Amsterdam – Dutch star of David from Léon Albertus Alexander Cohen

This Dutch star of David belonged to Léon Albertus Alexander Cohen, the head of the internal service of the Jewish Council.

Léon Cohen was born on November 21, 1898 in Amsterdam and ended up in Durchgangslager Westerbork in 1943.
In the camp he became Ordedienst administrator of the penal barracks.
These barracks mainly housed Jews who had been in hiding.
The Jewish Ordedienst in Camp Westerbork was the auxiliary police and assisted, among other things, with the deportations of Jews to other concentration camps.
The Ordedienst was also deployed in Razzia’s outside the camp, such as in Amsterdam.
On April 12, 1945, Cohen and about 900 in camp Westerbork were liberated by the Allies.
After the war, Cohen became a traffic police commissioner and testified against the former camp commander of Westerbork, A.K. Gemmeker.
Léon Cohen eventually died on June 23, 1980 in Amsterdam.

The Dutch Star of David is in worn condition and was produced by the Jewish textile factory N.V. de Nijverheid in Enschede.

On April 29, 1942, a German verwalltung ordered the Jewish Council to produce 569,355 Stars of David for the Jews in the Netherlands.
These stars were produced and printed on cotton overnight and exactly 4 stars of David per person were available.
The stars will then be purchased for 4 cents each.
According to Henk van Gelderen, the former director of the factory, test rags were made for the production.
Color and which material it was which was looked at to produce the Dutch Star of David.
From 3 May 1942, all Jews aged 6 years and older had to wear the six-pointed Star of David visible on the chest of their clothing.

There were people who did not want to wear the star and they were fined 1000 guilders or from 6 months in a concentration camp, which ultimately meant deportation.