Nazi concentration camp badge

File:Concentration Camp Badges.png

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. 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. The black, blue, purple, and red triangles have also been reclaimed by various remembrance and anti-fascist groups, particularly in Europe. 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).

File:Wikpedia system of identification German camps.png

Prisoners' distinguishing badges

Badge coding system

Variability

The system varied between camps and over time. Dachau concentration camp had one of the more elaborate systems.

Single triangles

Triangle	Prisoner categories
▲ Red upright	A red triangle pointing upwards was used for enemy POWs (, meaning special detainees), spies or traitors (, meaning activities detainees), or military deserters or criminals (, meaning Armed Forces members).
▼ Red inverted	File:Prisoners' Uniforms with Red Triangles of Political Prisoners - Museum Exhibit - Dachau Concentration Camp Site - Dachau - Bavaria - Germany.jpg 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, gentiles who assisted Jews, trade unionists, and Freemasons. File:Numer obozowy KL Stutthof 29659.JPG Badge for a Polish (non-Jewish) political prisoner (ID 29659), Template:Ill, in Stutthof.
▼ Green	Green indicated convicts and criminals (often working as kapos).
▼ Blue	Blue showed foreign forced laborers and emigrants. This category included stateless people ("apatrides"), 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.
▼ 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"Template:Efn) and sexual offenders, as well as pedophiles and zoophiles. Many in this group were subject to forced sterilization.
▼ 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.
▼ Black	File:Bundesarchiv Bild 152-27-11A, Dachau, Konzentrationslager.jpg Black triangles on the trousers of Romani detainees at Dachau. The black triangle indicated people who were deemed asocial elements () and work-shy (), including the following: Roma and Sinti. They wore the black triangle with a Z notation (for , meaning "Gypsy") to the right of the triangle's point, or in white on top of the triangle. Male Roma were later assigned a brown triangle. Mentally ill and developmentally disabled. Their triangles were additionally inscribed with the word , meaning "stupid". Schizophrenic and epileptic people were forcibly sterilized, shot, or gassed in psychiatric institutions as opposed to at the Nazi camps. Alcoholics and drug addicts. Vagrants and beggars. Pacifists and conscription resisters. Sex workers. Lesbians. 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").
▼ Purple	File:Striped pajamas with purple triangle (crop).jpg 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. File:Purple Triangle.JPG Specimen showing a purple triangle, indicating a Jehovah's Witness.

File:Benedikt Kautsky.jpg

Austrian economist Template:Ill, a Political prisoner, liberated from Buchenwald.Template:Efn

Asoziale (anti-socials)

(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

The (punishment battalion) and SS (probation company) were military punishment units. They consisted of 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-triangles visible on Sachsenhausen detainees
• Single-triangle badges in various colors visible on detainees in Sachsenhausen
  Single-triangle badges in various colors visible on detainees in Sachsenhausen
• More Sachsenhausen detainees
  More Sachsenhausen detainees

Double triangles and multiple colours

Origins of yellow star badges

File:Juif.JPG

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

Double-triangle badges usually used two superimposed triangles to form a six-pointed star, resembling the Jewish Star of David. 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.

• Yellow star from Dachau Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
  Yellow star from Dachau
• Painting of Jews in 16th Century Germany wearing circular yellow badges.Template:Efn
  Painting of Jews in 16th Century Germany wearing circular yellow badges.Template:Efn

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.Template:Efn
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.Template:NoteTag
Purple		A Jehovah's Witness of Jewish descent.
Pink		A Jewish "sexual offender", typically a gay or bisexual man.Template:NoteTag
Black		An "asocial" or work-shy Jew.
Voided black ▽		A Jew	convicted of miscegenation and labelled as a (race defiler).Template:NoteTag
Yellow	An upright black triangle	An "Aryan" woman

Examples of the double triangle design

File:Kennzeichen für Schutzhäftlinge in den Konzentrationslagern.jpg

Marking codes used by the Nazis.

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

Coloured bars to show multiple categories

File:A sick Polish survivor in the Hannover-Ahlem concentration camp receives medicine from a German Red Cross worker.jpg

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

Repeat offenders (, 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.

File:The Liberation of Bergen-belsen Concentration Camp, April 1945 BU4010.jpg

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. 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.

Other distinguishing markings

File:Oznaczenia więźniów hitlerowskich obozów koncentracyjnych.png

Other distinguishing markings

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

Strafkompanie (punishment company)

A (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" () wore a red roundel bordered white under their triangle patch. If also assigned to hard labor, they wore the red roundel under their black roundel.

