The fact that gays were put in German concentration camps is not known by many.
One of the groups that was targeted for extermination by the Nazis continues to be under attack to this day, not just verbally but physically, all over the world: homosexuals. Many of those with a pink triangle on their pocket were put back in prison and their nightmare continued. It is said that those who wore the pink triangles were singled out by the guards to receive the harshest treatment, and when the guards were finished with them, some of the other inmates would harm them as well.Īt the end of the war, when the concentration camps were finally liberated, virtually all of the prisoners were released except those who wore the pink triangle. The pink triangles were slightly larger than the other colored triangles so that guards could identify them from a distance. Triangles of various colors were used to identify each category of "undesirable": yellow for Jews, brown of Gypsies, red for political prisoners, green for criminals, black for anti-socials, purple for Jehovah's Witnesses, blue for immigrants, and pink for homosexuals. Gays were forced to wear the pink triangle on their breast pockets in the concentration camps to identify them as homosexual to set them apart from other prisoners. However, in the 1930s & 1940s there was nothing celebratory about the pink triangle. This symbol, which was used to label and shame, has been embraced by the gay community as a symbol of pride. The pink triangle was used by the Nazis in concentration camps to identify and shame homosexuals. Symbol The Pink Triangle | history | symbol