Hakenkreuz - Swastika its evolution into other symbols ! Sturmabteilung Sturm Abteilung Schutzstaffel Waffen SS Storm Troopers Swastica Svastika, Gestapo, Hitler's Cross, Fylfot, Edward Bellamy, Francis Bellamy, Pledge of Allegiance, Looking Backward, Holocaust, Inquisition Sturmabteilung Schutzstaffel Waffen SS Storm Troopers Gestapo Swastica Evolution of the Hakenkreuz-swastika The following chronology shows how the hakenkreuz (swastika) evolved into other symbols used by the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party).

The research suggests the following evolution: First was the overlapping sig runes of the Hakenkruez (swastika) that served as the initial symbol used by the National Socialists; Second was the stylized SA symbol used by the Sturmabteilung (SA) Stormtroopers to resemble the Hakenkreuz; Third was the Youth organization that took from the hakenkreuz one of its sig runes; Forth was the SS (Schutzstaffel) symbol that separated the intertwined sig runes of the hakenkreuz and rearranged it as side-by-side sig runes. Before 1919 and before the National Socialist German Workers Party, the Hakenkreuz (swastika) was used by other political groups in Germany, and earlier it was an ancient symbol worldwide. 1914-1918 WWI. Hitler awarded the Iron Cross Medal (Ritterkreuz -"Rider Cross" or "Knight's Cross") . In Nov. 1918, the Kaiser and the House of Hollenzollern had fallen. The “Fatherland” was now a republic. The war was over.

1919 Anton Drexler, Gottfried Feder and Dietrich Eckart form what will become the Nazi Party, and they use the name “German Worker's Party.” 1920 the National Socialist German Workers’ Party renames the party. Hitler was appointed chief of propaganda and he realized that the party needed a powerful symbol to distinguish it and he makes his selection of the Hakenkreuz. Later, in the book "Mein Kampf" (1924) the symbol is only called "Hakenkreuz" (hooked cross) and the word "swastika" is never used. Mein Kampf states that the new flag (bearing the Hakenkreuz) first appeared in public in the midsummer of 1920. 1921 the Sturmabteilung (SA) Stormtroopers are created, they eventually use a very stylized “SA” symbol that resembles the Hakenkreuz (swastika). Abteil is related to the word abbey and derives the meanings: department, division, compartment, detachment and thus troopers.

1922 The Hitler Youth (pronounced Hiterjugend in German), was a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party that existed from 1922 to 1945. The Hitler Youth was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group founded one year after the Sturmabteilung (SA) Stormtroopers. The Hitler Youth was founded in 1922 as the Jungsturm Adolf Hitler. The group was based in Munich, Bavaria and served as a recruiting ground for new stromtroopers of the SA. Members of the Hitler Youth wore paramiltiary uniforms very similar to the Nazi Party and the organization used a system of Nazi ranks similar to the ranks and insignia of the Sturmabteilung. 1923 January. First party rally in Munich. A photograph shows variation of the symbol. Although all are pointing right, most all are flat on one side in a “square” and not in the diamond that becomes the standard. 1923 The Hitler Youth was disbanded following the abortive Beer Hall Putsch, but was refounded in 1926 a year after the Nazi-Sozi Party had been reorganized.

1924 (02-26-24) Hitler brought to trial before the Volksgericht, or People’s Court in Munich and sentenced to prison (where Mein Kampf is then written). 1924 In Weimar, the "official program" or "Festschrift" of the first meeting of "The National Socialist Freedom Movement of Greater Germany" shows the symbol flat in a square shape, not in the diamond shape that became the standard. 1925 Mein Kampf is published and the symbol is called only "Hakenkreuz" and the word "swastika" is never used. "Swastika" later became a misleading English translation. 1925 to 1929, the SS (Schutzstaffel) was considered merely a battalion of the Sturmabteilung and numbered no more than 280 personnel. 1926 The second Hitler Youth began in 1926 with an emphasis on national youth recruitment into the National Socialist German Workers’ Party.

