The SS created a system of marking prisoners in concentration camps. Color-coded badges were sewn onto uniforms and identified the reason for a person's imprisonment. This system began in 1937–1938 and had some variation among camps.
![Prisoners during a roll call at the Buchenwald concentration camp. [LCID: 10105]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/7a878b50-7f17-4ce7-861f-674ba3de22c2.jpg "Prisoners during a roll call at the Buchenwald concentration camp. [LCID: 10105]")
Prisoners during a roll call at the Buchenwald concentration camp. Their uniforms bear classifying triangular badges and identification numbers. Buchenwald, Germany, 1938–41.
Item View![Austrian prisoners, marked with triangles and identifying patches, in the Dachau concentration camp. [LCID: 78552]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/ad806853-521d-4197-b024-214ced53b3cc.jpg "Austrian prisoners, marked with triangles and identifying patches, in the Dachau concentration camp. [LCID: 78552]")
Prisoners from Austria, marked with triangles and identifying patches, in the Dachau concentration camp. Germany, April 1938.
Item View![Uniformed prisoners with triangular badges are assembled under Nazi guard at the Sachenhausen concentration camp. [LCID: 76278]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/dc03433c-875b-4f9d-a0d8-54dee5aaae11.jpg "Uniformed prisoners with triangular badges are assembled under Nazi guard at the Sachenhausen concentration camp. [LCID: 76278]")
Uniformed prisoners with triangular badges are assembled under Nazi guard at the Sachenhausen concentration camp. Sachsenhausen, Germany, 1938.
Item View![A Polish prisoner (marked with an identifying patch bearing a "P" for Pole), Julian Noga, at the Flossenbürg concentration camp. [LCID: 71971]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/f0a0839a-3f53-4094-9cf6-4c03aea0d957.jpg "A Polish prisoner (marked with an identifying patch bearing a \"P\" for Pole), Julian Noga, at the Flossenbürg concentration camp. [LCID: 71971]")
Photograph of Julian Noga, a Polish prisoner (marked with an identifying patch bearing a "P" for Pole) imprisoned in the Flossenbürg concentration camp. Germany, between August 1942 and April 1945.
Item View
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