This article is about the Black Triangle as a badge or symbol: for other uses see the disambiguation page Black triangle.

The black triangle, a popular lesbian pride symbol, originates from where it was used to mark prisoners as "asocial" or "arbeitsscheu" (work-shy) in Nazi concentration camps. LGBT pride or gay pride refers to a world wide movement and philosophy asserting that LGBT ( Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and See also List of Nazi-German concentration camps, Extermination camp Prior to and during World War II, Nazi Germany under Hitler maintained

The black triangle in the context of the marking system for prisoners in German concentration camps

The black triangle has sometimes appeared as a lesbian or feminist symbol of pride and solidarity. A lesbian is a Woman who is romantically or sexually attracted only to other women Feminism is a discourse that involves various movements theories, and Philosophies which are concerned with the issue of Gender difference, advocate LGBT pride or gay pride refers to a world wide movement and philosophy asserting that LGBT ( Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and

Nazi usage

The symbol originates from Nazi concentration camps, where every prisoner had to wear one of the Nazi concentration camp badges on their jacket, the colour of which categorised them according "their kind. See also List of Nazi-German concentration camps, Extermination camp Prior to and during World War II, Nazi Germany under Hitler maintained Nazi concentration camp badges, primarily Triangles, were part of the system of Identification in Nazi camps. " Individuals deemed "asocial" had to wear the black triangle. The majority of black-triangle prisoners were mentally retarded or homeless. Mental retardation is a generalized triarchic disorder characterized by subaverage cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors with onset before the age Homelessness is the condition and social category of people who lack housing because they cannot afford or are otherwise unable to maintain regular safe and adequate shelter But smaller groups of prisoners were also given this badge, including alcoholics, the habitually "work shy," prostitutes, and others. Alcoholism is a term with multiple and sometimes conflicting definitions Prostitution is the act of performing Sexual activity in exchange for Money.

Roma or Gypsies were usually classed with black-triangle prisoners, but at some camps were given a separate badge - the brown triangle - instead. The Romani people (singular Rom, plural Roma as a Noun; also known as Romanies or Roma people) are an ethnic group with origins

Use by lesbians

Lesbians have over time claimed the black triangle as a symbol of defiance against repression and discrimination, and it is considered a counterpart to the gay pink triangle. The pink triangle (Rosa Winkel was one of the Nazi concentration camp badges, used by the Nazis to identify male prisoners in concentration camps Today, it is as a lesbian symbol that the black triangle is most widely recognized, though some anarchists use a black triangle as their symbol.

Controversy over the symbol's use

In the Nazis' meticulous records there is no word of the black triangle having been imposed on lesbians, or of lesbians as a group being confined to concentration camps. However, some have reasoned that since the Nazis believed strongly in a traditional social role for women, lesbians and other sexually unconventional women might logically have been considered "asocial" from the Nazis' point of view.

The archive of the memorial site of Ravensbrück has evidence of four women with an additional remark of being lesbians: two of them been persecuted for political reasons, two for being Jewish. Ravensbrück (ʁaːvənsˈbʁʏk was a notorious women's Concentration camp during in World War II, located in northern Germany 90 km north of Berlin One of the Jewish inmates was given a black triangle due to sexual contacts with non-Jewish persons. ^[1]

It is possible that Playing for Time, a holocaust memoir by Frenchwoman Fania Fénelon, helped create the belief that the black triangle was worn by lesbians. Playing for Time was a BBC Television daytime quiz programme that aired on BBC One from 13 November, 2000 until 23 July Fania Fénelon (September 2 1908 as Fania Goldstein – December 19 1983 in Paris) was a pianist composer and cabaret singer Fénelon's memoir includes lesbian themes, and describes an evening of entertainment in the asocials' barracks as the "Black Triangles' Ball. "^[2]

Further reading

• Elman, R. Amy. "Triangles and Tribulations: The Politics of Nazi Symbols," Journal of Homosexuality, vol. 30, no. 3 (1996): 3-11.
• Marshall, Stuart. "The Contemporary Use of Gay History: The Third Reich," in Bad-Object Choices (ed. ), How Do I Look? Queer Film and Video, Seattle, Wash. : Bay Press, 1991.
• Zoe, Lucinda. "The Black Triangle," Lesbian Herstory Archives Newsletter, Brooklyn, N. Y. , No. 12 (June 1991): p. 7. (A critical discussion of the notion that black triangles were used to mark lesbians in the concentration camps in a manner equivalent to the pink triangle for homosexual men, along with remarks on when the black triangle came to be used as a contemporary lesbian symbol).

See also

• History of Gays during the Holocaust
• LGBT symbols
• Nazi concentration camp badges
• Pro-gay slogans and symbols
• Sexuality and gender identity-based cultures

References