Kairos is defined in Greek literature as the time when conditions are just right for actions to take place in order to achieve something. In this post I’m going to explore how Kairos was used in the “Homosexuelle Aktion Westberlin”’s (or HAW for short) usage of the pink triangle as their official logo.
The first question surrounding Kairos is “why now?”, and why is this the time that people need to be called to action. In this instance, HAW was held shortly after most homosexual men were released from German prisons, where many had been imprisoned after being released from concentration camps. HAW itself was a symbol of freedom and liberation for this very reason and holding it so shortly after the release of so many prisoners feels like “no matter how long you imprison us or try to change who we are, you will never achieve your goals”.
Since HAW used the pink triangle that was used to identify homosexual men in Nazi concentration camps for their logos, they were hoping that people who saw it would begin to associate the symbol with the pride and loyalty they felt at that moment rather than the humiliation the prisoners previously felt when they were forced to wear it. Using the pink triangle as the logo was a message telling the world that they were no longer ashamed of wh0 they were since they were now wearing this as a symbol of pride
HAW really could have used any symbol that they wanted, or they could have just not used a symbol at all, but as you can see in the poster above, that wasn’t an option for them. Using the pink triangle after the holocaust had ended and while all that pain and suffering that everyone had endured was still fresh in their minds was a powerful tool that helped rally support for HAW’s organizers.
An example of how the symbol has continued to symbolize unity in modern media
The audience that the organizers were trying to reach with the usage of the pink triangle as their logo was everyone who was affected by the demeaning label that those inverted triangles placed upon those who were forced to wear them. This didn’t just include homosexual men that bore the pink triangle, but all the other oppressed groups that were also forced to wear their identities as symbols of shame. The goal of the Homosexuelle Aktion Westberlin was not only to bring pride to the gay men that had recently been liberated but to also show to all the other groups of people that had been oppressed by Hitler’s regime that change was possible and that they could reclaim those symbols of shame as their own.
Image 1 Source: https://www.gatesnotes.com/-/media/Images/Articles/Health/HIV-AIDS/A-Brief-History-of-the-International-AIDS-Conference/History-of-IAC/Silence-death.jpg?la=en&hash=75DD361CD99B2E9E570FC8A9AC7C31BFC5456E83
Image 2 Source: https://classconnection.s3.amazonaws.com/592/flashcards/33592/png/silenceequalsdeath.png