Biographical/Historical Information
Badges were identifiers that Jews were ordered to wear in Nazi German-occupied areas beginning in 1939. Depending on the area, it took the form of an armband or a patch and used local terminology for the word "Jew".
The owner of the Yellow Star with "Jood" in the center was most likely Lieselotte (Lilo) Sommerfeld who was interned in Westerbork and Auschwitz and its satellite camps between 1943 and 1945. Lieselotte Sommerfeld was born in Berlin on Feburary 26, 1921 and had fled with her parents, Arthur and Paula Sommerfeld to the Netherlands were they were interned in Westerbork. Her parents were deported to Auschiwtz between 1943 and 1944 and did not survive. Lieselotte Sommerfeld was deported from Westerbork to Auschwitz-Birkenau in the summer of 1944 and later transferred to the Reichenbach labor camp, where prisoners were forced to produce radio components. While imprisoned there, she crafted a charm bracelet, and other items such as this spoon now preserved in the Leo Baeck Institute’s art and object collection, likely using bits of metal and wire available through her work. Lieselotte Sommerfeld emigrated to the United States via Rotterdam in 1946 and married Hans Altenberg (1919, Berlin-2004, New Jersey). She died on April 2, 2011 in New Jersey.
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Citation
Star of David badge, Netherlands, Leo Baeck Institute, 2006.171.