July 8, 1941
An order has been passed. All Jews of Vilnius City have to wear special badges – yellow circles with a letter J inscribed in the middle – on the front and on the back of their clothes. It’s dawning. I look out of the window and see the first Vilnius Jews with the badges. It is painful to see people staring at them. Seems like the big patches of yellow fabric burn me and I hesitate for some time before putting them on. I feel as if I were hunchbacked or as if wearing a couple of frogs on me. I am ashamed to go out into the street with those badges – not because everyone will see that I am a Jew, but because of what they are doing to us. I am ashamed of our helplessness. We will not be able to help each other even if we cover ourselves with badges from our heads to our toes. I feel hurt, because I see no way out whatsoever.
We no longer pay attention to the badges. The badges are attached to our coats and jackets, but they do not reach our consciousness. We are so conscious now that we can say we are not ashamed to wear those badges. Let the ones who imposed those badges on us be ashamed. Let those patches serve as burning stigmas for each and every conscious German who will think of his nation’s future.
* This order to mark all the Jews with yellow circles and the first letter of the German word “Jude” in the middle was issued by Adolf Zehnpfennig, the military commandant of Vilnius, on 4 July 1941. The instruction was changed several times until its final form was announced on 2 August 1941 – a yellow Star of David on the front and on the back. The picture of this order was published in the Kruk’s diary Togbukh fun Vilner Geto by Herman Kruk (Yivo, New York, 1961), p.15.