1929 (On January 6th) Hitler appointed Heinrich Himmler as the leader of the SS and, by the end of 1932 the SS had 52,000 members; by the end of next year, it had over 209,000 members. Himmler is quoted as having said that the two "SS-Siegrunen" stood aptly for the name of the Schutzstaffel because they represented success and victory in Nordic mythology. The Swastika represented their "unshakeable" faith in the ultimate victory of their socialist philosophy. 1930 electoral breakthroughs for the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. 1932 - Before 1932, the SS wore the same uniform as the SA, except for a black tie and a black cap with a skull symbol on it (Totenkopf, "death's head"). Later they adopted a black uniform and then, just before the war, a dove grey uniform. The Waffen or armed SS wore a field grey uniform similar to the Reichsheer. SS unit insignia was a form of uniform insignia used by the S.S.

between the years of 1932 and 1945. In 1932 SS man Walter Heck an employee of the badge manufacturer firm of Ferdinand Hoffstatter drew two sig-runes side by side and the rest, so to speak, is history. The SS symbol developed after the swastika, as an evolution of the swastika. Heck saw the swastika a two “S” shapes which he rearranged for the special use of a division of the party. 1933 Hitler assumes dictatorship. 1934 the largest Hitler Youth gathering would usually occur once a year at Nuremburg, where Hitler Youth members from all over Germany would converge for the annual Nazi Party rally. They are visible in the film “Triumph of Will.” 1938 the Hitler Youth became a compulsary organization, mandatory for all young German men. The group was also seen as a recruiting ground for several Nazi Party paramilitary groups, with the Schutzstaffel taking the most interest in the Hitler Youth.

1944 Auxiliary SS Patch was worn between 1944 and 1945 by members of the so called "Auxiliary SS," who were non-SS members conscripted to perform such duties as Concentration Camp service and administrative support. Copyright © by RexCurry.net, Trademark by RexCurry.net All rights reserved History of the Swastika - World War II World War II History of swastika slide show History of the Swastika by Nick B. the swastika nick b ¡THE TRUTH BEHIND THE SWASTIKA! AUGUST 10, 2012 When you look at the photo below what comes to mind? If it’s anything negative you’re misperceived! This man represents the Red Swastika Society 世界紅卍字會, a voluntary association founded in China in 1922, who’s mission was broadly based in philanthropy and moral education. They were not NAZIS! What most don’t know is that there are two kinds of swastikas which are broken down below. Most believe “Swastika” is a German/Nazi term which it is not!

In fact it is a sanskrit term derived thousands of years ago. The Hakencruze (the Nazi term for their swastika) was stolen from Buddhists and other peaceful cultures. Although some may refer to a hakencruze as a swastika, a swastika is NOT a hakencruze! Swastikas have been used for thousands of years to represent many cultures and religions in a positive manner. Here’s a breakdown of different swastikas used throughout history. As you can see a multitude of cultures and religions have at one point used the swastika to represent themselves. The true meaning of a swastika is not death, hatred, and intolerance. It’s real meaning is light, love, life, good luck, peace, balance, and universal harmony! In places like Asia the swastika is widely used on Buddhist temples and Buddhas themselves. The last thing they use the swastika for is to project anything negative. Even in western culture swastikas are subliminally used as logos! But we don’t use it subliminally, we use it truthfully to represent it’s original meaning and spread positivity and education.

While commonly associated with Nazi Germany , the swastika symbol is more than 3,000 years old. The term "Swastika" was originally the name for a hooked cross in Sanskrit, and swastikas have been found on artifacts, such as coins and pottery, from the ancient city of Troy. Not only are swastikas associated with ancient Troy, the symbols are found in many other cultures, such as Chinese, Japanese, Indian and southern European. By the Middle Ages, the swastika was a well-known symbol and had many different names, depending on the country. In some cultures, such as in ancient China , the symbol is turned counterclockwise (sauvastika). Throughout its history, the swastika represented life, sun, power, strength and good luck. In the early 20th century, it was still considered a positive symbol. During World War I, it was found on shoulder patches of members of the American 45thDivision and the Finnish air force. Only after the Nazi period did its connotation change. German nationalists chose to use the swastika in the mid-19th century because it was associated with the Aryan race and Germanic history.

