Nazi concentration camp badge

Schematic of the triangle-based badge system in use at most Nazi concentration camps.

Nazi concentration camp badges, primarily triangles, were part of the identification system in German camps. They were used in concentration camps in German-occupied countries to identify the reason why the prisoners were there. ^[1] The triangles were made of fabric and were sewn on the prisoners' jackets and trousers. These mandatory badges of shame had specific meanings indicated by their colour and shape. Guards used such emblems to assign tasks to the detainees. For example, a guard, at a glance, could see if someone was a convicted criminal (green patch) and might assume they had a tough temperament suitable for kapo duty.

Someone wearing a badge indicating a suspected escape attempt was usually not assigned to work squads operating outside the camp fence. Someone wearing an "F" could be called upon to help translate a guard's spoken instructions to a trainload of new arrivals from France. Some historical monuments quote the badge-imagery, with the use of a triangle being a sort of visual shorthand to symbolise all camp victims.

The modern-day use of a pink triangle emblem to symbolise gay rights is a response to the camp identification patches. ^[2] The black, blue, purple, and red triangles have also been reclaimed by various remembrance and anti-fascist groups, particularly in Europe. ^{[2] [3]} Such groups include the Association of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime – Federation of Antifascists (VVN-BdA) in Germany and other members of the International Federation of Resistance Fighters – Association of Anti-Fascists (FIR). ^[4]

Prisoners' distinguishing badges

Badge coding system

See also: § Summary table of camp inmate markings

Further information: Victims of Nazi Germany, ▼ Communists, ▼ Communist Party, ▼ Gay men, ▼ Jehovah's Witnesses, and ▼ Romani Holocaust

Variability

The system varied between camps and over time.^{[ citation needed ]} Dachau concentration camp had one of the more elaborate systems.^{[ citation needed ]}

Single triangles

Main articles: ▼ inverted red, ▼ brown, ▼ purple, ▼ black, ▼ pink, and LGBTQ triangles

Triangle	Prisoner categories
▲ Red upright	A red triangle pointing upwards was used for enemy POWs (Sonderhäftlinge, meaning special detainees), spies or traitors (Aktionshäftlinge, meaning activities detainees), or military deserters or criminals (Wehrmachtsangehörige, meaning Armed Forces members).[ citation needed ]
▼ Red inverted	Red emblems of a political enemy on a Dachau detainee's clothing. ^ The red triangle inverted was used for political prisoners, including occupied country resistance members (partisans), social democrats, liberals, socialists, communists, anarchists,[ verification needed ] gentiles who assisted Jews, trade unionists, and Freemasons.[ citation needed ] Badge for a Polish (non-Jewish) political prisoner (ID 29659), Lidia Główczewska  [ pl ], in Stutthof.
▼ Green	Green indicated convicts and criminals (often working as kapos ).[ citation needed ]
▼ Blue	Blue showed foreign forced laborers and emigrants. This category included stateless people ("apatrides"),[ citation needed ] Spanish refugees from Francoist Spain whose citizenship was revoked and emigrants to countries which were occupied by Nazi Germany or were under the German sphere of influence. [5]
▼ Pink	Pink primarily indicated homosexual men and those who were identified as such at the time (e.g., bisexual men, male prostitutes, and those deemed "transvestites" [a] ) [6] [7] [8] and sexual offenders, as well as pedophiles and zoophiles. [9] Many in this group were subject to forced sterilization. [10]
▼ Brown	Brown was assigned to male Roma later on in the Romani Holocaust. Originally, all Roma wore a black triangle with a Z (Zigeuner); female Roma continued to wear the black triangle, as they were viewed as petty criminals. [11]
▼ Black	Black triangles on the trousers of Romani detainees at Dachau. The black triangle indicated people who were deemed asocial elements (asozial) and work-shy (arbeitsscheu), including the following: Roma and Sinti. They wore the black triangle with a Z notation (for Zigeuner, meaning "Gypsy") to the right of the triangle's point, or in white on top of the triangle. [12] Male Roma were later assigned a brown triangle. [13] Mentally ill and developmentally disabled. Their triangles were additionally inscribed with the word Blöd, meaning "stupid". [14] [15] Schizophrenic and epileptic [10] people were forcibly sterilized, shot, or gassed in psychiatric institutions as opposed to at the Nazi camps. [16] Alcoholics and drug addicts. Vagrants and beggars. Pacifists and conscription resisters. Sex workers. [17] [18] Lesbians. [19] Other disabled people, such as people with diabetes (as "Diabetes was conceptualized as a Jewish disease not necessarily because its prevalence was high among this population, but because medicine, science, and culture reinforced each other"). [20]
▼ Purple	A prisoner uniform with a purple triangle, the mark of Jehovah's Witnesses. Purple was mostly used for Jehovah's Witnesses (over 99%) as well as members of other small pacifist religious groups. [notes 1] Specimen showing a purple triangle, indicating a Jehovah's Witness.

Austrian economist Benedikt Kautsky  [ de ], a Political prisoner, liberated from Buchenwald.

Asoziale (anti-socials)

Main articles: Asociality (Nazi Germany) and Aktion T4

Asoziale (anti-socials) inmates wore a plain black triangle. They were considered either too "selfish" or "deviant" to contribute to society or were considered too impaired to support themselves. They were therefore considered a burden. This category included pacifists and conscription resisters, petty or habitual criminals, the mentally ill and the mentally and/or physically disabled. They were usually executed.

Wehrmacht Strafbataillon

See also: human wave attack, forlorn hope, and Schutzstaffel

Main article: Strafbataillon

The Wehrmacht Strafbattalion ^{[ spelling? ]} (punishment battalion) and SS Bewährungstruppe (probation company) were military punishment units. They consisted of Wehrmacht and SS military criminals, SS personnel convicted by an Honor Court of bad conduct, and civilian criminals for whom military service was either the assigned punishment or a voluntary replacement of imprisonment. They wore regular uniforms and were forbidden from wearing a rank or unit insignia until they had proven themselves in combat. They wore an uninverted (point-upwards) red triangle on their upper sleeves to indicate their status. Most were used for hard labor, "special tasks" (unwanted, dangerous jobs like defusing landmines or running phone cables) or were used as forlorn hopes or cannon fodder. The infamous Dirlewanger Brigade was an example of a regular unit created from such personnel.

