This identification card was issued to Emanuel Frank from Laufersweiler in April 1940. It is made out of grey, linen reinforced paper and contains general reporting data about the person, a domestic passport photo affixed with metal rivets, fingerprints of the right and left index fingers and the signature of the card holder. The front side of the domestic passport is marked with a large black “J”.
Emanuel Frank was born in Laufersweiler on the 14th of June 1857. He lived his life here and, like many other Jews in the rural areas of the Rhine-Hunsrück region, he worked as a merchant and would eventually die in Laufersweiler. For whatever reason, his burial site was not marked with a gravestone.
On the 1st of October 1938, the regulation took effect requiring the implementation of an identity card as a „general domestic pass under police jurisdiction“. All Germans who had completed their 15th year and were residents of Germany would receive this identity card from the domestic passport authorities through the local police department. The card was printed in duplicate so that one copy could be retained by the authorities. The obligation to carry an identity card existed for all Germans defined as a Jew under the Nuremberg race laws. Their identity card was marked with a conspicuous “J” (instead of the imperial eagle with swastika) on the front side of the pass, which is clearly evident on Emanuel Frank’s card. From that time, they were obligated to identify themselves as Jews without being asked upon any contact with the authorities.
Jews were additionally required to add the compulsory names „Sara“ or „Israel“ to their forenames as of the 1st of January 1939. For this reason, Emanuel Frank had to sign his identity card as Emanuel Israel Frank.
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