At the end of the 19th century, German nationalists used the symbol on periodicals and for the official emblem of the German Gymnasts’ League. By the 20th century, it was a common symbol used in Germany to represent German nationalism and pride, for example, as the emblem for the Wandervogel, a German youth group. Swastikas also were used, however, in anti-Semitic periodicals. The swastika officially became the emblem for the Nazi Party on August, 7, 1920, at the Salzburg Congress. Describing the new flag in Mein Kampf , Hitler said the swastika symbolized the victory of the Aryan man. Today the symbol is most commonly associated with Nazi Germany, the Holocaust , neo-Nazis and other hate groups. Origins of the swastika The Nazis hijacked the symbol from its Hindu origins The EU has been urged to ban the swastika because of its Nazi associations with hate and racism. But the symbol was around long before Adolf Hitler. The swastika is a cross with its arms bent at right angles to either the right or left.

In geometric terms, it is known as an irregular icosagon or 20-sided polygon. The word is derived from the Sanskrit "svastika" and means "good to be". In Indo-European culture it was a mark made on people or objects to give them good luck. It has been around for thousands of years, particularly as a Hindu symbol in the holy texts, to mean luck, Brahma or samsara (rebirth). Prince Harry's Nazi fancy dress uniform sparked anger Nowadays it is commonly seen in Indian artwork and current and ancient Hindu architecture, and in the ruins of the ancient city of Troy. It has also been used in Buddhism and Jainism, plus other Asian, European and Native American cultures. The British author Rudyard Kipling, who was strongly influenced by Indian culture, had a swastika on the dust jackets of all his books until the rise of Nazism made this inappropriate. It was also a symbol used by the scouts in Britain, although it was taken off Robert Baden-Powell's 1922 Medal of Merit after complaints in the 1930s.

The Finnish Air Force also used it as its official symbol in World War II, and it still appears on medals, but it had no connection with the Nazi use. It is rarely seen on its own in Western architecture, but a design of interlocking swastikas is part of the design of the floor of the cathedral of Amiens, France. Nazi's hooked cross Swastika is also a small mining town in northern Ontario, Canada, about 580 kilometres north of Toronto. Attempts by the government of Ontario to change the town's name during World War II were rejected by residents. But it is its association with the National Socialist German Workers Party in the 1930s which is etched on the minds of Western society. Before Hitler, it was used in about 1870 by the Austrian Pan-German followers of Schoenerer, an Austrian anti-Semitic politician. Its Nazi use was linked to the belief in the Aryan cultural descent of the German people. They considered the early Aryans of India to be the prototypical white invaders and hijacked the sign as a symbol of the Aryan master race.

The Nazi party formally adopted the swastika - what they called the Hakenkreuz, the hooked cross - in 1920. This was used on the party's flag (above), badge, and armband. In Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler wrote: "I myself, meanwhile, after innumerable attempts, had laid down a final form; a flag with a red background, a white disk, and a black swastika in the middle. After long trials I also found a definite proportion between the size of the flag and the size of the white disk, as well as the shape and thickness of the swastika." In the Western world the swastika is synonymous with fascism, but it goes back thousands of years and has been used as a symbol of good fortune in almost every culture in the world. As more evidence emerges of its long pre-Nazi history in Europe, can this ancient sign ever shake off its evil associations? In the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit, swastika means "well-being". The symbol has been used by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains for millennia and is commonly assumed to be an Indian sign.

Early Western travellers to Asia were inspired by its positive and ancient associations and started using it back home. By the beginning of the 20th Century there was a huge fad for the swastika as a benign good luck symbol. In his book The Swastika: Symbol Beyond Redemption? US graphic design writer Steven Heller shows how it was enthusiastically adopted in the West as an architectural motif, on advertising and product design. 20th Century fad: Fruit packaging, a Coca-Cola pendant, and a pack of cards, all from the US "Coca-Cola used it. Carlsberg used it on their beer bottles. The Boy Scouts adopted it and the Girls' Club of America called their magazine Swastika. They would even send out swastika badges to their young readers as a prize for selling copies of the magazine," he says. It was used by American military units during World War One and it could be seen on RAF planes as late as 1939. Most of these benign uses came to a halt in the 1930s as the Nazis rose to power in Germany.

