A nine-branched candelabrum with eight candleholders and a shamash (a holder for the kindling candle) is used to light candles each night during the festival of Hanukkah. The holiday commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem after…
Nazi propaganda minister Josef Goebbels was the first to suggest a "general distinguishing mark" for German Jews in May 1938. German SS and police official Reinhard Heydrich reiterated the proposal idea on November 12, 1938, during a meeting with…
By May 1942, the German military commander in France ordered all Jews over 6 to wear a yellow star. The star, about the size of a person's palm, had the inscription, Juif ("Jew" in French). Monique did not wear the identity badge because she hid…
After German and Slovak pressures, Czechoslovakia became Czech-Slovakia in 1938 after the Munich Pact, meaning the country had to surrender its border and defenses to Nazi Germany. On March 15, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Czech provinces under the…