Funktionshäftling (prisoner-functionary)

A prisoner-functionary (), or kapo (boss), wore a cloth brassard (their , or identifying mark) to indicate their status. They served as camp guards (), barracks clerks () and the senior prisoners (, meaning elders) at the camp (), barracks () and room () 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

File:Kazimierkiewicz georg 1 hpk.jpg

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.^

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 (, Belgians)
• E (, "English"; in practice used for all British)
• F (, French)
• I (, Italians)
• J (, Yugoslavs)
• N (, Dutch) — H (for ) is also recorded
• No (, Norwegian)
• P (, Poles)
• S (, generally used for Spanish Republican exiles)
• T (, Czechs)
• U (, Hungarians)
• Z next to, or on top of, a black triangle (, "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 ) was cut out of the purple cloth to show the yellow backing beneath.

Examples of nationality-letter marking at Nazi camps

• F on a red triangle (French political enemy) on the Buchenwald clothing of Dr. Joseph Brau^
  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 F-triangle on the Buchenwald clothing of Dr. Joseph Brau^
• A marking meaning Polish political enemy
  A marking meaning Polish political enemy
• Auschwitz detainee Template:Ill wears a red P-triangle, meaning a Polish political enemy.
  Auschwitz detainee Template:Ill wears a red P-triangle, meaning a Polish political enemy.
• Dutch Jews wearing a yellow star and the letter N for Script error: No such module "Lang". at Mauthausen.[26]
  Dutch Jews wearing a yellow star and the letter N for at Mauthausen.
• Sachsenhausen-issued red F emblem for a French political enemy
  Sachsenhausen-issued red F emblem for a French political enemy
• Plate with concentration camp marking.
  Plate with concentration camp marking.

Nacht und Nebel

File:KZ-Hinzert-Plakette-Nacht-und-Nebel.jpg

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

Some camps assigned (night and fog) prisoners had them wear two large letters NN in yellow.

Reformatory inmates (E or EH)

(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.

Limited preventative custody

Limited preventative custody detainee (, or BV) was the term for general criminals, who wore green triangles with no special marks. 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.

Police inmates (Polizeihäftlinge)

(police inmates), short for (police secure custody inmates), wore either PH in large black letters on a white square or the letter S (for – 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 () 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

Soviet prisoners of war () assigned to work camps () wore two large letters SU (for , meaning Soviet sub-human) 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.

Labor education detainees (Arbeitserziehung Häftling)

Labor education detainees () wore a white letter A on their black triangle. This stood for ("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	(political prisoner)	(professional criminal)	(foreign forced laborer)	Bible Student (Jehovah's Witnesses)	(homosexual male or sex offender)	([[work-shy |workTemplate:Nbhshy]]) or (asocial)	("Gypsy") Roma or Sinti male
Colours	Red	Green	Blue	Purple	Pink	Black	Brown
Triangles	File:Red triangle.svg	File:Green triangle.svg	File:Blue triangle.svg	File:Purple triangle.svg	File:Pink triangle.svg	File:Black triangle.svg	File:Brown triangle.svg
Markings for repeaters	File:Red triangle repeater.svg	File:Green triangle repeater.svg	File:Blue triangle repeater.svg	File:Purple triangle repeater.svg	File:Pink triangle repeater.svg	File:Black triangle repeater.svg	File:Brown triangle repeater.svg
Inmates of Strafkompanie (punishment companies)	File:Red triangle penal.svg	File:Green triangle penal.svg	File:Blue triangle penal.svg	File:Purple triangle penal.svg	File:Pink triangle penal.svg	File:Black triangle penal.svg	File:Brown triangle penal.svg
Markings for Jews	File:Red triangle jew.svg	File:Green triangle jew.svg	File:Blue triangle jew.svg	File:Purple triangle jew.svg	File:Pink triangle jew.svg	File:Black triangle jew.svg	File:Brown triangle jew.svg
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)
			File:Belgian political prisoner triangle (2).png	File:Red triangle Czech.svg	File:Red triangle French.svg	File:Red triangle Pole.svg	File:Red triangle Spainish.svg
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
	File:Male race defiler.svg	File:Female race defiler2.svg	File:Escape suspect.svg	File:Inmate number.svg	File:Special inmate.svg		File:Nazi concentration camp Wehrmacht red triangle badge.svg
Example	File:Sleeve badges.svg	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

Reclaimed symbols

Some of the symbols were reclaimed as symbols of pride after the war.Template:Sfnq The inverted red, pink, purple, black, and blue triangles have all been reclaimed by various remembrance and anti-fascist groups, particularly in Europe. 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. The pink triangle has been used worldwide for several decades. The red inverted triangle has been mostly used in Europe. 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.

