molly.com
Monday 22 August 2005
Sorrowful Inversions: The Triangle and Color Symbology in Nazi Concentration Camps
RECENT DISCUSSION ABOUT shape reminded me of research I’d done some years ago regarding the symbology of shape and color in Nazi concentration camps.
Triangles played a profound role in the way Nazis – notorious for good record keeping – identified and tracked prisoners. Color is equally if not more important in the coding used, as is direction. The triangles are all inverted, with the exception of the Star of David, which contains both an upward facing and inverted triangle, as well as six smaller, intersected triangles.
Blue triangles represented immigrants. Brown, the gypsies. Anti-socials and lesbians (often those women and men trying to fight off sexual or physical attacks) – a black triangle.
The Nazis enjoyed classifying prisoners by type. While there were some differences with these shape and color coding practices from camp to camp, generally speaking a green triangle represented a regular criminal: a burglar, for example. Red triangles were worn by political prisoners, particularly communists. Purple triangles were worn by Christian Fundamentalists opposing the war. Note that purple is related to death and mourning in Catholic Europe.
Jewish prisoners wore yellow Stars of David as identification. The pink triangle represented male homosexual prisoners. The lowest prisoner in the hierarchy of camps wore a yellow Star of David under a sumperimposed pink triangle.
This of course represented a gay Jew.
Filed under: faith(less),society,web design and development
Posted by: Molly | 16:06 | Comments (21)
It still astonishes me how strongly I react to some symbols. And my associations for the star of david are historically positive. Now as I look at this yellow/pink star and think about what it must have been like to wear it during that tragic time…juxtaposed with the use of a rainbow triangle symbol in today’s society…I think…how amazingly resilient we can be. Symbols used against us, redefined, rebranded and reclaimed.
And yet, there are some symbols that I’m not sure I could ever scrub clean from their previous dark meaning.
Sim. to this (but obvioulsy quite different in meaning)…are flag designs of the world. No, I’m not kidding – some have very complex historical backgrounds relating to how their particular shapes originated. I used to be fascinated by them when I was much younger….(I guess I was a dorky kid!!) The use of colours always interested me and why one place would decide on one design, while somewhere very nearby would have something so strikingly different.
Molly – you’ve drawn attention to the Nazi’s use of colours (*cough* sorry….colors) and the use of the Star of David for the badges and this took on quite different meanings for all associated with the badge…(I wonder how many non-Jewish Germans of that era see those badges today and it brings any sense of shame or guilt perhaps?) The jewish communities obviously have strong associated feelings with it. I think that’s why I mention about International country flags – they give a patriotic emotion for some people…and quite different feelings for others.
The Stars and Stripes are loved by some…but how well does it go down in parts of Iran or Iraq?
….Gotta wonder.
Soon we atheists will have to start wearing something to separate us from the “godly”.
They go down just fine — with a lighter, that is
Molly: Note – I studied about Nazi history as one half of my History A-Levels (during High School in the UK)….that’s two years of full-time learning about every aspect of the Nazi party from it’s orgins to the end of WWII. The part about the Jews and the Holocaust took up a meaty third of the entire course…I’m just saying, y’know, okay – I’m not Jewish and yet I even I know a bit about what happened during those times. I think everyone should know what happened – so that it doesn’t ever happen again.
Right…that was nothing to do with shapes OR colours…(please delete all of it at will if you think it’s too irrelevant).
Ahhh Dante….setting the tone.
It has interested me also regarding the effect of symbols on our thoughts and emotions. I’ll never be able to look at a swastika withouth thinking of Hitler. I’ll never be able to look at a cross without thinking of Christ. Almost everything in society has its own symbol though, doesn’t it? The window for Microsoft, the Penguin for Linux, the Camel for Perl, etc. Symbols, I think, will always be part of our humanity.
Hmmm… funny but whenever I see a Camel, I can’t help but think of tabacco! LOL!
Of course, the really sick and juvenile among us… when we think of Camel Cigarettes, we (okay, I) can’t help but think about the supposedly “secret” man and woman drawn INSIDE the Camel illustration on each Camel cigarette pack… LOL!
