Pink triangle

Abstract

The pink triangle designated those men whom the Nazi regime had incarcerated in concentration camps for violating Paragraph 175, which prohibited sexual contact between men. Inside the camps, the inmates faced physical and emotional degradation; many were castrated; some were the victims of inhuman medical experiments. Estimates suggest that up to 7,000 of these men who wore the pink triangle died in the camps. In the early 1970s, some gay rights activists seized on the symbolic value of the pink triangle to galvanize support for legislative protections and social tolerance for sexual minorities. Although supplanted by the rainbow flag in recent years, the pink triangle remains the key motif in commemorations of the Nazi persecution of homosexuals and has been appropriated by groups ranging from ACT UP to the “Safe Zone” program in U.S. schools.