Badge

A cloth identifier that the Catholic Church required Jews to wear. This was later adopted by the Nazi Government in Germany who required certain groups to wear a badge so that they could easily be singled out.

For Jews, this was a yellow Star of David. For other groups it was usually a triangle:

• brown for Roma (aka Gypsies)
• purple for Jehovah's Witnesses
• pink for homosexuals
• green for criminals
• red for political prisoners
• blue for emigrants
• black for 'asocials'

In recent years, gays and lesbians have embraced the pink triangle as a symbol of their drive for equal treatment.