The Nazi use of the swastika stems from the work of 19th Century German scholars translating old Indian texts, who noticed similarities between their own language and Sanskrit. They concluded that Indians and Germans must have had a shared ancestry and imagined a race of white god-like warriors they called Aryans. A Hindu boy with a shaved head, and a giant vase at a Buddhist temple in Japan This idea was seized upon by anti-Semitic nationalist groups who appropriated the swastika as an Aryan symbol to boost a sense of ancient lineage for the Germanic people. “Start Quote We will always remember what the swastika was like in our life - a symbol of pure evil” Freddie KnollerHolocaust survivor The black straight-armed hakenkreuz (hooked cross) on the distinctive white circle and red background of the Nazi flag would become the most hated symbol of the 20th Century, inextricably linked to the atrocities committed under the Third Reich. "For the Jewish people the swastika is a symbol of fear, of suppression, and of extermination. It's a symbol that we will never ever be able to change," says 93-year-old Holocaust survivor Freddie Knoller.

"If they put the swastika on gravestones or synagogues, it puts a fear into us. Surely it shouldn't happen again." The swastika was banned in Germany at the end of the war and Germany tried unsuccessfully to introduce an EU-wide ban in 2007. The irony is that the swastika is more European in origin than most people realise. Archaeological finds have long demonstrated that the swastika is a very old symbol, but ancient examples are by no means limited to India. It was used by the Ancient Greeks, Celts, and Anglo-Saxons and some of the oldest examples have been found in Eastern Europe, from the Baltic to the Balkans . If you want to see just how deeply rooted the swastika pattern is in Europe, a good place to start is Kiev where the National Museum of the History of Ukraine has an impressive range of exhibits. Among the museum's most highly prized treasures is a small ivory figurine of a female bird. Made from the tusk of a mammoth, it was found in 1908 at the Palaeolithic settlement of Mezin near the Russian border.

Continue reading the main story Find out more Mukti Jain Campion is the producer and presenter of Reclaiming the Swastika . You can listen on BBC Radio 4 at 11:00 on Friday 24 October - or for another 30 days on the BBC iPlayer. BBC iWonder: Why did ordinary people commit atrocities during the Holocaust? On the torso of the bird is engraved an intricate meander pattern of joined up swastikas. It's the oldest identified swastika pattern in the world and has been radio carbon-dated to an astonishing 15,000 years ago. The bird was found with a number of phallic objects which supports the idea that the swastika pattern was used as a fertility symbol. In 1965 a palaeontologist called Valentina Bibikova discovered that the swastika meander pattern on the bird is very similar to the naturally occurring pattern visible on a cross-section of ivory. Could it be that the Palaeolithic makers of the figurine were simply reflecting what they saw in nature - the huge mammoth they associated with well-being and fertility?

Single swastikas began to appear in the Neolithic Vinca culture across south-eastern Europe around 7,000 years ago. But it's in the Bronze Age that they became more widespread across the whole of Europe. In the Museum's collection there are clay pots with single swastikas encircling their upper half which date back to around 4,000 years ago. When the Nazis occupied Kiev in World War Two they were so convinced that these pots were evidence of their own Aryan ancestors that they took them back to Germany. (They were returned after the war.) In the Museum's Grecian collection, the swastika is visible as the architectural ornament which has come to be known as the Greek key pattern, widely used on tiles and textiles to this day. Left: Grecian architectural swastikas in the Kiev museum. Right: Brooklyn Academy of Music (New York) The Ancient Greeks also used single swastika motifs to decorate their pots and vases. One fragment in the collection from around 7th Century BCE shows a swastika with limbs like unfurling tendrils painted under the belly of a goat.