Examples of the single triangle badges at Nazi camps

• 
  Single-triangles visible on Sachsenhausen detainees
• 
  Single-triangle badges in various colors visible on detainees in Sachsenhausen
• 
  More Sachsenhausen detainees

Double triangles and multiple colours

Further information: Yellow badge § Axis powers, and Judeo-Bolshevism (conspiracy theory)

Origins of yellow star badges

Wearing a yellow star was mandatory for Jews in occupied Europe, before the badge was used in concentration camps.

Double-triangle badges usually used two superimposed triangles to form a six-pointed star, resembling the Jewish Star of David.^{[ citation needed ]} Yellow stars were first used by the Nazis in Jewish ghettos in occupied Poland. Jews elsewhere in German-occupied Europe were then also forced to wear the symbol in public, and in ghettos they established or securitized.^{[ tone ]}

• 
  Yellow star from Dachau ^{[ verification needed ]}
• 
  Painting of Jews in 16th Century Germany wearing circular yellow badges. ^[d]

Colour combinations for double triangles

Inverted triangle	Overlayed on	Person	Other prisoner categories
Blue	A red inverted triangle to form a red border	Represented a foreign forced labour and political prisoner, such as Spanish Republicans in Mauthausen. [22] [23] [e]
Yellow	An upright yellow triangle to form a 6-pointed star	A Jewish person with no other category.
Red		A Jewish political prisoner.
Green		A Jewish habitual criminal. [note 1]
Purple		A Jehovah's Witness of Jewish descent.
Pink		A Jewish "sexual offender", typically a gay or bisexual man. [note 1]
Black		An "asocial" or work-shy Jew.
Voided black ▽		A Jew	convicted of miscegenation and labelled as a Rassenschänder (race defiler). [note 1]
Yellow	An upright black triangle	An "Aryan" woman

1. Like those who wore pink and green triangles, people in the bottom two categories would have been convicted in criminal courts.

Examples of the double triangle design

Marking codes used by the Nazis.

• 
  Sachsenhausen detainee's red political enemy triangle atop a yellow Jew triangle (lower left)
• 
  Part of a Dachau roll call – day badges visible on detainees
• 
  Sachsenhausen detainee with glasses in the foreground wears a two-color ID-emblem
• 
  Disabled Jews with a black triangle on a yellow triangle, meaning asocial Jews, Buchenwald, 1938.

Coloured bars to show multiple categories

Liberated Neuengamme survivor standing on the right has a triangle patch with a top-bar

Repeat offenders (rückfällige, meaning recidivists) would receive bars over their stars or triangles, a different colour for a different crime.

• A political prisoner would have a red bar over their star or triangle.
• A professional criminal would have a green bar.
• A foreign forced laborer would not have a blue bar, as their impressment was for the duration of the war, but might have a different coloured bar if they were drawn from another pool of inmates.
• A Jehovah's Witness would have a purple bar.
• A homosexual or sex offender would have a pink bar.
• An asocial would have a black bar.
• Roma and Sinti would usually be incarcerated in special sub-camps until they died, and so would not normally receive a repeat stripe.

From late 1944, to save cloth, Jewish prisoners wore a yellow bar over a regular triangle pointed down to indicate their status. For instance, regular Jews would wear a yellow bar over a red triangle. Jewish criminals would wear a yellow bar over a green triangle.

A liberated Bergen-Belsen survivor with a late war ersatz variant (left) showcasing no cloth patch, but a prominent N marked on the outer clothes

Civilian clothing

Detainees wearing civilian clothing instead of the striped uniforms, more common later in the war, were often marked with a prominent X on the back. ^[24] This made for an ersatz prisoner uniform. For permanence, such Xs were made with white oil paint, with sewn-on cloth strips, or were cut, with underlying jacket-liner fabric providing the contrasting color. Detainees were compelled to sew their number and if applicable, a triangle emblem onto the fronts of such X-ed clothing. ^[24]

Other distinguishing markings

Other distinguishing markings

Many markings and combinations existed. A prisoner would usually have at least two, and possibly more than six.^{[ citation needed ]}

Strafkompanie (punishment company)

A Strafkompanie (punishment company) was a hard labor unit in the camps. Inmates assigned to it wore a black roundel bordered white under their triangle patch.

Fluchtverdächtiger (escape risk)

Prisoners "suspected of [attempting to] escape" (Fluchtverdächtiger) wore a red roundel bordered white under their triangle patch. If also assigned to hard labor, they wore the red roundel under their black Strafkompanie roundel.

Funktionshäftling (prisoner-functionary)

Main articles: Prisoner functionaries and Funktionshäftling

See also: Sonderkommando and Kapo

A prisoner-functionary ( Funktionshäftling ), or kapo (boss), wore a cloth brassard (their Kennzeichen, or identifying mark) to indicate their status. They served as camp guards (Lagerpolizei), barracks clerks (Blockschreiber) and the senior prisoners (ältesten, meaning elders) at the camp (lagerältester), barracks (blockältester) and room (stubenältester) levels of camp organization. They received privileges like bigger and sometimes better food rations, better quarters or even a private room, luxuries like tobacco or alcohol, and access to the camp's facilities, like the showers or the pool. Failure to please their captors meant demotion and loss of privileges, and an almost certain death at the hands of their fellow inmates.

Letters

Emblems were used on some detainee ID-cards, as shown here on the Mauthausen card of Polish scientist Jerzy Kaźmirkiewicz, where a P-triangle appears. ^

Further information: German-occupied Europe, The Holocaust in Poland, and P (Nazi symbol)

Nationality markers

In addition to colour-coding, non-German prisoners were marked by the first letter of the German name for their home country or ethnic group. Red triangle with a letter, for example:

• B (Belgier, Belgians)
• E (Engländer, "English"; in practice used for all British)
• F (Franzosen, French)
• I (Italiener, Italians)
• J (Jugoslawen, Yugoslavs) ^{[25] [ verification needed ]}
• N (Niederländer, Dutch) — H (for Hollander) is also recorded ^[26]
• No (Norweger, Norwegian)
• P (Polen, Poles)
• S (Spanier, generally used for Spanish Republican exiles)
• T (Tscheche, Czechs)
• U (Ungarn, Hungarians)
• Z next to, or on top of, a black triangle (Zigeuner, "gypsy"): Roma. Male Roma were issued with brown triangles in some camps.

