the Jews of Poland were forced to wear on their clothing by order of the German authorities.”
However, in the text itself, we read only about Poland. First, the article reiterates that Poland was the first country where Jews were required to wear the distinctive yellow badge to isolate them from the surrounding population.
Later, the author of the text mentions that : “ From the beginning of the invasion of Poland in September 1939 all Jews aged 10 and above in the Generalgouvernement, that included the districts of Krakow, Warsaw, Radom and Lublin, were forced to wear a distinctive badge, generally a yellow badge in the shape of a Star of David.”
The text concludes with the information that “As the Jews of Poland were required to make the badges themselves, alongside privately fashioned badges, small factories and workshops sprang up for their production.”
https://x.com/yadvashem/status/1992652672068112670
Founded in 1953, Yad Vashem is an Israeli institute dedicated to researching, documenting, and commemorating the Holocaust. It holds the world’s largest archive of Holocaust-related materials and awards the title Righteous Among the Nations to individuals who rescued Jews during World War II. As of 2023, more than 28,000 people have received this honour, including over 7,000 from Poland.
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