Fragments of a 12th Century princess's collar Perhaps the most surprising exhibit in the museum is of fragile textile fragments that have survived from the 12th Century AD. They are believed to belong to the dress collar of a Slav princess, embroidered with gold crosses and swastikas to ward off evil. The swastika remained a popular embroidery motif in Eastern Europe and Russia right up to World War Two. A Russian author called Pavel Kurenkov has identified nearly 200 variations across the region. But the hakenkreuz remains a highly charged symbol. In 1941 Kiev was the site of one of the worst Nazi mass murders of the Holocaust when nearly 34,000 Jews were rounded up and killed at the ravine of Babi Yar. In Western Europe the use of indigenous ancient swastikas petered out long before the modern era but examples can be found in many places such as the famous Bronze Age Swastika Stone on Ilkley Moor in Yorkshire . Some people think this long history can help revive the symbol in Europe as something positive.

Peter Madsen, owner of an upmarket tattoo parlour in Copenhagen says the swastika is an element of Norse mythology that holds a strong appeal to many Scandinavians. He is one of the founders of last year's Learn to Love the Swastika Day on 13 November, when tattoo artists around the world offered free swastikas, to raise awareness of the symbol's long multicultural past. "The swastika is a symbol of love and Hitler abused it. We're not trying to reclaim the hakenkreuz. That would be impossible. Nor is it something we want people to forget," he says. One of the supporters of the Learn to Love the Swastika movement "We just want people to know that the swastika comes in many other forms, none of which have ever been used for anything bad. We are also trying to show the right-wing fascists that it's wrong to use this symbol. If we can educate the public about the true meanings of the swastika, maybe we can take it away from the fascists." But for those like Freddie Knoller who have experienced the horrors of fascism, the prospect of learning to love the swastika is not so easy.

the symbol dates back so many thousands of years ago. But I think it's interesting for people to learn that the swastika was not always the symbol of fascism." Pictures of the US Army biplane, of pre-war products from the US, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music are from the collection of Steven Heller . Mukti Jain Campion is the producer and presenter of Reclaiming the Swastika on BBC Radio 4 at 11:00 on Friday 24 October - and on the BBC iPlayer for 30 days after broadcast. Hitler wanted a symbol like no other. He wanted something distinct that would stand out when it was carried into battle.The swastika had already been adopted by some extreme German nationalist groups c. 1910 in the belief that it was an "Aryan" symbol. The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing (卐) form or its mirrored left-facing (卍) form. Before Hitler, it was used in about 1870 by the Austrian Pan-German followers of Schoenerer, an Austrian anti-Semitic politician.

Its Nazi use was linked to the belief in the Aryan cultural descent of the German people. They considered the early Aryans of India to be the prototypical white invaders and hijacked the sign as a symbol of the Aryan master race. The Nazi party formally adopted the swastika - what they called the Hakenkreuz, 'the hooked cross' in 1920. This was used on the party's flag, badge, and armband. In Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler wrote: 'I myself, meanwhile, after innumerable attempts, had laid down a final form; a flag with a red background, a white disk, and a black swastika in the middle. After long trials I also found a definite proportion between the size of the flag and the size of the white disk, as well as the shape and thickness of the swastika.' The Swastika Flag The swastika is a very old symbol with use widespread throughout the world.

Sometimes referred to as a “Gammadion” “Hakenkreuz” or a “Flyfot,” it traditionally had been a sign of good fortune and well being The word “swastika” is derived from the Sanskrit “su” meaning “well” and “asti” meaning “being.” It also is considered to be a representation of the sun and is associated with the worship of Aryan sun gods. It is a symbol in both Jainism and Buddhism, as well as a Nordic runic emblem and a Navajo sign. By definition, the swastika is a primitive symbol or ornament in the form of a cross. As the illustration below shows, the arms of the cross are of equal length with a section of each arm projecting at right angles from the end of each arm, all in the same direction and usually clockwise. When Adolph Hitler, the frustrated artist, was placed in charge of propaganda for the fledgling National Socialist Party in 1920, he realized that the party needed a vivid symbol to distinguish it from rival groups. He sought a design, therefore, that would attract the masses.