Polish emigrant laborers originally wore a purple diamond with a yellow backing. A letter P (for Polen) was cut out of the purple cloth to show the yellow backing beneath.^{[ citation needed ]}

Examples of nationality-letter marking at Nazi camps

• 
  F on a red triangle (French political enemy) on the Buchenwald clothing of Dr. Joseph Brau ^
• 
  A F-triangle on the Buchenwald clothing of Dr. Joseph Brau ^
• 
  A marking meaning Polish political enemy
• 
  Auschwitz detainee Ignacy Kwarta  [ pl ] wears a red P-triangle, meaning a Polish political enemy.
• 
  Dutch Jews wearing a yellow star and the letter N for Niederländer at Mauthausen. ^[27]
• 
  Sachsenhausen-issued red F emblem for a French political enemy
• 
  Plate with concentration camp marking.

Nacht und Nebel

F-triangle at Hinzert honors French victims, especially of the Nacht und Nebel program

Main article: Nacht und Nebel

Some camps assigned Nacht und Nebel (night and fog) prisoners had them wear two large letters NN in yellow.^{[ citation needed ]}

Reformatory inmates (E or EH)

See also: Marwan Barghouti

Erziehungshäftlinge (reformatory inmates) wore E or EH in large black letters on a white square. They were made up of intellectuals and respected community members who could organize and lead a resistance movement, suspicious persons picked up in sweeps or stopped at checkpoints, people caught performing conspiratorial activities or acts and inmates who broke work discipline. They were assigned to hard labor for six to eight weeks and were then released. It was hoped that the threat of permanent incarceration at hard labor would deter them from further action.^{[ citation needed ]}

Limited preventative custody

Limited preventative custody detainee (Befristete Vorbeugungshaft Häftling, or BV) was the term for general criminals, who wore green triangles with no special marks.^{[ clarification needed ]} They originally were only supposed to be incarcerated at the camp until their term expired and then they would be released. When the war began, they were confined indefinitely for its duration.^{[ citation needed ]}

Police inmates (Polizeihäftlinge)

Polizeihäftlinge (police inmates), short for Polizeilich Sicherungsverwahrte Häftlinge (police secure custody inmates), wore either PH in large black letters on a white square or the letter S (for Sicherungsverwahrt – secure custody) on a green triangle. To save expense, some camps had them just wear their civilian clothes without markings. Records used the letter PSV (Polizeilich Sicherungsverwahrt) to designate them. They were people awaiting trial by a police court-martial or who were already convicted. They were detained in a special jail barracks until they were executed.

Soviet prisoners of war

See also: German atrocities committed against Soviet prisoners of war and German war crimes against Soviet civilians

Soviet prisoners of war (russische Kriegsgefangenen) assigned to work camps (Arbeitslager) wore two large letters SU (for sowjetischer Untermensch, meaning Soviet sub-human)^{[ citation needed ]} in yellow and had vertical stripes painted on their uniforms. They were the few who had not been shot out of hand or died of neglect from untreated wounds, exposure to the elements, or starvation before they could reach a camp. They performed hard labor. Some joined Andrey Vlasov's Liberation Army to fight for the Germans.^{[ citation needed ]}

Labor education detainees (Arbeitserziehung Häftling)

See also: Persecution of Uyghurs in China

Labor education detainees (Arbeitserziehung Häftling) wore a white letter A on their black triangle. This stood for Arbeitsscheuer ("work-shy person"), designating stereotypically "lazy" social undesirables like Gypsies, petty criminals (e.g. prostitutes and pickpockets), alcoholics/drug addicts and vagrants. They were usually assigned to work at labor camps.

Summary table of camp inmate markings

Prisoner category	Politisch (political prisoner)	Berufsverbrecher (professional criminal)	Emigrant (foreign forced laborer)	Bibelforscher Bible Student (Jehovah's Witnesses)	Homosexuell (homosexual male or sex offender)	"Arbeitsscheu" (work‑shy) or "Asozial" (asocial)	Zigeuner ("Gypsy") Roma or Sinti male [ citation needed ]
Colours	Red	Green	Blue	Purple	Pink	Black	Brown
Triangles
Markings for repeaters
Inmates of Strafkompanie (punishment companies)
Markings for Jews
Nationality markings	Political prisoner nationality markings used the capital letter of the name of the country on a red triangle		Belgier (Belgian)	Tscheche (Czech)	Franzose (French)	Pole (Polish)	Spanier (Spanish)
Special markings	Jüdischer Rassenschänder (Jewish race defiler)	Rassenschänderin (Female race defiler)	Escape suspect	Häftlingsnummer (Inmate number)	Kennzeichen für Funktionshäftlinge (Special inmates' brown armband)		Enemy POW or deserter [ citation needed ]
Example		Marks were worn in descending order as follows: inmate number, repeater bar, triangle or star, member of penal battalion, escape suspect. In this example, the inmate is a Jewish convict with multiple convictions, serving in a Strafkompanie (penal unit) and who is suspected of trying to escape.

Postwar use

Further information: Red inverted triangle § After WWII, Pink triangle, LGBTQ triangles, Reclaimed symbol, Cold War, and § Symbols at protests and rallies

Reclaimed symbols

Some of the symbols were reclaimed as symbols of pride after the war. ^[28] The inverted red, pink, purple, black, and blue triangles have all been reclaimed by various remembrance and anti-fascist groups, particularly in Europe. ^{[2] [3]} For example, the red triangle emblem of the Association of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime – Federation of Antifascists (VVN-BdA) and other members of the International Federation of Resistance Fighters – Association of Anti-Fascists. ^[4] The pink triangle has been used worldwide for several decades. The red inverted triangle has been mostly used in Europe. ^[29] This partly explains confused media stories in North America in the 2020s, starting with stories claiming it was not an anti-fascist symbol at all in 2020, when Donald Trump used it in a Facebook advertisement accusing local anti-fascists (who do not usually use the red triangle) of terrorism. The red triangle was possibly later in Palestine during the Gaza genocide, but most news media has claimed this symbol has different origins (see below).

