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The red triangle, particularly the inverted red triangle, is a symbol representing anti-fascism or other left-wing political ideologies. Historically, the red triangle represents opposition to the Nazi Party and resistance to Nazi Germany's military occupation of Europe during World War Two. [1] The symbol was reclaimed by anti-fascists after being used on prisoner uniforms in concentration camps in Nazi Germany and occupied Europe. A red triangle patch pointing upwards designated prisoners within the jurisdiction of Wehrmacht, including prisoners of war,[ citation needed ] spies, and military deserters. [2] An inverted red triangle was worn by political prisoners. [1] [3] [4] The Nazis chose red because the first people to have to wear it were Communists. Besides Communists, liberals, anarchists, Social Democrats, Freemasons, and other opposition party members also wore a red triangle. [4] [5] After the war the red triangle symbol was reclaimed as a symbol of resistance against the German occupation of Europe during the war, similar to the way that the pink triangle used to mark gay prisoners became a symbol of LGBTQ pride. [1] Various left-wing, anti-fascist, and resistance groups have intermittently used red triangle or red wedge symbols for over a hundred years. [6] [7]
There are some examples of similar looking symbols being used in far-left politics in the early 20th century. A red triangle or "red wedge" features on some early communist posters. A red wedge appeared in a 1919 soviet propaganda poster by constructivist artist El Lissitzky titled "Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge", referring to the anti-communist White movement, who were defeated by the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. [8]
Numerous modern left-wing groups and publications have used symbols that reference the red wedge, or the reclamation or the red triangle badge that the Nazis used to mark their political opponents, or both. [6] [7] The black flag used by modern anti-fascists (Antifa) also refers back to the era of the Russian Revolution. [9]
The El Lissitzky poster was the namesake of the 1980s British left-wing musical collective Red Wedge, they opposed British conservatives but did not describe themselves as communist. [10] [11]
The colour of the symbol comes from the party colours of the Communist Party of Germany, one of the first groups to be detained in the Nazi concentration camps. [1] As depicted in the famous poem that begins, "First they came for the Communists, And I did not speak out, Because I was not a Communist". [12] [13] In a 2024 article about the origins of the red triangle symbol, Germany's public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported, "At first, the majority of political inmates were German Social Democrats or Communists and the red of the triangle referred to their party colors ... most were non-Germans from across the political spectrum who had opposed National Socialism or Nazi Germany's occupation of their countries". [1]
A red inverted triangle was worn by political prisoners in Nazi concentration camps. [14] [15] [5] The red triangle was only used for Jewish prisoners in unusual circumstances, such as when the Nazi authorities in the prison were unaware that the prisoner was Jewish. [16]
German communists were among the first to be imprisoned in concentration camps. [17] [18] Their ties to the USSR concerned Hitler, and the Nazi Party was intractably opposed to communism. Rumors of communist violence were spread by the Nazis to justify the Enabling Act of 1933, which gave Hitler his first dictatorial powers. Hermann Göring testified at Nuremberg that Nazi willingness to repress German Communists prompted Hindenburg and the old elite to cooperate with them. Hitler and the Nazis also despised German leftists because of their resistance to Nazi racism. Hitler referred to Marxism and "Bolshevism" as means for "the international Jew" to undermine "racial purity", stir up class tension and mobilise trade unions against the government and business. When the Nazis occupied a territory, communists, socialists and anarchists were usually among the first to be repressed; this included summary executions. An example is Hitler's Commissar Order, in which he demanded the summary execution of all Soviet troops who were political commissars who offered resistance or were captured in battle. [19] [ verification needed ]
Many red triangle wearers were interned at Dachau concentration camp.[ citation needed ]
Later this expanded and many political detainees were German and foreign civilian activists from across the political spectrum who opposed the Nazi regime, captured resistances fighters (many of whom were executed during—or immediately after—their interrogation, particularly in occupied Poland and France) and, sometimes, their families. German political prisoners were a substantial proportion of the first inmates at Dachau (the prototypical Nazi concentration camp). The political People's Court was notorious for the number of its death sentences. [20] [21]
Since the end of World War II the red triangle has been used as an anti-fascist symbol. [6] The pink triangle and red triangle were both reclaimed after the war as symbols of prid and remembrance. [1]
