Pink triangle

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A pink triangle in the original Nazi orientation Pink triangle.svg
A pink triangle in the original Nazi orientation

A pink triangle has been a symbol for the LGBT community, initially intended as a badge of shame, but later reclaimed as a positive symbol of self-identity. In Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, it began as one of the Nazi concentration camp badges, distinguishing those imprisoned because they had been identified by authorities as gay men. [1] [2] In the 1970s, it was revived as a symbol of protest against homophobia, and has since been adopted by the larger LGBT community as a popular symbol of LGBT pride and the LGBT movements and queer liberation movements. [3] [4]

Contents

History

Nazi prisoner identification

In Nazi concentration camps, each prisoner was required to wear a downward-pointing, equilateral triangular cloth badge on their chest, the color of which identified the stated reason for their imprisonment. [5] Early on, prisoners perceived as gay men were variously identified with a green triangle (indicating criminals) or red triangle (political prisoners), the number 175 (referring to Paragraph 175, the section of the German penal code criminalizing homosexual activity), or the letter A (which stood for Arschficker, literally "arse fucker"). [6]

Later, the use of a pink triangle was established for prisoners identified as homosexual men. (Lesbian and bisexual women and trans men were not systematically imprisoned; some were classified as "asocial", wearing a black triangle.) [7] [8] The pink triangle was also assigned to others considered sexual deviants, including zoophiles and pedophiles [3] in addition to sex offenders. If a prisoner was also identified as Jewish, the triangle was superimposed over a second yellow triangle pointing the opposite way, to resemble the Star of David like the yellow badge identifying other Jews. Prisoners wearing a pink triangle were harshly treated by most other prisoners. [3]

After the camps were liberated at the end of the Second World War, some of the prisoners imprisoned for homosexuality were re-incarcerated by the Allied-established Federal Republic of Germany, as the Nazi laws against homosexuality were not repealed there until 1969. [9] [10] An out homosexual man named Heinz Dörmer, for instance, served in a Nazi concentration camp and then in the jails of the new Republic. The Nazi amendments to Paragraph 175, which turned homosexuality, previously labeled as a minor offense, into a felony, remained intact in East Germany until 1968 [11] and in West Germany until 1969. [12] West Germany continued to imprison those identified as homosexual until 1994 under a revised version of the Paragraph, which still made sex between men up to the age of 21—as well as queer male sex work—illegal. [13] While many, though not all, lawsuits seeking monetary compensation have failed, in 2002 the German government issued an official apology to gay men who were persecuted during the war. [14]

Rudolf Brazda, one of the last known homosexual concentration camp survivors, died on August 3, 2011, at the age of 98. [15]

Symbol of LGBTQ+ liberation

An ACT UP member displaying the organization's trademark protest sign with an inverted, upward-pointing pink triangle. 19.Assembly.ActUp.NYC.30March2017 (33609021152).jpg
An ACT UP member displaying the organization's trademark protest sign with an inverted, upward-pointing pink triangle.

In the 1970s, newly active Australian, European and North American queer liberation advocates began to use the pink triangle to raise awareness of its use in Nazi Germany. [16] In 1972, gay concentration camp survivor Heinz Heger's memoir Die Männer mit dem rosa Winkel (The Men with the Pink Triangle) brought it to greater public attention. [17] In response, the German gay liberation group Homosexuelle Aktion Westberlin issued a call in 1973 for gay men to wear it as a memorial to past victims and to protest continuing discrimination. [18] [19] In the 1975 movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show , Dr. Frank N. Furter—a bisexual transvestite [20] [21] —wears a pink triangle badge on one of his outfits. [22] In 1976, Peter Recht, Detlef Stoffel, and Christiane Schmerl made the German documentary Rosa Winkel? Das ist doch schon lange vorbei... (Pink Triangle? That was such a long time ago...). [18] Publications such as San Francisco's Gay Sunshine and Toronto's The Body Politic promoted the pink triangle as a memorial to those who had faced persecution and oppression. [18]

