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Historical Cases of Jewish Identification Marks
1. Medieval Islamic Caliphates (9th–13th Century)
Abbasid Caliphate (850 CE, Baghdad)

Caliph Al-Mutawakkil ordered Jews to wear yellow belts (zunnar) and hats to distinguish them from Muslims.

Fatimid Egypt (11th Century)

Jews were required to wear blue turbans and sometimes wooden calf necklaces (referencing the Golden Calf narrative).

2. Medieval Christian Europe (13th–16th Century)
Fourth Lateran Council (1215, Pope Innocent III)

Mandated that Jews and Muslims must wear distinctive clothing (often a yellow badge, pointed hat, or wheel-shaped patch).

Regional Enforcement:

England (1218): Jews wore a white tablet or yellow star.

France (1269): Yellow badge enforced under King Louis IX.

Italy (Venice, Rome): Red or yellow hats.

Spain (14th–15th Century)

Jews forced to wear red badges before the 1492 expulsion.

3. Papal States (16th–18th Century)
Rome (1555, Pope Paul IV)

Jews required to wear yellow hats (men) and blue veils (women).

4. Persian & Ottoman Empires (17th–19th Century)
Safavid Persia

Jews wore patches of rough cloth on their clothing.

Morocco (18th Century)

Jews were to wear black robes as a mark of danger.

5. National Socialist Germany (1939–1945)
Reich Law on Jewish Identification (1941)

Jews over age 6 in occupied Europe were forced to wear a yellow Star of David with the word "Jude" (German for "Jew").

Purpose: Immediate visual segregation for deportation and persecution.

6. Russian Empire (1791–1917, Pale of Settlement)
While no enforced badge, Jews faced restrictions on clothing (e.g., banned from wearing Russian peasant attire).