The Association of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime – Federation of Antifascists (German : Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes – Bund der Antifaschistinnen und Antifaschisten, VVN-BdA) is a German political confederation founded in 1947 and based in Berlin. The VVN-BdA, formerly the VVN, emerged from victims' associations in Germany founded by political opponents to Nazism after the Second World War and the end of the Nazi rule in Germany.[ verification needed ]
With the end of World War II, self-help groups of former resistance fighters were founded in "anti-fascist committees", known as "Antifas", involving working class militants, in particular but not only Communists [22] [23] [24] [25] which were banned immediately by the military administrations of each of the British and American occupation zones for being far politically left. [26] [27] By June 26, 1945, an "association of political prisoners and persecutees of the Nazi system" had been founded in Stuttgart, and in the following weeks and months, there were regional groups of ex-political prisoners and other persecuted individuals formed with the permission of the allied forces, in each of the four occupation zones. [28]
In addition to the Association of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime – Federation of Antifascists (VVN-BdA) memorials above, the red triangle also features on numerous other war memorials in Europe. War memorials featuring the red triangle symbol exist in Germany and in areas of Europe that were occupied by Germany during World War Two. [1]
Many examples of political prisoner uniforms are displayed at museums that educate about and memorialise victims of Nazi persecution as well as honour those who actively opposed Nazism and fascism, such as those in irregular non-state militias opposing occupying German military. The National Museum of the Resistance in Belgium has exhibits about those who fought against the German occupation of Belgium during World War II.
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From 1975 onwards, the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR, also known as East Germany) released a medal for the "Committee of Antifascist Resistance Fighters" German : Komitee der Antifaschistischen Widerstandskämpfer of the GDR that included a red triangle. [29] The Committee of Antifascist Resistance Fighters (KdAW) was formed in 1953. Practically speaking, it functioned as the East German counterpart of the Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime (Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes). The KdAW enjoyed a close relationship with the Socialist Unity Party, although it was not a member of the National Front.[ verification needed ] The organisation 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] Membership in the KdAW served as a means of accessing benefits. For instance, membership made one eligible to receive the Medal for Fighters Against Fascism. [32] It also contained a number of working groups, which brought people with similar backgrounds together. The most prominent of these were groups for survivors of various concentration camps and prisons; for example one existed for former prisoners of Brandenburg-Görden Prison. Another working group was formed for veterans of the International Brigades of the Spanish Civil War. [33]
Service medals awarded to prisoners of war and other camp inmates after WWII feature the triangle that was used on prisoners' uniforms. The Auschwitz Cross, a Polish medal for camp victims and the Political Prisoner's Cross 1940–1945, a Belgian medal both show a red triangle with a nationality indicator, and the ribbons replicate the striped fabric of some camp uniforms. [34]
The Political Prisoner's Cross 1940–1945 (French : Croix du Prisonnier Politique 1940–1945, Dutch : Politieke Gevangenkruis 1940–1945) was a Belgian war medal established by royal decree of the Regent on 13 November 1947 and awarded to Belgian citizens arrested and interned by the Germans as political prisoners during the Second World War. The award's statute included provisions for posthumous award should the intended recipient not survive detention, and the right of the widow, the mother or the father of the deceased to wear the cross. [34]
The Auschwitz Cross (Polish : Krzyż Oświęcimski), instituted on 14 March 1985, was a Polish decoration awarded to honour survivors of Nazi German concentration camps, including Auschwitz. [35] Auschwitz is a German name for the Polish town Oświęcim, where a complex of concentration camps was built by Nazi Germany during the German occupation of Europe during WWII.[ additional citation(s) needed ] It was awarded generally to Poles, but it was possible to award it to foreigners in special cases. It could be awarded posthumously. It ceased to be awarded in 1999. An exception was made in the case of Greta Ferušić, who was awarded it in February 2004. [36] Some of the people awarded the medal were Jewish, including Szymon Kluger (Shimson Kleuger). [37]
After the war the red triangle symbol was reclaimed as a symbol of resistance against the German occupation of Europe during the war, similar to the way that the pink triangle used to mark gay prisoners became a symbol of LGBTQ pride. [1]
The Russian artist Sergei Bugaev produced an "Anti-Lissitzky" series at the end of the Cold War, between 1991 and 1995, which included several derivative works based on "Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge". [41]
The British band Red Wedge reference Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge in their name.