Hitler selected the swastika as the emblem of racial purity displayed on a red background “to win over the worker,” Hitler had a convenient but spurious reason for choosing the Hakenkreuz or hooked cross. It had been used by the Aryan nomads of India in the Second Millennium B.C. In Nazi theory, the Aryans were the Germans ancestors, and Hitler concluded that the swastika had been “eternally anti-Semitic.” In spite of its fanciful origin the swastika flag was a dramatic one and it achieved exactly what Hitler intended from the first day it was unfurled in public. Anti-Semites and unemployed workers rallied to the banner, and even Nazi opponents were forced to acknowledge that the swastika had a “hypnotic effect.” “The hooked cross” wrote American correspondent William Shirer “seemed to beckon to action the insecure lower-middle classes which had been floundering in the uncertainty of the first chaotic postwar years.” The swastika flag had a suggestive sense of power and direction. It embodied all of the Nazi concepts within simple symbol.

As Adolph Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, “In red we see the social idea of the movement, in white the Nationalist idea, and in the swastika the vision of’ the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man.” The Bremen Incident One of the first actions Hitler carried or after becoming Chancellor in 1933 was to abolish the Weimar Republic flag. On April 22, 1933 he decreed that the national flags of German would be the old Imperial red, white, and black tricolor and flown in conjunction with the swastika flag. These flags were to be flown together on all merchant ships, which led to a serious incident with diplomatic consequences. On the night of Friday, July 26, 1935, several hundred Communists took part in an anti Nazi demonstration on a pier in New York harbor as the German liner Bremen was about to depart for Europe. They attempted to board the liner and were fought by 250 policemen, detectives, and crew members. Thirty of the demonstrators gained the forelock of the vessel and tore down the swastika flag flying there and threw it into the Hudson River.

In the short fierce struggle with the police, a detective was badly beaten before the Communists were ejected. Meanwhile, there was savage fighting on the pier and in the adjacent streets. The police used their batons freely on the heads of the Communists and after a time the demonstrators we drawn off. The police arrested four men alleged to be the assailants of the injured detective. Three others were arrested for disorderly conduct. The injured detective and two of the rioters were taken to the hospital. Ten of the Bremen’s crew also were treated for cuts and bruises. The liner departed on time, and 20 policemen sailed with her as far as the quarantine station to guard against the possibility that other Communists might be concealed on board and start a new attack. The Bremen’s commander, Captain Ziegenbein, commended the police’s work. The police officials, however, blamed the ship’s officers for taking too lightly a warning they had sent them hours before the riot occurred. The indignities inflicted upon the German flag by the American anti-Nazi demonstrators on board the Bremen resulted four days later in an emphatic protest being delivered to the American Acting Secretary of State by the German Charge d’Affaires in Washington.

It was pointed out to the German diplomat, however, that the insult had been aimed at the “Party” flag and that the National flag had not been interfered with: a very fine distinction in the circumstances but one which precipitated the Nuremberg Flag Laws of September 15, 1935. The whole question of the German National flag was resolved seven weeks later during the Seventh Reichsparteitag Congress held at Nuremberg in September 1935. This annual occasion was used by Hitler to publicly announce that the red, white, and black swastika flag of the Nazi Party would henceforth be the National flag of Germany. The incentive to solve the unsatisfactory arrangement of flying two flags together representing the nation had been thrust upon the Fuhrer as a direct result of the Bremen incident. The official use of the swastika flag came simultaneously with the increased use of racial policies. The Swastika Flag’s use as the National Flag was a symbol of the acceleration of the Nazi’s anti-Semitic agenda which included the September 15, 1936, “Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor.” These laws revoked the Jews’ citizenship in the Reich.