Memorials

Triangle-motifs appear on many postwar memorials to the victims of the Nazis. Most triangles are plain while some others bear nationality-letters. The otherwise potentially puzzling designs are a direct reference to the identification patches used in the camps. On such monuments, typically an inverted triangle (especially if red) evokes all victims, including also the non-Jewish victims like Poles and other Slavs, communists, homosexuals, Roma and Sinti (see Porajmos), people with disability (see Action T4), Soviet POWs and Jehovah's Witnesses. An inverted triangle colored pink would symbolize gay male victims. A non-inverted (base down, point up) triangle and/or a yellow triangle is generally more evocative of the Jewish victims.^{[ citation needed ]}

• 
  At Sachsenhausen
• 
  Various badges on a Dachau memorial. ^[f]
• 
  On the Klooga Jewish victims' memorial
• 
  Pink triangle plaque honouring gay victims, a subway station in Berlin. ^[g]
• 
  Pink triangle (Rosa Winkel in German) memorial for gay men killed at Buchenwald

LGBTQ symbols

Main articles: Pink triangle and LGBTQ symbols § Nazi triangle badges

Further information: persecution of gay men in Nazi Germany, transgender people in Nazi Germany, Röhm scandal, Gay Nazis myth, and AIDS–Holocaust metaphor

The photographs of Sturmabteilung raid on the Institute for Sex Research, on 6 May 1933 are iconic images of the prosecution of gay and transgender people by Nazi Germany.

There have been numerous variants, including the Silence=Death Project logo, usually a re-inverted symbols that point upright. The pink triangle historically was mostly used to mark gay men, but the Nazi party also persecuted transgender people, gender non-conforming people, and lesbians. Gender non-conforming men were labelled with pink, women (including lesbians) who did not conform to Nazi gender norms and nationalist-pronatalism were usually labelled in with the black triangle. Some lesbians were prominent in the original resistance, and thus they were labelled with the red triangle.

An ACT UP member in 2017, displaying the organization's trademark protest sign with an inverted, upward-pointing pink triangle.

• 
  Silence Equals Death
• 
  The biangles symbol of bisexuality, designed by Liz Nania.
• 
  A pink triangle in a green circle, is used as a "safe space" symbol.^{[ where? ]}
• 
  Equality Michigan
• 
  Amsterdam's Homomonument . ^[h]
• 
  Monument to the Gays and Lesbians Persecuted in the Holocaust  [ he ] in  Tel Aviv. ^[i]
• 
  The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Holocaust Memorial. ^[j]

Red inverted triangles in political symbols

VVN-BdA.

KdAW.

ANED  [ it ].

Main article: Red inverted triangle

See also: Post–World War II anti-fascism

Early organizations in post-war Germany

Main articles: VVN-BdA and Committee of Antifascist Resistance Fighters

The Association of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime – Federation of Antifascists (VVN‑BdA) was founded in West Germany soon after the end of World War Two.

The Committee of Antifascist Resistance Fighters (KdAW) ^[k] was formed in 1953.^{[ verification needed ]} It functioned as the East German counterpart of the VVN (German : Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes, lit.  ' Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime '). The KdAW played an important role in the commemoration of German resistance to Nazism and The Holocaust in East Germany. ^[30] East Germany utilised such commemorative functions to emphasise the anti-fascist orientation of the state. ^[31] It also included survivors of concentration camps, former prisoners of Brandenburg-Görden Prison, veterans of the International Brigades of the Spanish Civil War, and others. ^[32]

Other groups who use the red inverted triangle

• Anti-Fascist Action in the United Kingdom used the symbol in badges in the 80s, the one example showed the pointed red shape smashing a black swastika. ^{[33] [34]}

• NIKA (German : Nationalismus ist keine Alternative , lit.  'Nationalism is not an alternative') was started in Germany in response to the rise of Germany's far-right party, the AfD (German : Alternative für Deutschland, lit.  ' Alternative for Germany '). ^[35]

• Qassam Brigades (Arabic: كتئب القسام, romanized: Kataeb al-Qassam) have used an inverted red triangle (Arabic : المثلث الأحمر المقلوب) in their propaganda videos since November 2023. ^{[36] [37]} The inverted red triangle was later included in the logo of their Military Media division. ^{[38] [39]} Qassam differ from most of the other groups by being religious and nationalist. Most media have said Qassam's symbol has different origins (see below).

• Ras l'front (RLF, English: "Fed up") use an inverted red triangle in some of their modern logos. For example: RLF Voiron  [ fr ]. ^{[40] [41]}

• Territoires de la Mémoire  [ fr; nl ] (Territories of Memory) and Triangle Rouge  [ nl; fr ] (Red Triangle) are Belgian organisations who promote the use of the red triangle as a symbol of anti-fascism and anti-racism. ^{[42] [l]} (See also: Avenue Louise § World War II)

The Red Wedge and other origins

Further information: Red Wedge, Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, Palestinian red triangle, Israeli occupation of Palestine, "Nazi" occupation of Palestine, and Palestinian propaganda

Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, 1919

The simplicity of the red and pink triangles means the origin is sometimes ambiguous or disputed. Some of the above, such as Anti-Fascist Action, also resemble the red wedge from the 1919 Russian revolutionary propaganda poster Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge by El Lissitzky. ^[44] They are used somewhat interchangeably. The above are all used for an explicitly anti-Nazi, anti-fascist, or pro-resistance meaning.