In the 1980s, the pink triangle was increasingly used not just as a memorial but as a positive symbol of both self-identity and community identity. It commonly represented both gay and lesbian identity, and was incorporated into the logos of such organizations and businesses. It was also used by individuals, sometimes discreetly or ambiguously as an "insider" code unfamiliar to the heterosexual majority. [18] The logo for the 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights was a silhouette of the US Capitol Dome superimposed over a pink triangle. [19]

Taking a more militant tone, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) was formed by six gay activists in New York City in 1987, and to draw attention to the disease's disproportionate impact on gay and bisexual men, and the apparent role of "genocidal" queer-antagonism in slowing progress on medical research, [23] adopted an upward-pointing pink triangle on a black field along with the slogan "SILENCE = DEATH" as its logo. [24] [25] [26] Some use the triangle in this orientation as a specific "reversal" of its usage by the Nazis. [27] [28] [29] The Pink Panthers Movement in Denver, Colorado, adopted a pink triangle with clawed panther print logo, adapted from the original Pink Panthers Patrol in New York City.[ citation needed ]

In the 1990s, a pink triangle enclosed in a green circle came to be commonly used as a symbol identifying "safe spaces" for LGBTQ+ people at work or in school. [30] [31]

The pink triangle served as the basis for the "biangles", a symbol of bisexual identity which consists of pink and blue triangles overlapping in a lavender or purple area. The pink and blue symbolize same sex and opposite sex attraction, or the attraction for both men (blue) and women (pink). [32] [33]

Use of the pink triangle symbol is not without criticism. In 1993, historian Klaus Müller argued that "the pink triangles of the concentration camps became an international symbol of gay and lesbian pride because so few of us are haunted by concrete memories of those who were forced to wear them." [34]

Memorials

The symbol of the pink triangle has been included in numerous public monuments and memorials. In 1980 a jury chose the pink triangle design for the Homomonument in Amsterdam, to memorialize gay and bisexual men killed in the Holocaust (and also victims of anti-gay violence generally). [35] In 1995, after a decade of campaigning for it, a pink triangle plaque was installed at the Dachau Memorial Museum to commemorate the suffering of gay men and lesbians. [36] In 2015 a pink triangle was incorporated into Chicago's Legacy Walk. [37] It is the basis of the design of the Gay and Lesbian Holocaust Memorial in Sydney. In 2001 it inspired both San Francisco's Pink Triangle Park in the Castro and the 1-acre (4,000 m2) Pink Triangle on Twin Peaks that is displayed every year during the Pride weekend. [38] It is also the basis for LGBTQ+ memorials in Barcelona, Sitges, and Montevideo, and the burial component of the LGBTQ+ Pink Dolphin Monument in Galveston.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany</span>

Before 1933, male homosexual acts were illegal in Germany under Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code. The law was not consistently enforced, however, and a thriving gay culture existed in major German cities. After the Nazi takeover in 1933, the first homosexual movement's infrastructure of clubs, organizations, and publications was shut down. After the Röhm purge in 1934, persecuting homosexuals became a priority of the Nazi police state. A 1935 revision of Paragraph 175 made it easier to bring criminal charges for homosexual acts, leading to a large increase in arrests and convictions. Persecution peaked in the years prior to World War II and was extended to areas annexed by Germany, including Austria, the Czech lands, and Alsace–Lorraine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT community</span> Community and culture of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people

The LGBT community is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individuality, and sexuality. LGBT activists and sociologists see LGBT community-building as a counterweight to heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, sexualism, and conformist pressures that exist in the larger society. The term pride or sometimes gay pride expresses the LGBT community's identity and collective strength; pride parades provide both a prime example of the use and a demonstration of the general meaning of the term. The LGBT community is diverse in political affiliation. Not all people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender consider themselves part of the LGBT community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nazi concentration camp badge</span> Cloth emblems; part of the system of identification in Nazi camps

Nazi concentration camp badges, primarily triangles, were part of the system of identification in German camps. They were used in the concentration camps in the German-occupied countries to identify the reason the prisoners had been placed there. The triangles were made of fabric and were sewn on jackets and trousers of the prisoners. These mandatory badges of shame had specific meanings indicated by their colour and shape. Such emblems helped guards assign tasks to the detainees. For example, a guard at a glance could see if someone was a convicted criminal and thus likely of a tough temperament suitable for kapo duty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bisexual flag</span> Pride flag

