The red triangle, also known as the red wedge, was a required badge worn by left-wing dissidents incarcerated in Nazi concentration camps during World War Two. The red triangle patch pointing upwards designated prisoners within the jurisdiction of the Wehrmacht, including prisoners of war, spies, and military deserters. An inverted red triangle was worn by political prisoners, including resistance fighters. The political ideologies designated by the red triangle included communists, liberals, anarchists, Social Democrats, and Freemasons. After the war, the inverted red triangle symbol was reclaimed by anti-fascists in Europe, similar to the way that the pink triangle used to mark gay prisoners became a symbol of LGBTQ pride. The reclaimed red triangle symbol has been used as the logo for the Association of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime – Federation of Antifascists in Germany and numerous other post-war remembrances and memorial groups. It has also been worn as a lapel pin by left-wing politicians from Belgium, France, and Spain. Other left-wing, anti-fascist, and resistance groups have used red triangle or red wedge symbols that reference images and symbols from before WWII. One of these is Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, a 1919 propaganda poster by El Lissitzky. An earlier image recalled by some labour movements is an equilateral triangle representing eight-hours of work, eight-hours of leisure, and eight hours of sleep in a 24-hour day. In 2020, Donald Trump's presidential re-election campaign attracted controversy by using the symbol in social media advertisements attacking his far-left opponents, whom he described as "Antifa."
Before Nazi Germany
Eight-hour workday
The red triangle has been a left-wing political symbol since the 19th century. On Labor Day in 1890 in France workers wore a red triangle as a symbol of the eight-hour working day they were fighting for, with the three points representing 8 hours of work, 8 hours of rest, and 8 hours of leisure. It is still used with this meaning in some parts of Europe, in conjunction with Labour Day celebrations on 8 May. In July 1889 in Paris, at the meeting of the Second International, the workers' association bringing together European socialist and workers' parties, decided that the following year, workers would demonstrate on May 1 to demand the eight-hour day. The red leather triangle was adopted on 1 May 1890 in Paris during the workers' struggles so that the demonstrator could distinguish himself from the man in the street. The badge symbolizes workers' demand for a maximum eight-hour work day, which reserved 8 hours of sleep and 8 hours of leisure. The inscription "1 May, 8 hours of work" was sewn onto the triangle for the demonstration. Following the immense success of the mobilization of the 1 May 1890 – in Belgium, 150,000 workers went on strike – it was decided shortly afterward to make this date a worldwide day of action, this is the creation of the International Workers' Day (French: Journée internationale des travailleurs). The eight-hour day was obtained in 1919 in France and in 1921 in Belgium.
El Lissitzky's Red Wedge
Similar symbols were being used in far-left politics in early 20th century Russia. A red triangle or "red wedge" features on some early communist posters. A red wedge appeared in a 1919 soviet propaganda poster by constructivist artist El Lissitzky titled "Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge", referring to the anti-communist White movement, who were defeated by the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. The term "whites" referred to the White movement, a conservative, right-wing, monarchist movement whose factional colour was white. The title, allegedly recommended by Ilya Ehrenburg, is possibly a response to the pogrom slogan "Beat the Jews!" (Russian: Бей жидов!, romanized: Bej zhidov!). The full slogan was Beat the Jews – save Russia! (Russian: Бей жидов — спасай Россию!), and it was predominantly used by right wing monarchists and their militant Black Hundreds. Numerous modern left-wing groups and publications have used symbols that reference the red wedge, or the reclamation or the red triangle badge that the Nazis used to mark their political opponents, or both. The black flag used by modern anti-fascists (Antifa) also refers back to the era of the Russian Revolution. The El Lissitzky poster was the namesake of the 1980s British left-wing musical collective Red Wedge, they opposed British conservatives but did not describe themselves as communist.
Opponents of the Nazi Party
Background to Nazi persecution of left-wing opponents
The colour of the symbol comes from the party colours of the Communist Party of Germany, one of the first groups to be detained in the Nazi concentration camps. Nazi crackdowns on their left wing political enemies started very early. As depicted in the famous poem, First They Came by Martin Niemöller, a German priest. It begins, "When the Nazis came for the communists, I kept quiet; I wasn't a communist" (German: Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten). The most common English version begins, "First they came for the Communists". In a 2024 article about the origins of the red triangle symbol, Germany's public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported, "At first, the majority of political inmates were German Social Democrats or Communists and the red of the triangle referred to their party colors.. most were non-Germans from across the political spectrum who had opposed National Socialism or Nazi Germany's occupation of their countries".
The red triangle badge in Nazi concentration camps
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