Nazi concentration camp badge

Badge coding system

The system of badges varied between the camps, and in the later stages of World War II, 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.

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.

Single triangles

Red triangle—political prisoners: social democrats, socialists, trade unionists, Freemasons, communists, and anarchists.

Green triangle— "professional criminals" (convicts, often working in the camps as kapos).

Blue triangle—foreign forced laborers, emigrants.

Purple triangle—primarily Jehovah's Witnesses (over 99%), and members of other small religious groups.

Pink triangle—primarily homosexual men, as well as sexual offenders including rapists, paedophiles and zoophiles.

Black triangle—people who were deemed "asocial elements" (asozial) and "work shy" (arbeitsscheu) including

Roma. They wore the black triangle with a "Z" notation (for Zigeuner, meaning Gypsy) to the right of the triangle's point. Roma males were later assigned a brown triangle. Roma females were still deemed "asocials" as they were stereotyped as petty criminals (prostitutes, kidnappers, and fortune tellers).

The mentally ill and mentally disabled. Their triangles were inscribed with the word Blöd ("stupid").

Alcoholics and drug addicts

Vagrants and beggars

Pacifists and conscription resisters.

Prostitutes

Some anarchists

Brown triangle—Roma males.

Uninverted red triangle — an enemy POW (Sonderhäftling — "Special Detainee"), a spy or traitor (Aktionshäftling — "Activities Detainee"), or a military deserter or criminal (Wehrmachtsangehöriger — "Service Member").

People who wore the green and pink triangles were convicted in criminal courts and may have been transferred to the criminal prison systems after the camps were liberated.

Some period examples of the single triangle design at Nazi camps

Double triangles

Double-triangle badges resembled two superimposed triangles forming a Star of David, a Jewish symbol.

Red inverted triangle superimposed upon a yellow one—a Jewish political prisoner

Green inverted triangle upon a yellow one—a Jewish "habitual criminal"

Purple inverted triangle superimposed upon a yellow one—a Jehovah's Witness of Jewish descent

Pink inverted triangle superimposed upon a yellow one—a Jewish "sexual offender"

Black inverted triangle superimposed upon a yellow one—"asocial" and "work shy" Jews

Voided black inverted triangle superimposed over a yellow triangle—a Jew convicted of miscegenation and labelled as a Rassenschänder ("race defiler").

Yellow inverted triangle superimposed over a black triangle—an Aryan (woman) convicted of miscegenation and labelled as a Rassenschänder ("race defiler").

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

Some period examples of the double triangle design at Nazi camps

Distinguishing marks

In addition to colour-coding, some groups had to put letter insignia on their triangles to denote country of origin. Red triangle with a letter, for example: "B" (Belgier, Belgians), "E" (Engländer, English), "F" (Franzosen, French), "H" (Holländer, Dutch), "I" (Italiener, Italians), "J" (Jugoslawen, Yugoslavs), "N" (Norweger, Norwegian), "P" (Polen, Poles), "S" (republikanische Spanier, Republican Spanish) "T" (Tscheche, Czechs), or "U" (Ungarn, Hungarians). A "Z" notation next to a Black Triangle (Zigeuner, Gypsy).

Also, repeat offenders (rückfällige > "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 his/her star or triangle

A professional criminal would have a green bar

A foreign forced laborer would have a blue bar

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 (Gypsies) would usually be incarcerated in special sub-camps until they died and so would not normally receive a repeat stripe.

Later in the war (late 1944), to save cloth, Jewish prisoners wore a yellow bar over a regular point-down triangle to indicate their status. For instance, regular Jews would wear a yellow bar over a red triangle while Jewish criminals would wear a yellow bar over a green triangle.

Special marks

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

"Limited Preventative Custody" detainee ("Befristete Vorbeugungshaft" Häftling, 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. However, when the war began they were confined indefinitely for its duration.

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 6 to 8 weeks and were then released. It was hoped that the threat of permanent incarceration at hard labor would deter them from further mischief.

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.

Some camps assigned Nacht und Nebel prisoners had them wear two large letters, NN (for Nacht und Nebel - "Night and Fog") in yellow.

Soviet prisoners of war (russische Kriegsgefangenen) assigned to work camps (Arbeitslager) wore two large letters, SU (for sowjetischer Untermensch - "Soviet Sub-Human") in yellow and had vertical stripes painted on their uniforms. Those who were not shot out of hand before they could reach a camp or had died of neglect from untreated wounds, exposure to the elements, or starvation performed hard labor. Some joined Vlasov's Liberation Army to fight for the Germans.

"Labor Education Detainees" (Arbeitserziehung Häftling) wore a white letter A on their black triangle. This stood for Arbeitsscheuer ("Work-Shy Person") - designating "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.

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 or euthanized.

The Wehrmacht Strafbattalion ("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 which military service was either the assigned punishment or a voluntary replacement of imprisonment. They wore regular uniforms but were forbidden 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.

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

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.

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 at the camp (lagerältester), barracks (blockältester) and room (stübenältester) 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.

Detainees wearing civilian clothing (more common later in the war) instead of the striped uniforms 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 would be compelled to sew their number and (if applicable) a triangle emblem onto the fronts of such X-ed clothing.

Some period examples of nationality-letter marking at Nazi camps

Postwar use

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 (point down, base up) triangle (especially if red) evokes all victims, including also the non-Jewish victims like Slavs, Poles, communists, homosexuals, Roma (see Porajmos), the handicapped (see Action T4), and Soviet POWs. 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.

Some examples of camp triangle emblems on monuments and related uses