Some sources have said that Qassam's symbol originates from the Palestinian flag. The implied anti-Nazi and explicitly pro-resistance meaning of Qassam's using the symbol used to honour WWII resistance is controversial. Palestinian resistance is often labelled as terrorism by allies of the United States. ^[m] Qassam, and their civilian political wing (Hamas), have referred to the military forces occupying Palestine as Nazis since their founding documents, this was omitted in the revised version the was much shorter more diplomatic. ^[45]

Medals and honours

See also: Red inverted triangle § Service medals

Service medals awarded to prisoners of war and other camp inmates after WWII feature the triangle that was used on prisoners' uniforms. Some also include the blue stripe of the prisoner uniforms as the ribbon design.

Political Prisoner's Cross (Belgium)

See also: Political Prisoner's Cross 1940–1945, Belgian WWII medals, National Museum of the Resistance, and Belgium in World War II

Medal of the KdAW (East Germany, 1975)

See also: East German uprising of 1953

From 1975 onwards, the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR, also known as East Germany) released a medal for the "Committee of Antifascist Resistance Fighters" (KdAW, German : Komitee der Antifaschistischen Widerstandskämpfer) of the GDR that included a red triangle. ^[46] It was named German : Medaille des Komitees der antifaschistischen Widerstadskämpfer der DDR, lit.  'Medal of the Committee of Anti-fascist Resistance Fighters of East Germany'. ^[46] They also had an anti-fascist medal with a different design, membership in the KdAW made one eligible to receive the Medal for Fighters Against Fascism. ^[47]

Auschwitz Cross (Poland)

See also: Auschwitz Cross, P (Nazi symbol), Medals of Poland, Cross of the Warsaw Uprising, Auschwitz Revolt (7 October 1944), and Poland in World War II

Photographs of medals that use the inverted red triangle

Further images: Media related to Category:Auschwitz Cross at Wikimedia Commons

• 
  P-triangle on the Publish Auschwitz Cross
• 
  Belgian Political Prisoner's Cross 1940–1945

2020 Trump campaign

See also: Antifa USA and Post–World War II anti-fascism

Main articles: Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign § June 2020, and Trump 2020 § Political positions

In June 2020, the re-election campaign of Donald Trump posted an advertisement on Facebook stating that "Dangerous MOBS of far-left groups are running through our streets and causing absolute mayhem" and identifying them as "ANTIFA", accompanied by a graphic of a downward-pointing red triangle. The ads appeared on the Facebook pages of Donald Trump, the Trump campaign, and Vice President Mike Pence. Many observers compared the graphic to the symbol used by the Nazis for identifying political prisoners such as communists, social democrats and socialists. Many noted the number of ads – 88 – which is associated with neo-Nazis and white supremacists. ^{[48] [49] [50]}

As an example of the public outcry against the use of the downward-pointing red triangle, as reported by MotherJones, the Twitter account (@jewishaction), ^[51] the account of Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, ^[52] a Progressive Jewish site stated:

"The President of the United States is campaigning for reelection using a Nazi concentration camp symbol. Nazis used the red triangle to mark political prisoners and people who rescued Jews. Trump & the RNC are using it to smear millions of protestors.

Their masks are off. pic.twitter.com/UzmzDaRBup" ^[53]

Facebook removed the campaign ads with the graphic, saying that its use in this context violated their policy against "organized hate". ^{[54] [55] [56] [57] [58] [59]} The Trump campaign's communications director wrote, "The red triangle is a common Antifa symbol used in an ad about Antifa." Historian Mark Bray, author of Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook , disputed this, saying that the symbol is not associated with Antifa in the United States. ^[60]

Gaza war protests and military media

Some sources have suggested that the inverted red triangle symbol used by Hamas in its propaganda videos is reminiscent of the same red triangle used by the Nazis, with regards to antisemitism during the Gaza war. However, the Nazis used the inverted red triangle to identify prisoners with political views opposed to Nazism, not necessarily Jewish prisoners. ^{[61] [62]} The red inverted triangle was first used in the 1930s to mark German communists and Social Democrats, then during WWII the inverted red triangle was used to mark people who resisted the Nazi occupation of their countries by Nazi Germany. ^[63] Refaat Alareer, David Rovics, and others have compared violent Palestinian resistance to uprisings in Warsaw Ghetto and Sobibor extermination camp in occupied Europe in WWII. ^{[64] [65]} However, news media suggested the symbol used in Palestinian propaganda independently originated from the red section on the Palestinian flag. ^[66]

Images of memorials and other post-war use

• Some examples of camp triangle emblems on monuments and related uses
• 
  A Dora Todesmarsch (death march) roadside tablet marked only with the date and a red triangle
• 
  On a Buchenwald Todesmarsch (death march) route historical marker
• 
  On a Sachsenhausen death march route historical marker
• 
  Monument (in the village of Grabow-Below) for Ravensbrück death march victims
• 
  On a Wöbbelin memorial stone
• 
  Boulder (in Lindenring) for 2,000 women victims of Ravensbrück
• 
  On a Cap Arcona incident memorial
• 
  At the Neustadt-Glewe concentration camp memorial
• 
  F-triangle at Mauthausen-Gusen honors French victims
• 
  On a monument to Neuengamme victims in Hamburg, where the letters KZ are not nationality-letters, but rather are the German abbreviation for Konzentrationslager
  (concentration camp)
• 
  On a memorial to victims killed at Genshagen (right panel), where the letters KZ are not nationality-letters but rather are the German abbreviation for Konzentrationslager
  (concentration camp)
• 
  P-triangle at a Zgorzelec memorial
• 
  Memorial to French victims of Dachau Concentration Camp at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
• 
  Triangle emblem on the memorial to Nazi-era forced labor deaths at the truck factory in Zittau
• 
  Every year, a pink triangle is erected on Twin Peaks in San Francisco during Pride weekend.