• At Sachsenhausen
  At Sachsenhausen
• Various badges on a Dachau memorial.Template:Efn
  Various badges on a Dachau memorial.Template:Efn
• On the Klooga Jewish victims' memorial
  On the Klooga Jewish victims' memorial
• Pink triangle plaque honouring gay victims, a subway station in Berlin.Template:Efn
  Pink triangle plaque honouring gay victims, a subway station in Berlin.Template:Efn
• Commemorative plaque at Mauthausen camp recalling the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses.Template:Efn
  Commemorative plaque at Mauthausen camp recalling the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses.Template:Efn
• Pink triangle (Rosa Winkel in German) memorial for gay men killed at Buchenwald
  Pink triangle (Rosa Winkel in German) memorial for gay men killed at Buchenwald

LGBTQ symbols

File:Institut für Sexualwissenschaft - Bibliothek 1933.jpg

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.

File:19.Assembly.ActUp.NYC.30March2017 (33609021152).jpg

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

• Silence Equals Death
  Silence Equals Death
• The biangles symbol of bisexuality, designed by Liz Nania.
  The biangles symbol of bisexuality, designed by Liz Nania.
• A pink triangle in a green circle, is used as a "safe space" symbol.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
  A pink triangle in a green circle, is used as a "safe space" symbol.
• Equality Michigan
  Equality Michigan
• Amsterdam's Homomonument.Template:Efn
  Amsterdam's Homomonument.Template:Efn
• TelTemplate:NbsAviv]].Template:Efn
  TelTemplate:NbsAviv]].Template:Efn
• The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Holocaust Memorial.Template:Efn
  The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Holocaust Memorial.Template:Efn

Red inverted triangles in political symbols

File:VVN-BdA.svg

VVN-BdA.

File:KdAW logo DDR.png

KdAW.

File:ANED logo.svg

Template:Ill.

Early organizations in post-war Germany

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

The Committee of Antifascist Resistance Fighters (KdAW)Template:Efn was formed in 1953. It functioned as the East German counterpart of the VVN (Template:Langx). The KdAW played an important role in the commemoration of German resistance to Nazism and The Holocaust in East Germany. East Germany utilised such commemorative functions to emphasise the anti-fascist orientation of the state. 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.

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.

• NIKA (Template:Langx) was started in Germany in response to the rise of Germany's far-right party, the AfD (Template:Langx).

• Qassam Brigades (Template:Langx) have used an inverted red triangle (Template:Langx) in their propaganda videos since November 2023. The inverted red triangle was later included in the logo of their Military Media division. 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: Template:Ill.

• Template:Ill (Territories of Memory) and Template:Ill (Red Triangle) are Belgian organisations who promote the use of the red triangle as a symbol of anti-fascism and anti-racism.Template:Efn (See also: Template:Section link)

The Red Wedge and other origins

File:Klinom Krasnym Bej Belych.JPG

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. 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.Template:Efn 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.

Medals and honours

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.

Medal of the KdAW (East Germany, 1975)

From 1975 onwards, the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR, also known as East Germany) released a medal for the "Committee of Antifascist Resistance Fighters" (KdAW, Template:Langx) of the GDR that included a red triangle. It was named Template:Langx. 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.

Photographs of medals that use the inverted red triangle

Further images: Template:Commons category inline

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

2020 Trump campaign

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.

As an example of the public outcry against the use of the downward-pointing red triangle, as reported by MotherJones, the Twitter account (@jewishaction), the account of Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, 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"

Facebook removed the campaign ads with the graphic, saying that its use in this context violated their policy against "organized hate". 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.

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. 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.Template:Sfnq 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. However, news media suggested the symbol used in Palestinian propaganda independently originated from the red section on the Palestinian flag.Template:Sfnq

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
  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 Buchenwald Todesmarsch (death march) route historical marker
• On a Sachsenhausen 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
  Monument (in the village of Grabow-Below) for Ravensbrück death march victims
• On a Wöbbelin memorial stone
  On a Wöbbelin memorial stone
• Boulder (in Lindenring) for 2,000 women victims of Ravensbrück
  Boulder (in Lindenring) for 2,000 women victims of Ravensbrück
• On a Cap Arcona incident memorial
  On a Cap Arcona incident memorial
• At the Neustadt-Glewe concentration camp memorial
  At the Neustadt-Glewe concentration camp memorial
• F-triangle at Mauthausen-Gusen honors French victims
  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 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)
  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
  P-triangle at a Zgorzelec memorial
• Memorial to French victims of Dachau Concentration Camp at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
  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
  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.
  Every year, a pink triangle is erected on Twin Peaks in San Francisco during Pride weekend.

See also

Related topics

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• Identification of inmates in Nazi concentration camps
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References

Bibliography

• 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).