thumb|purple triangle the purple triangle was a concentration camp badge used by the nazis to identify bibelforscher (the german name for jehovah's witnesses and other bible students congregations) in nazi germany. a small number of adventists, baptists and pacifists (less than one percent) were also identified by the badge.johannes s. wrobel, jehovahâs witnesses in national socialist concentration camps, 1933 â 45, religion, state & society, vol. 34, no. 2, june 2006, pp. 89-125 "the concentration camp prisoner category âbible studentâ at times apparently included a few members from small bible student splinter groups, as well as adherents of other religious groups which played only a secondary role during the time of the national socialist regime, such as adventists, baptists and the new apostolic community (garbe 1999, pp. 82, 406; zeiger, 2001, p. 72). since their numbers in the camps were quite small compared with the total number of jehovahâs witness prisoners, i shall not consider them separately in this article. historian antje zeiger (2001, p. 88) writes about sachsenhausen camp: âin may 1938, every tenth prisoner was a jehovahâs witness. less than one percent of the witnesses included other religious nonconformists (adventists, baptists, pacifists), who were placed in the same prisoner classification.â" nazism opposed unorthodox-christian religious minorities (along with jews), but made the bible students the object of particularly intense persecution, including such extensive incarceration that a distinct badge was assigned to them. ==background== jehovah's witnesses came into conflict with the nazi regime because they refused to salute adolf hitler with the traditional "heil hitler" salute, believing that it conflicted with their worship of god. because refusing to salute hitler was considered a crime, jehovah's witnesses were arrested, and their children attending school were expelled, detained and separated from their families. when germany made military enlistment mandatory, jehovahâs witnesses were persecuted because they refused to bear arms. being politically neutral, they also refused to vote in the 1936 elections.king, christine. âleadership lessons from history: jehovahâs witnesses.â the international journal of leadership in public services 7, no. 2 (2011): 178â185. doi:http://ezproxy.arcadia.edu:2075/10.1108/17479881111160168. based on nuremberg laws, jehovah's witnesses who were also classified as ethnic jews wor
1938_introductions Persecution_of_Jehovah\'s_Witnesses Terminology_of_Nazi_concentration_camps Triangles