Nazi concentration camp badges

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A chart, circa 1938 - 1942, of prisoner markings used in German concentration camps.

Nazi concentration camp badges, primarily triangles, were part of the system of identification in Nazi camps. They were used in the concentration camps in the Nazi-occupied countries to identify the reason the prisoners had been placed there. ^[1] The triangles were made of fabric and were sewn on jackets and shirts of the prisoners. These mandatory badges of shame had specific meanings indicated by their color and shape.

The system of badges varied between the camps, and in the later stages of the war, the use of badges dwindled in some camps, and became increasingly accidental in others. The following description is based on the badge coding system used before and during the early stages of the war in the Dachau concentration camp, which had one of the more elaborate coding systems.

[edit] Badge coding system

Dutch Jews wearing a orange yellow star and the letter "N" for Niederländer at the Buchenwald concentration camp.

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.

The most common forms of the badge were:

• Red triangle — political prisoners (social democrats, trade unionists, liberals, communists, Freemasons, anarchists.) Some anarchists, and other "enemies of the state," were also given a black triangle.
• Green triangle — "habitual criminals" (ofttimes Kapos).
• Blue triangle — foreign forced laborers, emigrants.
• Pink triangle — homosexuals and sexual offenders.^[2]
• Purple triangle — Religious dissidents, Bible Students as Jehovah's Witnesses were then known
• Black triangle — people who were deemed "asocial elements," including
  • Roma (Gypsies), who were later assigned a brown triangle
  • The mentally retarded
  • The mentally ill
  • Alcoholics
  • Vagrants and beggars
  • Aristocrats
  • Intellectuals
  • Pacifists
  • Conscription resisters
  • The habitually "work-shy"
  • Prostitutes^[3][4]
  • Some anarchists.
• Brown triangle — Roma (Gypsies) (previously wore the black triangle).^[5]

Double-triangle badges resembled two superimposed triangles forming a Star of David.

• Two superimposed yellow triangles — a Jew.
• Red inverted triangle superimposed upon a yellow one — a Jewish political prisoner.
• Green inverted triangle upon a yellow one — a Jewish "habitual criminal".
• Purple inverted triangle superimposed upon a yellow one — a religious dissident of Jewish descent.^[6]
• Pink inverted triangle superimposed upon a yellow one — a Jewish homosexual.
• Yellow triangle superimposed over a black inverted triangle, or "voided" black inverted triangle superimposed over a yellow triangle — an Aryan convicted of miscegenation and labeled as a "race defiler".

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" (Belgier, Belgians), "F" (Franzosen, French), "H" (Holländer, Dutch), "I" (Italiener, Italians), "N" (Norweger, Norwegians), "P" (Polen, Poles), "S" (Republikanische Spanier, Republican Spanish) "T" (Tschechen, Czechs), "U" (Ungarn, Hungarians).

Also, repeated offenders would receive bars over their stars, a different color for a different crime.

• A political prisoner would have a red bar over his/her star or triangle
• A habitual criminal would have a green bar
• A foreign forced laborer would have a blue bar
• A Jehovah's Witness would have a purple bar
• A homosexual or sex offenders would have a pink bar
• An "asocial" would have a black bar
• A Roma (Gypsy) would have a brown bar

Many various markings and combinations existed.. A prisoner would usually have at least two, and possibly more than six.

Some camps assigned Nacht und Nebel prisoners with two large letters, NN, in yellow.

Penal battalion, penal company, etc., are military units consisting of convicted persons for which military service was either the assigned punishment or a voluntary replacement of imprisonment.

[edit] Table of camp inmate markings

	Political enemies	Habitual criminals	Foreign forced laborers or Emigrants	Jehovah's Witnesses	Homosexuals and sex offenders	"Asocials"	Roma (Gypsies)
Basic colors
Markings for repeaters
Inmates of penal battalions
Markings for Jews

Special markings	Jewish race defiler	Female race defiler	Escape suspect	Inmate number Special inmates' brown armband		Applicable marks were worn in descending order as follows: inmate number, repeater bar, triangle or star, member of penal battalion, escape suspect. In this case, the inmate is a Jewish convict with multiple convictions, serving in a penal battalion in exchange for a reduced sentence or parole.
	Pole: "P" on a red triangle	Czech: "T" (the German word for Czech is Tscheche) on a red triangle	Member of the armed forces: red triangle, an enemy POW or a deserter.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Plant, Richard, The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals, Owl Books, 1988, ISBN 0-8050-0600-1.
• Camp badge chart at historyplace.com

[edit] External links

• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Classification system in Nazi concentration camps.
• Stars, triangles and markings - Jewish Virtual Library
• Gay Prisoners in Concentration Camps as Compared with Jehovah's Witnesses and Political Prisoners by Ruediger Lautmann