Green triangle (badge)

The green triangle was a cloth badge used in the Nazi concentration camp prisoner-classification system to identify prisoners categorized by the SS and criminal police as “criminal” or “career criminal” Berufsverbrecher.[1][2]

The use of colored triangular badges became standardized across the camp system in 1937–1938, although markings could vary somewhat between camps and over time.[1][2] In the standardized system, the green triangle designated prisoners whom the Nazi authorities classified as criminal offenders, often under forms of police preventive detention.[2][3]

History

The SS prisoner-classification system visually marked inmates by category using colored triangles sewn onto camp uniforms. The system was intended to stigmatize prisoners, facilitate surveillance, and reinforce divisions among inmates.[1] Green triangles marked prisoners categorized as “criminal” prisoners. At Auschwitz, the memorial museum describes them as prisoners imprisoned either directly as a consequence of a criminal offense or after release from prison when the criminal police considered an earlier court sentence too lenient; most were Germans.[3]

According to Arolsen Archives, the category of prisoners marked with green triangles was broad and included people known to have repeatedly broken the law, people suspected of living a “criminal lifestyle,” and others placed in custody as a preventive measure even after serving their sentence.[2] Arolsen further notes that the severity of the offense was not decisive and that even repeated minor offenses could result in imprisonment in a concentration camp.[2]

Prisoner category

The prisoner category associated with the green triangle was commonly described by the abbreviation BV or B.V., short for Berufsverbrecher (“career criminal”).[2] In camp documentation, other abbreviations connected with police custody could also appear, including P.V.H. for polizeiliche Vorbeugehaft (“police preventive detention”) and PH for Polizeihaft (“police detention”).[2]

Although the label suggested ordinary criminality, historians and memorial institutions have emphasized that Nazi policing practices were expansive and arbitrary. The category included not only those convicted of serious offenses, but also people convicted of burglary, fraud, pimping, abortion, so-called “crimes of desperation,” and in some cases men repeatedly convicted under laws criminalizing homosexuality.[2] The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum also notes that people labeled “professional criminals” usually had criminal records for property crimes and were often recidivists, but that some had never been formally charged with a crime.[4]

Function within the camp system

The green triangle formed part of a broader hierarchy of prisoner badges that included red for political prisoners, black for prisoners categorized as “asocial,” pink for men imprisoned for homosexuality, and purple for Jehovah's Witnesses.[1][3] Badge colors could also be combined with letters indicating nationality, and Jewish prisoners often wore a yellow triangle combined with another colored triangle to form a six-pointed star.[1][5]

In practice, the marking system did more than identify administrative categories. It contributed to unequal treatment within camps and could affect labor assignments, disciplinary measures, and relations among prisoners.[1] In some camps, prisoners marked with green triangles were disproportionately represented among prisoner functionaries, though this varied by time and place and should not be generalized to all camps.[1]

Historiography and recognition

Postwar recognition of people imprisoned under the “criminal” category was long delayed. Arolsen Archives states that prisoners categorized with green triangles were not officially recognized in Germany as victims of National Socialism until 2020.[2] Recent scholarship and memorial work have increasingly emphasized that Nazi persecution under categories such as “criminal” and “asocial” cannot be understood simply through the lens of ordinary criminal justice, because police discretion, racial ideology, social prejudice, and preventive detention were central to these imprisonments.[2][4]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Classification System in Nazi Concentration Camps". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Prisoner categories and their abbreviations" (PDF). Arolsen Archives e-Guide. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  3. ^ a b c "System of triangles". Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  4. ^ a b "What Groups of People did the Nazis Target?". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 4 April 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  5. ^ "Mini dictionary". Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. Retrieved 14 March 2026.

Sources

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.