The bisexual flag is a pride flag representing bisexuality, bisexual individuals and the bisexual community. The pink stripe represents attraction to the same gender, while the blue stripe represents attraction to the opposite gender. The purple stripe, the resulting "overlap" of the blue and pink stripes, represents attraction to all genders, including non-binary people and those of other gender identities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homomonument</span> Memorial in Amsterdam

The Homomonument is a memorial in the centre of Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. It commemorates all gay men and lesbians who have been persecuted because of their sexual orientation. Opened on 5 September 1987, it was the first monument in the world to commemorate gays and lesbians who were killed by the German Nazi regime.

Karl Gorath was a gay man who was arrested in 1938 and imprisoned for homosexuality at Neuengamme and Auschwitz. He was freed in 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friedrich-Paul von Groszheim</span>

Friedrich-Paul von Groszheim was a German man who was imprisoned by the Nazis for the crime of homosexuality under Germany's now-repealed Paragraph 175. He was born in Lübeck, Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black triangle (badge)</span> Nazi concentration camp badge for "asocials"

The inverted black triangle was an identification badge used in Nazi concentration camps to mark prisoners designated asozial ("asocial") and arbeitsscheu ("work-shy"). The Roma and Sinti people were considered asocial and tagged with the black triangle. The designation also included alcoholics, beggars, homeless people, nomads, prostitutes, and violators of laws prohibiting sexual relations between Aryans and Jews. Women also deemed to be anti-social included nonconformists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pride flag</span> Symbol for part or all of the LGBT community

A pride flag is any flag that represents a segment or part of the LGBT community. Pride in this case refers to the notion of LGBT pride. The terms LGBT flag and queer flag are often used interchangeably.

Over the course of its history, the LGBT community has adopted certain symbols for self-identification to demonstrate unity, pride, shared values, and allegiance to one another. These symbols communicate ideas, concepts, and identity both within their communities and to mainstream culture. The two symbols most recognized internationally are the pink triangle and the rainbow flag.

Holocaust victims were people targeted by the government of Nazi Germany based on their ethnicity, religion, political beliefs, and/or sexual orientation. The institutionalized practice by the Nazis of singling out and persecuting people resulted in the Holocaust, which began with legalized social discrimination against specific groups, involuntary hospitalization, euthanasia, and forced sterilization of persons considered physically or mentally unfit for society. The vast majority of the Nazi regime's victims were Jews, Sinti-Roma peoples, and Slavs but victims also encompassed people identified as social outsiders in the Nazi worldview, such as homosexuals, and political enemies. Nazi persecution escalated during World War II and included: non-judicial incarceration, confiscation of property, forced labor, sexual slavery, death through overwork, human experimentation, undernourishment, and execution through a variety of methods. For specified groups like the Jews, genocide was the Nazis' primary goal.

Josef Kohout was an Austrian Nazi concentration camp survivor, imprisoned for his homosexuality. He is best known for the 1972 book Die Männer mit dem rosa Winkel, which was written by his acquaintance Hans Neumann using the pen name Heinz Heger, which is often falsely attributed to Kohout. The book is one of very few first-hand accounts of the treatment of homosexuals in Nazi imprisonment. It has been translated into several languages, and a second edition published in 1994. It was the first testimony from a homosexual survivor of the concentration camps to be translated into English, and is regarded as the best known. Its publication helped to illuminate not just the suffering gay prisoners of the Nazi regime experienced, but the lack of recognition and compensation they received after the war's end.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rudolf Brazda</span> Concentration camp internee charged by the Nazi German regime with homosexuality

Rudolf Brazda was the last known concentration camp survivor deported by Nazi Germany on charges of homosexuality. Brazda spent nearly three years at the Buchenwald concentration camp, where his prisoner uniform was branded with the distinctive pink triangle that the Nazis used to mark men interned as homosexuals. After the liberation of Buchenwald, Brazda settled in Alsace, northeastern France, in May 1945 and lived there for the rest of his life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sydney Gay and Lesbian Holocaust Memorial</span>

The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Holocaust Memorial Project was founded by a group of community activists. Over the years they raised funds and decided, with South Sydney City Council, on the site at Green Park in Darlinghurst, in Sydney, Australia. Darlinghurst is considered the heart of Sydney's gay and lesbian population. Green Park is adjacent to the Sydney Jewish Museum, which ensures that the memorial retains its historic meaning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pink Triangle Park</span> Park and memorial in the Castro District, San Francisco, California, U.S.

