Black triangle (badge)

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German. Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 2,039 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Schwarzer Winkel]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|de|Schwarzer Winkel}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

The inverted black triangle (German: schwarzes Dreieck) was an identification badge used in Nazi concentration camps to mark prisoners designated asozial  [de] ("a(nti-)social")^[1][2] and arbeitsscheu ("work-shy"). The Roma and Sinti people were considered asocial and tagged with the black triangle.^[1][3] The designation also included disabled individuals, alcoholics, beggars, homeless people, nomads, prostitutes, and violators of laws prohibiting sexual relations between Aryans and Jews.^[1][2] Women also deemed to be anti-social included nonconformists.^[2][4]

The symbol originates from Nazi Germany, where every prisoner had to wear a concentration camp badge on their prison clothes, of which the design and color categorized them according to the reason for their internment. The homeless were included, as were alcoholics, those who habitually avoided labor and employment, draft evaders, pacifists, Roma and Sinti people, and others.^[5][6]

Romani first wore the black triangle with a Z notation (for Zigeuner, meaning Gypsy) to the right of the triangle's point.^[7] Male Romani were later assigned a brown triangle. Female Romani were still deemed asocials as they were stereotyped as petty criminals (prostitutes, kidnappers and fortune tellers).

Some UK groups concerned with the rights of disabled people have adopted the symbol in their campaigns.^[8][9] Such groups cite press coverage and government policies, including changes to incapacity benefits and disability living allowance, as the reasons for their campaigns.^[10][11] "The Black Triangle List" was created to keep track of welfare-related deaths due to cuts by the Department for Work and Pensions.^[12]

• Antiziganism
• Aktion Arbeitsscheu Reich
• Action T4
• Anti-homelessness legislation
• Discrimination against the homeless

• "Lesbians Under the Nazi Regime". Holocaust Encyclopedia. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 31 March 2021.
• 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.