See also

Related topics

• Committees for the Victims of Fascism  [ de ] (German: OdF-Ausschüsse)
• Dehumanisation  – Behavior or process that undermines individuality of and in othersPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Identification of inmates in Nazi concentration camps
• LGBTQ symbols § Triangle badges of Nazi Germany
• German-occupied Europe  – European countries occupied by Nazi Germany
• Resistance during World War II  – Irregular forces in World War II
• Victims of Nazi Germany

Badge symbols

• Black triangle (badge)  – Nazi concentration camp badge for "asocials"
• Brown triangle  – Genocide against Romani in Europe during World War IIPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• P (Nazi symbol)  – Sign for Polish workers during the NS-Regime in Nazi Germany
• Pink triangle  – Symbol for the LGBTQIA+ community
• Purple triangle  – Badge used in Nazi concentration camps to identify Jehovah's Witnesses
• Red triangle (badge)  – Symbol of anti-fascism

References

Notes

1. The concept of an official transgender identity did not exist at this time. A majority of these people would likely identify as transgender if they lived in the modern era. See Transvestite pass for more information on how they were classified.
2. United States Army photo of Austrian economist and financial specialist Benedikt Kautsky  [ de ], a political prisoner, who was liberated from Buchenwald.
3. The text says in French: Juif, lit.  'Jew'. ^[21] See also: Nazi occupation of France.
4. The man holds a moneybag and bulbs of garlic (often used in artistic portrayals of Jews in medieval Europe.^{[ verification needed ]}
5. Both triangles were inverted, so unlike the others, it does not form a six-pointed star. ^[23]
6. Photo by Adam Jones.
7. Photo by Manfred Brueckels.
8. uses three pink triangles symbolically to memorialize gay men killed in the Holocaust other victims of anti-gay violence .
9. Constructed in January 2014. See also: Tel Aviv Pride, Pinkwashing (LGBTQ) § Israel, and Lehava.
10. LGBTQ history in Sydney, Australia: Gay gang murders and Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
11. German: Komitee der antifaschistischen Widerstandskämpfer.
12. Note: as of 2023-06-08 their page-long French language definition of Anti-Semitism made no mention of either Israel or Zionism, see also: IHRA definition of antisemitism. ^[43]
13. Such as Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.

1. Johannes S. Wrobel (June 2006). "Jehovah's Witnesses in National Socialist Concentration Camps, 1933–45". Religion, State & Society. Vol. 34. No. 2. pp. 89–125. "The concentration camp prisoner category 'Bible Student' at times apparently included a few members from small Bible Student splinter groups, as well as adherents of other religious groups which played only a secondary role during the time of the National Socialist regime, such as Adventists, Baptists and the New Apostolic community (Garbe 1999, pp. 82, 406; Zeiger, 2001, p. 72). Since their numbers in the camps were quite small compared with the total number of Jehovah's Witness prisoners, I shall not consider them separately in this article. Historian Antje Zeiger (2001, p. 88) writes about Sachsenhausen camp: 'In May 1938, every tenth prisoner was a Jehovah's Witness. Less than one percent of the Witnesses included other religious nonconformists (Adventists, Baptists, pacifists), who were placed in the same prisoner classification.'"

