Editing Auschwitz concentration camp (section)

===Tattoos and triangles{{anchor|Triangles}}===
{{Further|Nazi concentration camp badge}}
[[File:Auschwitz outerwear distinguish yellow Star of David.jpg|thumb|Auschwitz clothing]]
Uniquely at Auschwitz, prisoners were tattooed with a serial number, on their left breast for Soviet prisoners of war{{sfn|Steinbacher|2005|pp=90–91}} and on the left arm for civilians.{{sfn|Gutman|1998|p=20}}<ref name=serialUSHHM>{{cite web |title=Tattoos and Numbers: The System of Identifying Prisoners at Auschwitz |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/tattoos-and-numbers-the-system-of-identifying-prisoners-at-auschwitz |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |access-date=25 January 2019 |archive-date=13 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613215609/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/tattoos-and-numbers-the-system-of-identifying-prisoners-at-auschwitz |url-status=live }}</ref><!--expand serial numbers--> Categories of prisoner were distinguishable by triangular pieces of cloth (German: ''Winkel'') sewn onto on their jackets below their prisoner number. Political prisoners ''(Schutzhäftlinge'' or Sch), mostly Poles, had a red triangle, while criminals (''Berufsverbrecher'' or BV) were mostly German and wore green. Asocial prisoners (''Asoziale'' or Aso), which included vagrants, prostitutes and the Roma, wore black. Purple was for Jehovah's Witnesses (''Internationale Bibelforscher-Vereinigung'' or IBV)'s and pink for gay men, who were mostly German.<ref>{{cite web |title=System of triangles |url=http://auschwitz.org/en/history/prisoner-classification/system-of-triangles |publisher=Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180705195349/http://auschwitz.org/en/history/prisoner-classification/system-of-triangles |archive-date=5 July 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> An estimated 5,000–15,000 gay men prosecuted under German Penal Code Section 175 (proscribing sexual acts between men) were detained in concentration camps, of whom an unknown number were sent to Auschwitz.<ref>{{cite web |title=Persecution of Homosexuals in the Third Reich |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/persecution-of-homosexuals-in-the-third-reich |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |access-date=1 February 2019 |archive-date=11 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180911213037/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/persecution-of-homosexuals-in-the-third-reich |url-status=live }}</ref> Jews wore a [[yellow badge]], the shape of the [[Star of David]], overlaid by a second triangle if they also belonged to a second category. The nationality of the inmate was indicated by a letter stitched onto the cloth. A racial hierarchy existed, with German prisoners at the top. Next were non-Jewish prisoners from other countries. Jewish prisoners were at the bottom.{{sfn|Steinbacher|2005|pp=31–32}}