Star of David worn by Agnes Weiss Vogel
All childhood experiences are not the same. Some produce fond memories and others create lasting sorrow.
Throughout her life, Agnes Weiss Vogel recalled the orders given on April 5, 1944, when the Nazis required all Jews (“Jude” in German) above the age of 6 to wear Star of David badges like this in her native Debrecen, Hungary.
“I remember that day well,” said Weiss Vogel. “It was spring, and the sun was shining, the Star of David gleaming on my chest—going for a walk to see if anyone will hurt me . . . By May 6, we were put in a ghetto with a 6-foot wall around it. Only with special permission, and at special times, could we walk out of it.”
After World War II ended, she immigrated to the United States and eventually landed in Indianapolis. When The Children’s Museum began telling the story of another Jewish child, Anne Frank, in The Power of Children: Making a Difference® in 2007, Weiss Vogel became a volunteer, telling her own story to the children of this generation.
