Holocaust - Concentration Camp Badges

Nazi concentration camp badges, made primarily of inverted triangles, were used in the concentration camps in the Nazi-occupied countries to identify the reason the prisoners had been placed there. The triangles were made of fabric and were sewn on jackets and shirts of the prisoners. These mandatory badges had specific meanings indicated by their color and shape.

Badge coding system

The shape was chosen by analogy with the common triangular road hazard signs in Germany that denote warnings to motorists. Here, a triangle is called inverted because its base is up while one of its angles points down.

In addition to color-coding, some groups had to put letter insignia on their triangles to denote country of origin. Red triangle with a letter: "B" (Belgians), "F" (French), "I" (Italians), "P" (Poles), "T" (Czechs), "U" (Hungarians).

The most common forms of the badge were:

* Black inverted triangle
o A vagrant
o A Roma or Sinti
o A woman jailed for "anti-social behavior", i.e., a lesbian, a prostitute or woman who used birth control.
* Green inverted triangle — a regular criminal.
* Pink inverted triangle — a homosexual.
* Purple inverted triangle — a Jehovah's Witness.
* Red inverted triangle — a political prisoner. The color red was probably chosen because it represented the communists, the political enemies that the Nazis hated most (and the first to be officially outlawed).

Double triangles:

* Two superimposed yellow triangles forming the Star of David — a Jew, including Jews by practice or descent.
* Pink inverted triangle superimposed upon a yellow one, making the Star of David — a homosexual Jew.
* Yellow inverted triangle superimposed over a black triangle, or "voided" black inverted triangle superimposed over a yellow triangle — an Aryan convicted of miscegenation and labeled as a "race defiler."

There were many markings and combinations. A prisoner would typically have at least two, and possibly more than six.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_concentration_camp_badges

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