Editing Nazi concentration camp badge (section)

==== Special marks ====
{{More citations needed|section|date=October 2019}}
Many various markings and combinations existed. A prisoner would usually have at least two and possibly more than six.

Limited preventative custody detainee ({{lang|de|Befristete Vorbeugungshaft Häftling}}, or BV) was the term for general criminals (who wore green triangles with no special marks). They originally were only supposed to be incarcerated at the camp until their term expired and then they would be released. However, when the war began they were confined indefinitely for its duration.

{{lang|de|Erziehungshäftlinge}} (reformatory inmates) wore E or EH in large black letters on a white square. They were made up of intellectuals and respected community members who could organize and lead a resistance movement, suspicious persons picked up in sweeps or stopped at checkpoints, people caught performing conspiratorial activities or acts and inmates who broke work discipline. They were assigned to hard labor for six to eight weeks and were then released. It was hoped that the threat of permanent incarceration at hard labor would deter them from further action.

{{lang|de|Polizeihäftlinge}} (police inmates), short for {{lang|de|Polizeilich Sicherungsverwahrte Häftlinge}} (police secure custody inmates), wore either PH in large black letters on a white square or the letter S (for {{lang|de|Sicherungsverwahrt}} – secure custody) on a green triangle. To save expense, some camps had them just wear their civilian clothes without markings. Records used the letter PSV ({{lang|de|Polizeilich Sicherungsverwahrt}}) to designate them. They were people awaiting trial by a police court-martial or who were already convicted. They were detained in a special jail barracks until they were executed.

Some camps assigned {{lang|de|[[Nacht und Nebel]]}} (night and fog) prisoners had them wear two large letters NN in yellow.

Soviet prisoners of war ({{lang|de|russische Kriegsgefangenen}}) assigned to work camps ({{lang|de|Arbeitslager}}) wore two large letters SU (for {{lang|de|sowjetischer Untermensch}}, meaning Soviet sub-human){{Citation needed|date=October 2019}} in yellow and had vertical stripes painted on their uniforms. They were the few who had not been shot out of hand or died of neglect from untreated wounds, exposure to the elements, or starvation before they could reach a camp. They performed hard labor. Some joined [[Andrey Vlasov]]'s [[Russian Liberation Army|Liberation Army]] to fight for the Germans.

Labor education detainees ({{lang|de|Arbeitserziehung Häftling}}) wore a white letter A on their black triangle. This stood for {{lang|de|Arbeitsscheuer}} ("work-shy person"), designating stereotypically "lazy" social undesirables like Gypsies, petty criminals (e.g. prostitutes and pickpockets), alcoholics/drug addicts and vagrants. They were usually assigned to work at labor camps.

{{lang|de|Asoziale}} (anti-socials) inmates wore a plain black triangle. They were considered either too "selfish" or "deviant" to contribute to society or were considered too impaired to support themselves. They were therefore considered a burden. This category included pacifists and conscription resisters, petty or habitual criminals, the mentally ill and the mentally and/or physically disabled. They were usually executed.

The {{lang|de|Wehrmacht|italic=no}} {{lang|de|[[Strafbattalion]]}} (punishment battalion) and SS {{lang|de|Bewährungstruppe}} (probation company) were military punishment units. They consisted of {{lang|de|[[Wehrmacht]]|italic=no}} and SS military criminals, SS personnel convicted by an Honor Court of bad conduct and civilian criminals for which military service was either the assigned punishment or a voluntary replacement of imprisonment. They wore regular uniforms, but were forbidden rank or unit insignia until they had proven themselves in combat. They wore an uninverted (point-upwards) red triangle on their upper sleeves to indicate their status. Most were used for hard labor, "special tasks" (unwanted dangerous jobs like defusing landmines or running phone cables) or were used as [[forlorn hope]]s or [[cannon fodder]]. The infamous [[Dirlewanger Brigade]] was an example of a regular unit created from such personnel.

A {{lang|de|Strafkompanie}} (punishment company) was a hard labor unit in the camps. Inmates assigned to it wore a black roundel bordered white under their triangle patch.

Prisoners "suspected of [attempting to] escape" ({{lang|de|Fluchtverdächtiger}}) wore a red roundel bordered white under their triangle patch. If also assigned to hard labor, they wore the red roundel under their black {{lang|de|Strafkompanie}} roundel.

