The pink triangle, a popular gay pride symbol, was originally used to denote homosexual men as a Nazi concentration camp badge.

The pink triangle (German: Rosa Winkel) was one of the Nazi concentration camp badges, used by the Nazis to identify male prisoners in concentration camps who were sent there because of their homosexuality. Every prisoner had to wear a triangle on his or her jacket, the color of which was to categorize him or her according "to his kind." Jews had to wear the yellow badge, and "anti-social individuals" (often, but not exclusively, lesbians), the black triangle. Image File history File links Pink triangle From http://www. ... Gay Pride in San Francisco The gay pride or simply pride campaign of the gay rights movement has three main premises: that people should be proud of what they are, that sexual diversity is a gift, and that sexual orientation and gender identity are inherent and cannot be intentionally altered. ... 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. ... 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. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... See also the related List of German concentration camps Concentration camp in Nazi Germany. ... Since its inception, the term homosexuality has acquired multiple meanings. ... The yellow badge which Jews were forced to wear during the Nazi occupation of Europe: a black Star of David on a yellow field, with the word Jew written inside. ... Lesbian describes a homosexual woman. ... Black triangle may refer to one of the following: A type of UFO-like sighting: see Black triangles. ...

The inverted pink triangle has become an international symbol of gay pride and the gay rights movement, and is second in popularity only to the rainbow flag. Gay Pride in San Francisco The gay pride or simply pride campaign of the gay rights movement has three main premises: that people should be proud of what they are, that sexual diversity is a gift, and that sexual orientation and gender identity are inherent and cannot be intentionally altered. ... The gay rights movement is a collection of loosely aligned civil rights groups, human rights groups, support groups and political activists seeking acceptance, tolerance and equality for non-heterosexual, (homosexual, bisexual), and transgender people - despite the fact that it is typically referred to as the gay rights movement, members also... A rainbow flag is a multi-colored flag consisting of stripes in the colors of the rainbow. ...

History

Not all of the prisoners with a pink triangle identified themselves as gay (sometimes they were married to women, and had had homosexual sex only a few times). Not everyone convicted under Paragraph 175 was sent to a concentration camp; in fact, most were only jailed. Most gay men who suffered and died in Nazi concentration camps actually wore the yellow star (because they were both Gay and Jewish). As such, it is difficult to construct a coherent gay victim group and count its numbers. Paragraph 175 (known formally as §175 StGB; also known as Section 175 in English) was a provision of the German Criminal Code from 15 May 1871 to 10 March 1994. ... The yellow badge which Jews were forced to wear during the Nazi occupation of Europe: a black Star of David on a yellow field, with the word Jew written inside. ... The word Jew (Hebrew: יהודי transliterated: Yehudi) is used in many ways, but generally refers to a follower of Judaism, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity; and often a combination of these attributes. ...

Pink-Triangle Prisoner Erwin Schimitzek, KZ Auschwitz.

However, a commonly accepted rough estimate of the prisoners who wore the pink triangle is 5,000 to 15,000. For non-Jews, they certainly had a death toll above average. The reason for this might be that they were often alone and sometimes avoided and singled out at a distance because they had been branded as gay (even though gay sex was prevalent in the strictly gender-separated Nazi camps.) Erwin Schimitzek, Clerk Born Feb 16th, 1918 in Breslau (Wroclaw) Interned in Auschwitz on Aug 28th, 1941 Died on Feb 28th, 1942, aged 24 years This work is copyrighted. ... Erwin Schimitzek, Clerk Born Feb 16th, 1918 in Breslau (Wroclaw) Interned in Auschwitz on Aug 28th, 1941 Died on Feb 28th, 1942, aged 24 years This work is copyrighted. ... Auschwitz is the name loosely used to identify three main Nazi German concentration camps and 45-50 sub-camps. ...

Those imprisoned and made to wear the pink triangle also have never been recompensated by the German government. If they continued to be openly gay they could be reimprisoned again and again, as was Heinz Doermer, who served 20 years in total both in a Nazi concentration camp and in the jails of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Nazi amendments to Paragraph 175, which turned homosexuality from a minor offense into a felony, remained intact after the war for a further 24 years. The Federal Republic of Germany (in German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is a federal representative democracy. ... A felony, in many common law legal systems, is the term for a very serious crime; misdemeanors are considered to be less serious. ...

Today, fewer than ten of those imprisoned for homosexuality are known to be still living. In 2000, the documentary film Paragraph 175 recorded some of their testimonies. This article is about the year 2000. ... Paragraph 175 was a documentary film released in 2000, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, and narrated by Rupert Everett. ...

See also

• History of Gays during the Holocaust
• Sexuality and gender identity-based cultures
• Bent

Prior to the Third Reich, Berlin was considered a liberal city, with many gay bars, nightclubs and cabarets. ... Christopher Street Parade Sexuality and gender identity-based cultures concern the culture, knowledge, and references shared by members of sexual minorities or transgendered people by virtue of their membership in those minorities or their state of being transgendered. ... Poster for the Royal National Theatre production of Bent Bent is a 1979 play (which starred Richard Gere in its original production) by Martin Sherman that was adapted into a 1997 movie by director Sean Mathias. ...

Sources and further reading

• An Underground Life: Memoirs of a Gay Jew in Nazi Berlin (1999) by Gad Beck (University of Wisconsin Press). ISBN 0299165000.
• Liberation Was for Others: Memoirs of a Gay Survivor of the Nazi Holocaust (1997) by Pierre Seel (Perseus Book Group). ISBN 0306807564.
• I, Pierre Seel, Deported Homosexual: A Memoir of Nazi Terror (1995) by Pierre Seel. ISBN 0465045006.
• The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals (1986) by Richard Plant (New Republic Books). ISBN 0-80-500600-1.
• A short explanation of the origin of pink and other queer triangles
• Auschwitz Concentration Camp: The Pink-Triangle prisoners