Many theories have been made to understand Hitler’s reasoning to create what were called “Dishonor” badges for Jewish prisoners. Some believe that it was purely a way to separate the many Jewish races throughout the camps, and some believe that his plot was much deeper. Hitler saw his German race as superior. He wanted to show the world through the Jews that Germans were powerful, and that nothing could stand higher than him. he and his accomplice Reinhard Tristan Heydrich, invented the use of jewish badges. Hitler believed that people of different entities were “sub-human” or unworthy. His main goal of using badges was to separate Jewish people from the Nazi as noticeable as possible. Hitler strived to make his word clear that Jews were nothing in society, only a label.
Jews marked with badges
The “Star of David” is a symbol that is very dear to the Jewish heritage. It symbolizes their beliefs and religious character. Before the war began, the star represented the Jewish faith and happiness. The star was a representation of their faith and closeness to their God. As the war progressed the Nazi Germans manipulated the star so that Jews would be ashamed of wearing it. The Nazi disguised the star as a symbol of inhuman rather than a symbol of their life. This led Jews to rebel against their beliefs and gradually against God. Jews also began to feel unworthy and inhuman because of theses labels. The “Star of David” was turned into a death sentence or fate that showed each Jews’ offence to everyone in the concentration camps.
The Nazi Germans used badges of different color and shape to identify Jews’ background and beliefs. Triangle badges were worn attached to the “star of David” to show different groups within the concentration camps. Patches of the color purple were worn by Jews that were considered “Bible researchers” or religious priests. This category also contained religious groups such as Catholic, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Orthodox Christian. The “Asocial” category was, perhaps, the most diverse, including prostitutes, vagrants, murderers, and thieves. The Jews that were considered Asocial, would wear the color black on their star. Jews that were thought to be homosexual would wear a pink triangle For Jewish offenders; triangles of two different colors were combined to create a six-pointed star, one triangle yellow to identify the Jewish race, the second triangle another color to show the added offense.
The color or shape of badges established Jews’ fate as well. Jews’ that were forced to wear black dots under the Jewish star badge were marked for and early death. Jewish demise was often resulted in the badge the Jews wore. Jews that wore the purple triangle that represented “religious researcher” were killed in massive numbers over time. Homosexual Jews were often discriminated against by other Nazi soldiers and other Jews in the camps as soon as the pink triangle was seen. Gypsies and Witch craft makers were often sentenced to death in a gruesome way. Many were either burned to death or hung in front of groups of Jews. Jewish criminals and murders that wore the red triangle were looked upon carefully by Nazi soldiers. They were usually placed in the hard labor work, to weaken their bodies and make certain that none would use their strength and skills to revel against the soldiers. In many cases, red triangle wearers were considered the most “hard to break”