Purple Triangle

by Wordly Andre 35 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Wordly Andre

  I was watching a documentry last week and it was about concentration camps, I was not paying much attention because I was on my computer at the same time, however they were talking about the different badges of shame that were put on the prisoners shirts. When they got to the Purple Triangle it was said that, that meant the prisoner was a Religious fanatics, now growing up the JW's always said that the purple triangle was for JW's, I am not saying they were not in the camps but, there were other religous groups that the members were taken by the Nazi's because of their religious beliefs not just the JW's. Not too long ago I was talking to a JW about this same topic, he said the purple triangle was only for JW's and went on about the abuse and killings suffered because the Nazi's targeted JW's. I wish I had recorded that show.
• 

  searchingforfriends

  That's really interesting, I never knew that it was for more than JW's. Here's what I've found so far, I'm sure there's more.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_triangle

  The purple triangle was a concentration camp badge used by the Nazis to identify several unorthodox non-conformist religious groups known as "Bibelforscher" ("Bible scholars").[1][2] Among these were mainly Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as a few members of Witness splinter groups, and members of the Adventist, Baptist, and New Apostolic movements.[3]
• 

  BabaYaga

  Wow... I never knew that either. Thanks for the heads-up.
• 

  MsMcDucket

  Well, the Jews had to wear the Star of David!
• 

  MsMcDucket

  Purple triangle

  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  Jump to: navigation, search

  The purple triangle was a concentration camp badge used by the Nazis to identify several unorthodox non-conformist religious groups known as "Bibelforscher" ("Bible scholars"). [1] [2] Among these were mainly Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as a few members of Witness splinter groups, and members of the Adventist, Baptist, and New Apostolic movements. [3]

  [edit] References
• 

  MsMcDucket

  Sorry Searching! I just put the same thing you posted! Egad!
• 

  Wordly Andre

  Wonder if that Wiki poster was a JW? Seems to me there would be equal amounts of "other" religious groups compared to the JW's, but the way the JW's tell it, it was only them
• 

  VoidEater

  There were a variety of badges, the purple triangle was for a variety of religious groups that would not sign up with the Party (this is probably the historical basis for the Malawi stupidity).

  While the subject matter is not specifically on religious objectors, The Pink Triangle has (as I recall) an appendix listing the various badges used in the camps and their meanings (obviously the book is about gays in the camps):

  http://www.amazon.com/Pink-Triangle-Nazi-Against-Homosexuals/dp/0805006001/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215621882&sr=1-1

  From http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Nazi:concentration:camp:badges.html (though with the common JW error):

  The most common forms of the badge were:

  • Pink inverted triangle - a homosexual.
  • Green inverted triangle - a regular criminal.
  • Red inverted triangle - a political prisoner. The color red was probably chosen because it represented the communists, the political enemies that the Nazis hated most (and the first to be officially outlawed).
  • Purple inverted triangle - a Jehovah's Witness.
  • Black inverted triangle -
    • A vagrant
    • A Gypsy
    • A woman jailed for "anti-social behavior", i.e., a lesbian, a prostitute or woman who used birth control.

  Double triangles:

  • Two yellow triangles, superimposed upon one another, making the Star of David The Star of David Magen David or Mogen David in Hebrew, Shield of David Solomon's Seal or Seal of Solomon is a generally recognized symbol of Judaism and Jewish identity. It is also known as the Jewish Star . With the establishment of the State of Israel - a Jew The word Jew is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to either a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or a member of the Jewish culture or ethnicity. This article discusses the term as describing an ethnic group; for a , including Jews by practice or descent.
  • Pink inverted triangle superimposed upon a yellow one, making the Star of David - a homosexual Jew.

  There were many markings. A prisoner would typically have at least two, and possibly more than six:
• 

  MsMcDucket

  The people that were mostly persecuted were the Jews.
• 

  james_woods

  When I first heard about this in the 1960s (right before Malawi) - the standard story was that "Jehovah's Witnesses were the only people in Germany interred strictly for their religion". Jews were put in the camps because of their race.

  This, of course, nicely avoids the subject of the odd jew who was racially probably just as german as Erwin Rommell, but who happened to have the name Goldshmidt or some such.

  We were also told that this German term "biblestudent" was actually "the German translation word for Jehovah's Witnesses" and it did not mean any other groups.

  The famous story was that Rutherford started a Malawi-like letter and cable campaign to Hitler over the JWs, and that Hitler is supposed to have said "this brood will be exterminated in Germany" after seeing another deskful of the letters and cables.

  I wonder if that is not also witness urban legend - but they did claim to have an eyewitness.