THE WINKEL (CHEVRON)

Each inmate had to wear a triangle ("Winkel") next to his number. The "Winkel" showed the reason for the imprisonment. Non-Germans were also marked by the initial letter of their home country in the midst of that triangle. The colour of the "Winkel" showed the reason of captivity:

Yellow:

Jews; a yellow triangle with the vertex at the top was sewn on the clothes, and above that yellow triangle, a second triangle which showed with the colour the reason for imprisonment: The two coloured "Winkel" together formed a star of David:

 

Red/Yellow: Jewish political protective custody inmate

 

Blue/Yellow: Jewish emigrant

 

Green/Yellow: Jewish criminalr

 

Black(Yellow: Jewsish "antisocial"

 

Yellow/White: Jewish "racial violator"

 

 

Brown:

Gypsies

 

Red:

Political Prisoners

 

Green:

Criminals, so-called "Berufsverbrecher" ( "Business criminals")

 

Green with vertex at the top:

: So- called "Sicherheitsverwahrte" - people who were arrested in a concentration camp after the end of their regular imprisonment in a jail whre they had been sentenced to by a court.

 

Black:

Black: "Anti-socials", German prisoners: "work dodgers", gamblers, prostitutes, souteneurs, gigolos, smugglers, poachers or marriage impostors. Foreign prisoners: Escape from the work place, sabotage etc....

 

Pink:

Homosexuals

 

Violet:

Witnesses of Jehova

 

Blue:

Emigrants

 

Members of the Punishment Commando were marked by a black dot at the top of the trangle. The prisoners who had arrived Auschwitz within a "Nacht und Nebel-Transport" ("Night and Fog"), abbreviated NN, had a broad red stripe, a cross on their back as well as on the trousers. Members of the Punishment Commando were marked by a black dot at the top of the triangle. The prisoners who had arrived Auschwitz within a "Nacht und Nebel-Transport" ("Night and Fog"), abbreviated "NN, had a broad red stripe, a cross on their back as well as on the trousers.

All other categories were marked by initial letters in front of the number:

• E: Erziehungshäftlinge (educational prisoner)
• SU: Soviet prisoner of war
• ZA: "Zivilarbeiter" (civilian worker)
• IL (im Lager, "in the camp")(im Lager): Prisoners who had to stay in the camp: they were not allowed to work off the camp because there were suspected of planning an escape. In addition, this category was marked by a red-white target butt on breast and back.
• PH: "Polizeihäftling" (police prisoner)