Symbols, indeed.
I knew about the yellow stars and the pink triangles, but I didn’t know about the other symbols. Interestingly, the gay pride movement embraced the pink triangle as a symbol of, well, pride in the 1980s.
Last week, many of the Israeli citizens who were evicted from their homes wore the yellow “Jude” stars as a protest symbol last week.
One thing unique about the stars, to my knowledge, is that no other group had to wear such symbols outside the camps.
Everydays life during the Third Reich was indeed crammed with symbols as part of the staging of the NSDAP. Even typefaces were subjected to revision, leaving Fraktur for printing and Suetterlin for handwriting – until both were abandoned in the fourties due to seemingly being of jewish origin.
When talking about colour – for me, thinking about this era, everything seems to be a mixture of black, red, white and all shades of khaki to brown.
Every other colour, be it blue, green, orange, are amiss in my imagination.
Matt, I think many Germans who experienced this era tend to suppress any feelings of guilt or shame, because deep inside they feel their guilt is unbearably huge. I am of a different generation and I feel furious and utterly disgusted when thinking about Hitler’s Germany. My visits to two concentration camps, Dachau and Buchenwald, left me really sick. These camps have not lost any of their horror.
Meirav, the gay pride movement started in the 1970s after the Stonewall riots of 1969. The pink triangle was chosen to remind people of the ongoing persecution gays suffered. It is interesting to note that in the eighties ACT-UP flipped the triangle upside-down to symbolise active fight against AIDS.
what you jews and nazis have done to north america dont leave you much room to snivel and bitch now does it?
CORRECTION: i meant to say that what you KIKES and KRAUTS and NIGGERS and HONKEYS and WOPS and SPICS and CHINKS and FROGS and SLIMEYLIMEYS and POLLOCKS and BEANERS and ALL OTHER HUMAN TRASH THAT MURDERED MY ANCESTORS AND STOLE MY NORTHAMERICANCONTINENT; dont leave you much room to snivel and bitch now does it?
I hear you native american. It seems to me that the jews rule north america. Its a fact that 90% of all lawyers[liars],doctors,bankers,professors are all jews.99% of all media is jew owned.And what about that bullshit they are gods chosen people? Makes me say fuck god if thats the case.That asshole bush been killing my people cuz he is a puppet of the jews.ZOG. Bush is the terrorist,not me.I defend what is mine.FUCK THE JEWSA
how incredibly sad (and sick) to read the last two responses…didnt this blog start with the symbology of colors and shapes in regards to the Nazi’s criminal acts against human beings?…Wasnt it about the massacre and horrific inhumane treatment of Jews, Gypsies, those with mental incapacities, and /or those that were politically opposed or culturally opposed?
How did this turn into a forum for anti American sentiment and even more rhetoric for Jew bashing and blaming?
To osama- yes the jew own the media and most of the country. do you know why? throughout history they have been the highest educated group of pepole in the world. That is most likely why the ignorant, inbred people, such as your self, fear and hate them.
To the native american- your people were once immigrants to this land, too. as for the SPICS, BEANERS, WETBACKS, etc… those are your people man! They are descendant from the same race of people that you are. Do some research and learn your own history…get off your hypocritical peace pipe and goverment subsidized income.
I, too, am sorry to see this blog go the way of racism. To molly and the rest of you… thank you for the information. i appreciate those who value knowledge and learn from humanities past mistakes.
Horrors done by we humans in the name of “God,” “peace,” “security,” “justice,” “civilization,” etc. are frighteningly numerous. I love all of the above terms, so I can’t justify hating others based on those terms. People who use these words to rally murderers pervert the meanings. “You took our land” is a statement that can be made by many nations/peoples throughout history and throughout the world. There is no justification for stealing land & life, but if revenge and accusation is the starting point, we’re pretty much doomed. Before anyone goes into “ethnic cleansing” mode, let’s look at how many “pure-blooded” people there are…. If I hurt you, I hurt a relative, no matter how distant. I miss the views of Martin Luther King….