THE YELLOW STAR

Although yellow is often associated with happiness, conversely it can also signify cowardice, shame and stigma. Perhaps one of the most disturbing uses of yellow can be seen in the fabric stars that Jewish citizens were forced to sew onto their outer clothes under Nazi rule during the Second World War. On 20th June 1942, Anne Frank wrote in her diary: ‘Our freedom was severely restricted by a series of anti-Jewish decrees: Jews were required to wear a yellow star.’ Used as a way to identify, marginalise and persecute the Jewish population, the badges were printed on coarse, lurid yellow fabric with a mockHebraic typeface.