Nazi concentration camp badges

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A contemporary table of badges worn in the Dachau concentration camp (see also translation of table below)

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

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

1 Badge coding system
2 Table of camp inmate markings
3 Notes
4 Reference
5 External links

[edit] Badge coding system

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

In addition to color-coding, some groups had to put letter insignia on their triangles to denote country of origin. Red triangle with a letter: "B" (Belgier, Belgians), "F" (Franzosen, French), "I" (Italiener, Italians), "P" (Polen, Poles), "S" (Republikanische Spanier, Republican Spanish) "T" (Tschechen, Czechs), "U" (Ungarn, Hungarians).

The most common forms of the badge were:

Black Triangle|Black inverted triangle
- The Mentally retarded
- Alcoholics
- Vagrants, the Habitually "Work-Shy".
- Roma and Sinti (later forced to wear the Brown Triangle).
- A woman jailed for "anti-social behavior", i.e., a lesbian, a prostitute or woman who used birth control^{[citation needed]} .
Green inverted triangle: criminals.
Pink inverted triangle: a homosexual or bisexual man.
Purple inverted triangle: Jehovah's Witnesses
Red inverted triangle: a political prisoner. Social Democrats, Freemasons, anarchists (some anarchists were also given the black triangle), and other "enemies of the state". The color red was probably chosen because it represented the communists, the political enemies that the Nazis hated most (and the first to be officially outlawed).

Double triangles:

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

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

[edit] Table of camp inmate markings

	Political Enemies	Habitual Criminals	Emigrants (Foreign Forced Laborers)	Jehovah's Witnesses	Gay males	Asocials	Roma and Sinti
Basic colors
Markings for Repeaters
Inmates of Penal Battalions
Markings for Jews				See Note 1

Special Markings	Male Race Defiler	Female Race Defiler	Escape Suspect	Inmate Number Special Inmate: Brown arm band		Applicable marks were worn in descending order as follows: Inmate Number, Repeater Bar, Triangle or Star, Member of Penal Battalion, Escape Suspect
	Pole: "P" on a red triangle	Czech: "T" (the German word for Czech is Tscheche) on a red triangle	Member of the Armed forces: Uninverted red triangle

(Plant 1988 and [1])

[edit] Notes

At first glance, this combination appears to be contradictory. However, the Nazi definition of "Jew", according to the Nuremberg Laws, included those of Jewish ancestry, and so it was possible for such people to actually hold other religions. Thus, "Jewish Jehovah's Witness", while perhaps unlikely, was by no means impossible.