The Pink Triangle Park is a triangle-shaped mini-park located in the Castro District of San Francisco, California. The park is less than 4,000 square feet (370 m2) and faces Market Street with 17th Street to its back. The park sits directly above the Castro Street Station of Muni Metro, across from Harvey Milk Plaza. It is the first permanent, free-standing memorial in America dedicated to the thousands of persecuted homosexuals in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust of World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Memorial to gay and lesbian victims of National Socialism</span> Memorial of LGBT victims of Nazi Germany

The memorial to gay and lesbian victims of National Socialism is a monument in Cologne, Germany, dedicated to the gay and lesbian victims of the Nazis.

This is a list of events in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQ+) history in Germany.

Various lesbian flags have been used to symbolise the lesbian community. Since 1999, many designs have been proposed and used. Although personal preferences exist, as well as various controversies, no design has been widely accepted by the community as the lesbian flag.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gay Nazis myth</span> Myth that homosexuals pervaded the Nazi Party

There is a widespread and long-lasting myth alleging that homosexuals were numerous and prominent as a group in the Nazi Party or the identification of Nazism with homosexuality more generally. It has been promoted by various individuals and groups from before World War II through the present, especially by left-wing Germans during the Nazi era and the Christian right in the United States more recently. Although some gay men joined the Nazi Party, there is no evidence that they were overrepresented. The Nazis harshly criticized homosexuality and severely persecuted gay men, going as far as murdering them en masse. Therefore, historians regard the myth as having no merit.

Vienna, the capital of Austria, has an active LGBTQIA+ community. Vienna is considered Austria's queer capital, with several LGBTQIA+ spaces, organisations and a history of LGBTQIA+ activism going back to the late 19th century.

