Identification card

Physical Description: Identification card : Cloth : Printed, Handwritten : Ink : Grey, Black, White, Yellow ; Ht: 5,75 in. x W: 4 in.

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Physical Description: Identification card : Cloth : Printed, Handwritten : Ink : Grey, Black, White, Yellow ; Ht: 5,75 in. x W: 4 in.

Notes: Double-panel identification card (Kenncarte) issued in Cologne, Germany on March 9, 1939. Cover is grey fabric, has large J printed in centre under Deutches Reich (German Reich [trad.]). Large yellow J stamped on left inner panel. Right inner panel contains small b&w photograph of cardholder, affixed with 2 grommets. Two fingerprints in black ink to right of photograph, with cardholder's signature underneath. Document signed by President of Police. On back, remains of yellow fiscal postage stamp, value of 3 Deutsche Marks. Reichsadler design on stamp. Issued to Mrs. Else Eggers, born March 6, 1909. Document numbered 700416, expiration date is March 8, 1944. Narrative: Else Eggers was the mother of the donor, Edith Borenstein. She survived the war in hiding and settled in Montreal. This identification card, marked with the J to indicate that its holder was Jewish, was only used by Mrs. Eggers at the beginning of the war. This artefact is an example of the way the German Reich classified Jews, which later facilitated their mass murder during the Holocaust.