NOTE: This item sold in our shop in early June 2017 to a private collector.

The catalogue of nightmares during Nazi rule in Germany is vast, and the relics left from this time period are chilling. Many of these relics reside in public and private collections, and are important reminders of a past never to be repeated.

One item in a large collection of German militaria we recently acquired stood out, both because of its rarity and because of its visceral connection to Nazi brutality. This is an armband worn by a prisoner in a concentration camp, emblazoned with an inverted pink triangle. These were issued to what the Nazis termed “sexual deviants,” a group composed overwhelmingly of gay men. While it’s true that in theory other sexual offenders would wear these armbands, in practice over 99% of pink triangle armbands were worn by gay men.

The armband is made of rough cotton, crudely made (no doubt at the concentration camp), and has a separate pink triangle affixed. Also present is another pink bar, denoting the wearer as a “repeat offender.”

While official statistics are hard to pinpoint, it has been estimated that between 1933 and 1945 about 50,000-60,000 men were convicted of homosexuality.

This armband has been well used, showing sweat staining as well as age discoloration and fading. As we understand it, these armbands were often taken from deceased prisoners and forced upon another prisoner, rather than a new one being issued. One can only guess how many different prisoners were forced to wear this demeaning symbol.

The Nazis used an entire color coding system to categorize prisoners, with some examples being purple being for Jehovah’s Witnesses, green for general convicts, red for political prisoners, and black for what they deemed generally “undesirable” elements.

The triangle was originally chosen because of its similarity to German road signs warning travelers of upcoming hazards. While officially used until 1945, as the war progressed, the triangle scheme was gradually abandoned in some concentration camps.

If the pink triangle looks familiar in other contexts, it’s because the modern gay rights movement has taken this symbol, turned the triangle to point up, and used it as a symbol of gay pride, rather than a badge of shame and injustice.

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