Making Bombs for Hitler

The Nazis forced enslaved laborers to wear badges signifying their nationality. This labelling reflects the Nazis’ prejudiced ideology and their persecution of other peoples. Lida comments, “Yes, the OST badge was ugly, and what it symbolized was even worse” (46). The Nazis label prisoners to show the prisoners are inferior to them. Labelling reinforces the Nazis’ beliefs in their own superiority and justifies treating prisoners as “subhuman,” reflecting the novel’s theme of Nazi inhumanity during World War II.

Badges dehumanize individuals, marking them as different and worthless. Lida wears the OST badge, a blue field with “OST” written in white, which signifies she is an Ostarbeiter, or “Worker from the East,” according to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Typically, Ukrainian or Russian prisoners wore these badges. Natalia wears the Polen badge, yellow with a purple border and a purple “P” in its center. Jewish prisoners were forced to wear a yellow Star of David. The Nazis also had an extensive classification system for prisoners in concentration camps: Prisoners wore different colored triangles marking them as members of groups the Nazis discriminated against. Wearing such badges and labels diminishes prisoners’ sense of self-esteem and destroys their identities.

The Nazis’ labels deny truth and complexity and reduce individuals to stereotypes and objects.