Citations

1. "The History Place – Holocaust Timeline: Nazis Open Dachau Concentration Camp". historyplace.com. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
2. Julie Gregson (4 August 2024). "Red triangle symbol: Germany debating a ban". Deutsche Welle. After the end of World War II in 1945, the persecuted survivors, their relatives and supporters embraced the symbol as a badge of honor for the fight against fascism — primarily in Germany, but also right across Europe. Likewise, the gay rights movement subsequently reclaimed the Nazi pink triangle.
3. Silver, Steve (16 August 2024). "Berlin and the red triangle". Searchlight . Archived from the original on 6 September 2025.
4. "VVN-BdA supports FIR campaign – Fédération Internationale des Résistants". www.fir.at. International Federation of Resistance Fighters – Association of Anti-Fascists (FIR). Archived from the original on 2 December 2025.
5. Gabriele Hammermann, Stefanie Pilzweger-Steiner (2018) KZ-Gedenk·stätte Dachau: Ein Rund·gang in Leichter Sprache. p. 72
6. Cristian Williams. "2008 Houston Transgender Day of Remembrance: Transgenders and Nazi Germany". tgdor.org. Archived from the original on 16 September 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
7. "Canadian National Holocaust Monument / Studio Libeskind". arcspace.com. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
8. "Illuminating the Darkness". outsmartmagazine.com. November 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
9. Richard Plant (1988). The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals. Owl Books. ISBN   0-8050-0600-1.
10. "Nazi Persecution of the Mentally & Physically Disabled". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
11. "Prisoner groups in the concentration camp: How the Nazis stigmatized their victims". Arolsen Archives. 23 November 2023. Retrieved 23 February 2025.
12. "E Kali Pečàta, Black Patch | Bullock Texas State History Museum". The Story of Texas.
13. "Glossary". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
14. "Badges". Holocaust Revealed. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
15. Edelheit, Abraham J.; Edelheit, Hershel (8 October 2018). History of the Holocaust. New York: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780429493737. ISBN   9780429493737. S2CID   160553505.
16. Torrey, E. Fuller; Yolken, Robert H. (1 January 2010). "Psychiatric Genocide: Nazi Attempts to Eradicate Schizophrenia". Schizophrenia Bulletin. 36 (1): 26–32. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbp097. ISSN   0586-7614. PMC   2800142 . PMID   19759092.
17. Claudia Schoppmann (1990). Nationalsozialistische Sexualpolitik und weibliche Homosexualität. Dissertation, FU Berlin. Centaurus, Pfaffenweiler 1991 (revisited 2nd edition 1997). ISBN   3-89085-538-5.
18. "Black triangle women". 1 February 2001. Archived from the original on 12 February 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
19. Elman PhD, R. Amy (1996). "Triangles and Tribulations: The Politics of Nazi Symbols". Journal of Homosexuality . 30 (3): 1–11. doi:10.1300/J082v30n03_01. ISSN   0091-8369. PMID   8743114.
20. Tuchman, Arleen Marcia (January 2011). "Diabetes and Race: A Historical Perspective". American Journal of Public Health. 101 (1): 24–33. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2010.202564. ISSN   0090-0036. PMC   3000712 . PMID   21148711.
21. See English Wiktionary entry for Juif .
22. "De Tomelloso a Mauthausen". entomelloso.com. 12 January 2017. Retrieved 27 March 2018.^{[ dead link ]}
23. "De Tomelloso a Mauthausen – 12/01/2017 – Tribuna Feria de TomellosoTribuna" [From Tomelloso to Mauthausen 12/01/2017 – Grandstand – Tomelloso Fair]. entomelloso.com (in Spanish). 12 January 2017. Archived from the original on 5 December 2025. Triangulo azul que los presos españoles llevaban cosido en su camisa y que les identificaba como «Republikanische Spanier»[Blue triangle that Spanish prisoners wore sewn on their shirts and that identified them as "Republican Spaniards"]
24. Rochelle G. Saidel (2006). The Jewish Women of Ravensbrück Concentration Camp. Terrace Books. p. 76. ISBN   9780299198640 . Retrieved 20 May 2013.
25. J. Beoković (19 October 2009). "У Аушвицу, на вест о ослобођењу Београда". politika.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 26 October 2018.
26. "The Jacket from Dachau – One Survivor's Search for Justice, Identity, and Home". khc.qcc.cuny.edu.
27. Stein, Harry (2007). Buchenwald memorial (ed.). Konzentrationslager Buchenwald 1937-1945. Begleitband zur ständigen historischen Ausstellung (in German) (5th ed.). Göttingen: Wallstein-Verlag. pp. 81–83. ISBN   978-3-89244-222-6.
28. Gregson 2024: "{{{q}}}"
29. "Jean-Luc Mélenchon: que symbolise le triangle rouge sur sa veste?" [Jean-Luc Mélenchon: what does the red triangle on his jacket symbolize?]. L'Obs . 23 February 2017. Archived from the original on 7 July 2018.
30. Ulrich, Horst, ed. (1985). DDR Handbuch[DDR Handbook] (in German). Vol. 1. Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik. ISBN   9783804686427.
31. Bouma, Amieke (30 July 2019). German Post-Socialist Memory Culture: Epistemic Nostalgia. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. doi:10.1515/9789048544677. ISBN   9789048544677.
32. "Komitee der Antifaschistischen Widerstandskämpfer". runde-ecke-leipzig.de. Museum in der "Runden Ecke" [Museum in the 'Round Corner', Leipzig]. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
33. Silver, Steve (16 August 2024). "Berlin and the red triangle". Searchlight . It wasn't only in Germany that the red triangle was an anti-fascist symbol. It was also an anti-fascist symbol in Britain. Anti-Fascist Action used the symbol in the 1980s with the red triangle piercing a swastika (right). That particular image harked back to early Soviet propaganda. In 1918 Nikolai Kolli … The avant-garde Russian Jewish artist El Lissitsky echoed that sculpture in his famous "Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge" poster, some arguing that the slogan was chosen to counter the Russian pogromist slogan "Bej zhidov!" ("Beat the Jews").
34. "Have Antifa members used an inverted red triangle as a symbol?". Skeptics Stack Exchange.
35. Example: the second image in the gallery of this Reuters story is a banner that says "crash the party" in English and then in German "Nationalismus ist keine Alternative": Nasr, Joseph. "German far-right AfD party elects new leader backed by radical wing, By Joseph Nasr, 1 December 2019 3:26 AM GMT+10, Updated 30 November 2019". photo credit: Fabian Bimmer. Reuters. [2/6] Demonstrators hold a banner during an anti-AfD protest ahead of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party meeting in Braunschweig, Germany, 30 November 2019
36. هل تفوق إعلام القسام على الاحتلال خلال عام من الحرب على غزة؟ [Has Qassam's media outperformed the occupation during the year of war on Gaza?]. aljazeera.net. Archived from the original on 8 October 2024. وكان من أبرز ما لمع وارتبط اسمه وشكله بعمليات القسام هو "المثلث الأحمر المقلوب" فمنذ عام وكتائب عز الدين القسام الجناح العسكري لحركة حماس تستخدمه في عملياتها. ودائما ما كان يُرفق "المثلث الأحمر المقلوب" لتحديد المركبات والجنود الإسرائيليين الذين يتم إيقاعهم بالكمائن أو استهدافهم من قبل قناصي القسام في مقاطع الفيديو التي توثق المعارك المستمرة في قطاع غزة … لدرجة أن المثلث الأحمر المقلوب أصبح رمزا من رموز النضال الفلسطيني ضد الاحتلال، مما جعل مجلس النواب في العاصمة الألمانية برلين يصنّف رمز المثلث المقلوب من الرموز الممنوع استخدامها في المظاهرات والتجمعات المناصرة للقضية الفلسطينية والمنددة بالحرب الإسرائيلية على غزة.[The "inverted red triangle" has always been attached to identify Israeli vehicles and soldiers ambushed or targeted by Qassam snipers in videos documenting the ongoing battles in the Gaza Strip. To the point that the inverted red triangle has become a symbol of the Palestinian struggle against the occupation, the German parliament in Berlin has classified the inverted triangle as a symbol prohibited from use in demonstrations and gatherings supporting the Palestinian cause and denouncing the Israeli war on Gaza.]