A prisoner-functionary ({{lang|de|Funktionshäftling}}), or ''[[kapo]]'' (boss), wore a cloth [[brassard]] (their {{lang|de|Kennzeichen}}, or identifying mark) to indicate their status. They served as camp guards ({{lang|de|Lagerpolizei}}), barracks clerks ({{lang|de|Blockschreiber}}) and the senior prisoners ({{lang|de|ältesten}}, meaning elders) at the camp ({{lang|de|lagerältester}}), barracks ({{lang|de|blockältester}}) and room ({{lang|de|stubenältester}}) levels of camp organization. They received privileges like bigger and sometimes better food rations, better quarters (or even a private room), luxuries (like tobacco or alcohol) and access to the camp's facilities (like the showers or the pool). Failure to please their captors meant demotion and loss of privileges and an almost certain death at the hands of their fellow inmates.

Detainees wearing civilian clothing (more common later in the war) instead of the striped uniforms were often marked with a prominent X on the back.<ref name=Saidel>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zglu2RvoLmgC&q=%22an+x%22+%22concentration+camp%22+-%22x-men%22+-%22x-ray%22&pg=PA77|title=The Jewish Women of Ravensbrück Concentration Camp|author=Rochelle G. Saidel|year=2006|page=76|publisher=Terrace Books |isbn=9780299198640|access-date=20 May 2013}}</ref> This made for an ''[[ersatz]]'' prisoner uniform. For permanence, such Xs were made with white oil paint, with sewn-on cloth strips, or were cut (with underlying jacket-liner fabric providing the contrasting color). Detainees would be compelled to sew their number and (if applicable) a triangle emblem onto the fronts of such X-ed clothing.<ref name=Saidel />

<gallery class="center" widths="180" heights="180" caption="Some period examples of nationality-letter marking at Nazi camps">
File:13cwik.jpg|F on red triangle (French political enemy) on [[Buchenwald]] clothing of Dr. Joseph Brau{{note|Photo by Dominique Brau.}}
File:A1vestonf.JPG|F-triangle on [[Buchenwald]] clothing of Dr. Joseph Brau{{note|Photo by Dominique Brau.}}
File:Nazi concentration camp uniform fabric sample.jpg|Specimen meaning Polish political enemy
File:Numer obozowy KL Stutthof 29659.JPG|[[Stutthof concentration camp|Stutthof]] detainee 29659 – Lidia Główczewska, which showcases the letter P on a red triangle for Polish political enemy
File:IgnacyKwarta.png|[[Auschwitz]] detainee Ignacy Kwarta wears a red P-triangle, meaning a Polish political enemy.
File:Buchenwald Prisoners 83718.jpg|Dutch Jews wearing a yellow star and the letter N for {{lang|de|Niederländer}} at [[Mauthausen]]<ref>{{Cite book|title=Konzentrationslager Buchenwald 1937-1945. Begleitband zur ständigen historischen Ausstellung|last=Stein|first=Harry|editor=Buchenwald memorial|publisher=Wallstein-Verlag|edition=5th|year=2007|isbn=978-3-89244-222-6|location=Göttingen|pages=81–83|language=de|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u2Xx4fz5K4cC}}</ref>
File:SarahEwart-069.JPG|[[Sachsenhausen concentration camp|Sachsenhausen]]-issued red F emblem for a French political enemy
File:Kazimierkiewicz georg 1 hpk.jpg|Emblems were also used on some detainee ID-cards as shown here on the [[Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp|Mauthausen]] card of Polish scientist [[Jerzy Kaźmirkiewicz]], where a P-triangle appears.{{note|The card also has an ink stamp indicating Dehomag data-entry.}}
File:Toasting Polish Dachau.jpg|[[Dachau concentration camp|Dachau]] survivors toast their liberation as the man standing in center between the bottles wears a P triangle.
File:The Liberation of Bergen-belsen Concentration Camp, April 1945 BU4010.jpg|Liberated [[Bergen-Belsen concentration camp|Bergen-Belsen]] survivor with a late war ''[[ersatz]]'' variant (left) showcasing no cloth patch, but a prominent N marked on the outer clothes
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1993-051-07, Tafel mit KZ-Kennzeichen (Winkel) retouched.jpg|Plate with concentration camp marking.
</gallery>
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