A chart of prisoner markings used in German concentration camps. Dachau, Germany, ca. 1938-1942.
Beginning in 1937–1938, the SS created a system of marking prisoners in concentration camps. Sewn onto uniforms, the color-coded badges identified the reason for an individual’s incarceration, with some variation among camps. The Nazis used this chart illustrating prisoner markings in the Dachau concentration camp.
Why did the SS have a system of badging and identification within the camps, if everyone was a prisoner?
How do badges and numbers dehumanize individuals?
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A German soldier guards Soviet prisoners of war at the Uman camp in the Ukraine. Soviet Union, August 14, 1941.
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Germans guard prisoners in the Rovno camp for Soviet prisoners of war. Rovno, Poland, after June 22, 1941.
Second only to the Jews, Soviet prisoners of war were the largest group of victims of Nazi racial policy.
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Roll call at an internment camp for Roma (Gypsies). Lackenbach, Austria, 1940–41.
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