A variant of the image by El Lissitzky is used as the logo for the "Peacekeepers" on Sci-Fi TV show Farscape. [42]
There have been other uses of similar symbols that are not closely connected to World War Two:
The red triangle pointing upwards was used by the Iraqi Republican Guard that existed from 1969 until 2003.[ citation needed ]
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, despite the red triangle rarely being used for Jewish prisoners. [45] [46] However, some have compared Palestinian resistance to Ghetto uprisings. [47] [48]
From the mid-1930s, political prisoners were forced to wear cloth badges with the triangle in Nazi concentration camps. It was part of an extensive dehumanizing classification system. '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 and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation, 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.
Jewish prisoners were identified by a yellow star. If they were imprisoned for another reason, a triangle of the appropriate colour was added to their badge. Therefore, if a Jewish prisoner was also considered a political opponent, a red triangle was sewn over the yellow triangle. Criminals were marked with green inverted triangles, political prisoners with red, "asocials" (including Roma, nonconformists, vagrants, and other groups) with black or — in the case of Roma in some camps — brown triangles. Gay men and men accused of homosexuality were identified with pink triangles. And Jehovah's Witnesses were identified with purple ones … The two triangles forming the Jewish star badge would both be yellow unless the Jewish prisoner was included in one of the other prisoner categories. A Jewish political prisoner, for example, would be identified with a yellow triangle beneath a red triangle.
Political prisoners: social democrats, socialists, trade unionists, communists and anarchists
One of the most common symbols used by Antifa combines the red flag of the 1917 Russian Revolution and the black flag of 19th century anarchists.
The name Red Wedge was adopted from a lithographic soviet propaganda poster from 1919. The artwork, designed by constructivist artist El Lissitzky, was titled Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge in reference to the Bolshevik faction defeating the anti-communist White Movement confederation during the Russian Civil War. The image of a red triangle penetrating a large white circle was also reinterpreted by Bragg and his musical comrades. However, despite the poster's communist ancestry, the 1985 movement insisted it was not a communist organisation.
The name Red Wedge was adopted from a lithographic soviet propaganda poster from 1919. The artwork, designed by constructivist artist El Lissitzky, was titled Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge in reference to the Bolshevik faction defeating the anti-communist White Movement confederation during the Russian Civil War. The image of a red triangle penetrating a large white circle was also reinterpreted by Bragg and his musical comrades. However, despite the poster's communist ancestry, the 1985 movement insisted it was not a communist organisation.
From the mid-1930s, political prisoners were forced to wear cloth badges with the triangle in Nazi concentration camps. It was part of an extensive dehumanizing classification system. '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 and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation, 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.
Criminals were marked with green inverted triangles, political prisoners with red, "asocials" (including Roma, nonconformists, vagrants, and other groups) with black or — in the case of Roma in some camps — brown triangles. Gay men and men accused of homosexuality were identified with pink triangles. And Jehovah's Witnesses were identified with purple ones … The two triangles forming the Jewish star badge would both be yellow unless the Jewish prisoner was included in one of the other prisoner categories. A Jewish political prisoner, for example, would be identified with a yellow triangle beneath a red triangle.
Though this group consisted only of Jewish girls, there was one girl who wore a red triangle on her number, identifying her as a Pole. She was Jewish, but had succeeded in maintaining her false identity as a non-Jew. This girl was either directly involved with the Polish Underground or was close enough to them to have gained their confidence. She used to supply us with current political news… She told us that the Polish Home Army [the largest Polish underground movement] was organizing a revolt in Warsaw…
The Munich Chief of Police, Himmler, has issued the following press announcement: On Wednesday the first concentration camp is to be opened in Dachau with an accommodation for 5000 persons. 'All Communists and—where necessary—Reichsbanner and Social Democratic functionaries who endanger state security are to be concentrated here, as in the long run it is not possible to keep individual functionaries in the state prisons without overburdening these prisons, and on the other hand these people cannot be released because attempts have shown that they persist in their efforts to agitate and organise as soon as they are released.'
The Commissar Order read: "The originators of barbaric, Asiatic methods of warfare are the political commissars. ... Therefore, when captured either in battle or offering resistance, they are to be shot on principle."