References

  1. ↑ Plant, Richard (1988). The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War against Homosexuals (revised ed.). H. Holt. p. 175. ISBN   978-0-8050-0600-1.
  2. ↑ Williams, Cristan. "2008 Houston Transgender Day of Remembrance: Transgenders and Nazi Germany". tgdor.org. Archived from the original on 2008-08-20. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
  3. 1 2 3 Shankar, Louis (April 19, 2017). "How the Pink Triangle Became a Symbol of Queer Resistance". HISKIND. Archived from the original on August 22, 2018. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  4. ↑ Waxman, Olivia B. (May 31, 2018). "How the Nazi Regime's Pink Triangle Symbol Was Repurposed for LGBTQ Pride". TIME. Archived from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Homosexual Prisoners · The Era of the Holocaust ·". libapp.shadygrove.umd.edu. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
  6. ↑ "Homosexuals in Nazi Germany - Collections Search - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum". collections.ushmm.org. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
  7. ↑ "Queer Women and AFAB People During the Holocaust". Making Queer History. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
  8. ↑ "Lesbians and the Third Reich". Holocaust Encyclopedia. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  9. ↑ Arturo Garcia (11 October 2018). "Were Gay Concentration Camp Prisoners 'Put Back in Prison' After World War II?". Snopes.
  10. ↑ "Gay Men under the Nazi Regime". encyclopedia.ushmm.org. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
  11. ↑ James Kirchick (February 13, 2013). "Documentary Explores Gay Life in East Germany". Der Spiegel.
  12. ↑ Clayton J. Whisnant (2012). Male Homosexuality in West Germany: Between Persecution and Freedom, 1945-69. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 201–203. ISBN   9780230355002.
  13. ↑ Zowie Davy; Julia Downes; Lena Eckert (2002). Bound and Unbound: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Genders and Sexualities. Cambridge Scholars. pp. 141–142. ISBN   978-1443810852.
  14. ↑ Melissa Eddy (May 18, 2002). "Germany Offers Nazi-Era Pardons". Associated Press.
  15. ↑ Langer, Emily (7 August 2011). "Rudolf Brazda dies; gay man who survived Nazi concentration camp was 98". Washington Post. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  16. ↑ "Symbols of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Movements". lambda.org. Lambda GLBT Community Services. 2004. Archived from the original on 2004-12-04. Retrieved 2014-09-26.
  17. ↑ Jensen, Erik (2002). "The pink triangle and political consciousness: gays, lesbians, and the memory of Nazi persecution". Journal of the History of Sexuality. 11 (1 and 2): 319–349. doi:10.1353/sex.2002.0008. S2CID   142580540.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Gianoulis, Tina (2004). Claude J. Summers (ed.). "Pink Triangle". glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture. Archived from the original on 2014-10-25. Retrieved 2014-09-26. In the early 1970s, gay rights organizations in Germany and the United States launched campaigns to reclaim the pink triangle. In 1973 the German gay liberation group Homosexuelle Aktion Westberlin (HAW) called upon gay men to wear the pink triangle as a memorial.
  19. 1 2 "Pink Triangle Legacies: Holocaust Memory and International Gay Rights Activism". Nursing Clio. 2017-04-20. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
  20. ↑ Tribune, Andrew S. Hughes South Bend. "Sexuality, doo-wop major themes in 'The Rocky Horror Show'". South Bend Tribune. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
  21. ↑ "The Astonishingly Non-Nonsensical Plot of The Rocky Horror Picture Show". Tor.com. 2012-10-31. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
  22. ↑ Nash, Tara (2017-11-30). "Rated "R" for Resistance". Queerer Things. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
  23. ↑ Sember, Robert; Gere, David (June 2006). "'Let the Record Show…': Art Activism and the AIDS Epidemic". American Journal of Public Health. 96 (6): 967–969. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2006.089219. ISSN   0090-0036. PMC   1470625 . PMID   16670207.
  24. ↑ Feldman, Douglas A. and Judith Wang Miller (1998). The AIDS Crisis: A Documentary History. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN   0-313-28715-5. p. 176
  25. ↑ "SILENCE = DEATH". www.actupny.org. Archived from the original on 2009-09-07. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  26. ↑ "How the Pink Triangle Became a Symbol of Queer Resistance". HISKIND Magazine. 2017-04-19. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
  27. ↑ "San Francisco Neighborhoods: The Castro" KQED documentary.
  28. ↑ "This week in history: Recognizing the history of the pink triangle". People's World. PeoplesWorld.org. 2017-06-20. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  29. ↑ Elman, R. Amy (1996). "Triangles and Tribulations". Journal of Homosexuality. 30 (3): 1–11. doi:10.1300/J082v30n03_01. PMID   8743114.
  30. ↑ "Safe Space – EQUAL!". equal.org. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
  31. ↑ Raeburn, Nicole C. (2004). Changing Corporate America from Inside Out: Lesbian and Gay Workplace Rights. p. 209. ISBN   978-0-8166-3999-1.
  32. ↑ "ALGBTICAL". www.algbtical.org. Archived from the original on 2018-08-18. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
  33. ↑ Services, LAMBDA GLBT Community. "Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, & Transgender Symbols". www.qrd.org. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
  34. ↑ Seifert, Dorthe (2003). "Between Silence and License: The Representation of the National Socialist Persecution of Homosexuality in Anglo-American Fiction and Film". History & Memory . 15 (2): 94–129. doi:10.1353/ham.2003.0012. ISSN   1527-1994. S2CID   159598928.
  35. ↑ Martin Dunford (2010). The Rough Guide to The Netherlands. Penguin. p. 73. ISBN   978-1-84836-882-8.
  36. ↑ Brocklebank, Christopher (31 May 2011). "New memorial to gay holocaust victims to be built in Munich". Pink News . Retrieved 1 June 2011.
  37. ↑ "Legacy Walk unveils five new bronze memorial plaques - 2342 - Gay Lesbian Bi Trans News - Windy City Times". 14 October 2015.
  38. ↑ "The Pink Triangle, displayed annually on Twin Peaks in San Francisco during Pride weekend". Thepinktriangle.com. 2012-06-14. Retrieved 2013-02-12.

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