37. لارتباطه بحماس.. جدل في ألمانيا حول حظر رمز "المثلث الأحمر". dw.com (in Arabic). DW. 8 August 2024.
38. "المثلث الأحمر المقلوب" يعود لواجهة التفاعلات مع عودة عمليات القسام بغزة [The "inverted red triangle" returns to the forefront of discussions with the return of Qassam operations in Gaza.]. www.aljazeera.net (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 22 April 2025.
39. "Old logo". Al Arabiya – via YouTube. timestamp: 0:34
40. "RLF Voiron – Ni Le Pen ni ses idées!" (in French). Archived from the original on 20 September 2025.
41. Schoene, Edouard (16 January 2023). "Voiron. Face à l'extrême droite, comprendre pour agir". fr: Travailleur alpin (in French). Archived from the original on 30 January 2023.
42. "L'Extême droite c'est toujours NON en fait !". www.youtube.com/@territoiresdelamemoire4559 (in French). Territoires de la Mémoire. 8 May 2024 – via YouTube. Nous restons fermement décidés à défendre, promouvoir et construire un monde solidaire, inconditionnellement antiraciste, antisexiste, et dénonçant toutes les formes de discriminations. 🔻 NON à la haine 🔻 NON à l'extrême droite 🔻 PORTONS LE TRIANGLE ROUGE 🔻 www.trianglerouge.be 🔻[We remain firmly committed to defending, promoting and building a world of solidarity, unconditionally anti-racist, anti-sexist, and denouncing all forms of discrimination. 🔻 NO to hatred 🔻 NO to the far right 🔻 LET'S WEAR THE RED TRIANGLE 🔻]^{[ excessive quote ]}
43. "Glossaire - Antisémitisme" [Glossary - Anti-Semitism]. trianglerouge.be. Triangle Rouge. Archived from the original on 8 June 2023. [Because the time, the nineteenth century, was at the explanation of the world by the scientific theory of races, the age-old hatred and rejection of Jews in Europe changed register, passing from religion to science: anti-Judaism (religious hatred) became anti-Semitism (racial hatred). "Between 1789 and 1815, Jews had been emancipated in most Western countries, and now aspired to become citizens like others. (...) Now, in the age of science, the theological argument of the curse was no longer appropriate to demand the re-establishment of the ghettos, and so it was that (Jews as a religious group were) transmuted, in the aftermath of its emancipation, into the "inferior" Semitic race... And if the "racial" dimension of contemporary anti-Semitism can be considered marginal, the fact remains that xenophobia against Jewish people remains a particular and almost unique case of a xenophobia that has its roots deep in the famous "ineradicable feelings and resentments of the Christian West".]
44. https://searchlightmagazine.com/2024/08/berlin-and-the-red-triangle/
45. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hamas-2017-document-full
46. "Medaille des Komitee der antifaschistischen Widerstandskämpfer". www.ddr-museum.de. DDR Museum Berlin. 18 February 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
47. "Statut der "Medaille für Kämpfer gegen den Faschismus 1933-1945" [Statute of the “Medal for Fighters against Fascism 1933-1945”]. Gesetzblatt der DDR [Law Gazette of the German Democratic Republic] (in German). 1: 198. 22 February 1958.
48. Breland, Ali. "Nazis put this symbol on political opponents' arms. Now Trump is using it". Mother Jones. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
49. Morrison, Sara (18 June 2020). "Facebook takes down another Trump campaign ad, this time for Nazi imagery". Vox. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
50. Rodrigo, Chris Mills (18 June 2020). "Facebook takes down Trump ads featuring symbol used by Nazis to mark political prisoners". The Hill (newspaper) . Retrieved 19 June 2020.
51. " @jewishaction " on Twitter
52. "Home". Bend the Arc.
53. Breland, Ali. "Nazis put this symbol on political opponents' arms. Now Trump is using it". Mother Jones. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
54. Shannon, Joel. "Nazis used red triangles to mark political prisoners. That symbol is why Facebook banned a Donald Trump reelection campaign ad". USA Today. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
55. Crowley, James (18 June 2020). "The History of The Concentration Camp Badge in a Team Trump Ad For Facebook". Newsweek . Retrieved 16 December 2024.
56. Feldman, Ari (18 June 2020). "Facebook removes Trump ad that identifies Antifa with red triangle similar to Nazi symbol". The Forward.
57. Goforth, Claire (27 January 2021). "Trump campaign accused of using a Nazi symbol in Facebook ad". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
58. "Facebook removes Trump ads for violating 'organized hate' policy". NBC News. 18 June 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
59. Stanley-Becker, Isaac. "Facebook removes Trump ads with symbol once used by Nazis to designate political prisoners" . The Washington Post. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
60. Karni, Annie (18 June 2020). "Facebook removes Trump ads displaying symbol used by Nazis" . The New York Times.
61. "What does the inverted red triangle used by some pro-Palestinian demonstrators symbolize?". CBC. 4 June 2024.
62. Markoe, Lauren (13 June 2024). "Vandals painted a red triangle on the home of a Jewish museum director. What does it mean?". The Forward. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
63. Gregson 2024: "From the mid-1930s, political prisoners were forced to wear cloth badges with the triangle... "At first, the majority of political inmates were German Social Democrats or Communists and the red of the triangle referred to their party colors', Jens-Christian Wagner, the director of the Buchenwald… told DW. Later, he explained, most were non-Germans from across the political spectrum who had opposed National Socialism or Nazi Germany's occupation of their countries."
64. Rovics, David (9 October 2023). "The Gaza Ghetto Uprising". CounterPunch .
    Rovics, David (25 October 2023). "The Gaza Ghetto Uprising". Washington Report on Middle East Affairs . American Educational Trust, Inc. Archived from the original on 20 July 2025.
65. "The Gaza Ghetto Uprising". The Brooklyn Rail . May 2024. Archived from the original on 12 August 2025. Another case that is especially important to me as a Jewish person, having studied our history of persecution and rebellion, is the Sobibor Uprising. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is of course the most famous Jewish revolt of that era, and many people made the analogy, including Refaat Alareer... Sobibor was a concentration camp where, in 1943, realizing they were all going to get killed, a small group of maybe twenty people, some of them prisoners of war, organized in secrecy, came up with a sophisticated plan to kill high-ranking SS officers, sabotage the electricity and communications infrastructure... Approximately half of the camp escaped... I instantly thought about it when I got the news from my sister, who lived in one of the settlements of the Envelope until October 7, in the family WhatsApp group, saying that their power went out...
66. Gregson 2024: "A red triangle — though not inverted — also appears, however, in the Palestinian flag, which derives from a 1916 pan-nationalist design."

Bibliography

• Plant, Richard (1988). The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals. Owl Books. ISBN   0-8050-0600-1.
• Gregson, Julie (4 August 2024). "Red triangle symbol: Germany debating a ban". Deutsche Welle. Interviews and quotes: Jens-Christian Wagner (director of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation); Ralf Michaels (director of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg); and the National Federation of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime, Resistance Fighters and Antifascists (VVN-BDA).
• "Camp badge chart". historyplace.
• "Additional camp badge chart". friends-partners.org.

External links

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