Jews could not vote, marry Aryans, or employ “in domestic service, female subjects of German or kindred blood who are under the age of 45 years.” Jews found themselves excluded from schools, libraries, theaters, and public transpor-tation facilities- Passports were stamped with the word “Jew.” Name changes were disallowed, but Jewish men had to add the middle name “Israel,” Jewish women the name “Sarah.” Jewish wills that offended the “sound judgement of the people” could be legally voided. Furthermore, Jewish businesses were taken away from their owners and placed in the hands of German “trustees.” The Bremen Incident led the Nazi’s to raise their banner of hatred as a national symbol while making the Jews into “second class subjects” of Germany. The Jews were then treated as the untermenschenHitler believed they were. In February 2005, the European Union dropped plans to ban the use of the swastika in its 25 member states. The proposal from German Conservatives, Liberals and Social Democrats in the European Parliament had been for the banning of all Nazi symbols, however, it proved impossible for member states to agree on which symbols should be banned and the proposal was dropped.

The controversy arose when Prince Harry, third in line to the British throne, wore a Nazi costume and a swastika armband to a fancy dress party. Prince Harry later apologised for any offence that was caused. The resulting proposal to introduce an E.U. wide ban on the swastika led to much discussion amongst different groups and organisations who use the symbol in their culture or religion. Articles appeared in newspapers, on websites, interviews were held on radio stations and stories run on television networks, that revealed much about the long and diverse history of the swastika. It became clear from these reports that use of the swastika dates much further back than the Nazis, and that the swastika has been, and continues to be, part of numerous cultures around the world. Many of those cultures have members in Europe for whom the idea of banning the swastika is outrageous. In January, 2007, the debate intensified as Germany seeked to use its EU presidency to launch an initiative which could lead to common laws across the bloc making it a crime to deny genocide and display Nazi symbols. Links: YNet News , BBC . Anti-Nazi sticker, the swastika here representing neo-Nazi hatred.

(Photo) It is ironic, yet tremendously significant, that the swastika - this ancient spiritual symbol that symbolises spiritual victory and attainment of the goal of human existence - was appropriated by a force that used it for exactly the opposite reasons - to enslave and brutalise human beings. The Nazis used the 'positive swastika', but clearly they did not attain the victory they wanted. How can this be explained? The goal of the Third Reich was never in accordance with the universal spiritual victory that the swastika represents, so perhaps its destruction was always guaranteed. In order for Dharma to prevail, the Nazis had to be destroyed. Ironically, by flying the flag of the swastika, they were celebrating a symbol that could never allow their success. Mosaic at the Palais de la Porte Dorée in Paris, France. Built 1931. (Credit) The swastika has been an honoured and cherished spiritual symbol for thousands of years and continues to be so for hundreds of millions of people today. The misuse of the swastika in World War Two and its association with one of the most brutal and depraved regimes the world has ever seen has led to revulsion towards and rejection of the symbol by very many people.

Such feelings are real and justified. What is most needed in this new century is education about the real significance of this ancient symbol. The well-meaning, yet unsuccessful, attempt within the European Parliament to ban the swastika in Europe needs to be followed by an open sharing of information and understanding. We can look ahead to a time when social movements based on expansive, spiritual values arise under the banner of the swastika. These movements may also arise in Germany, but this time led by universalists who act in harmony with the swastika's inner meaning. The goal now is to reclaim the swastika as a symbol of lasting spiritual victory and begin a great new chapter in human history. Nicholas Basham Research Final Paper Nicholas Basham Research Final Paper Works cited “The Truth Behind the Swastika.” The truth behind the swastika. 2012. Fr3n3my Clothing. 25 November 2014. < > “The Nazi Party: The Swastika.” JEWISH VIRTUAL LIBRARY. 2014. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise . 26 November 2014.

The Swastika: A Sign of Good Luck Becomes a Symbol of Evil – Holocaust Teacher Resource Center The Swastika: A Sign of Good Luck Becomes a Symbol of Evil Pages 14-15 The Swastika Flag The swastika is a very old symbol with use widespread throughout the world. Sometimes referred to as a “Gammadion” “Hakenkreuz” or a “Flyfot,” it traditionally had been a sign of good fortune and well being The word “swastika” is derived from the Sanskrit “su” meaning “well” and “asti” meaning “being.” It also is considered to be a representation of the sun and is associated with the worship of Aryan sun gods. It is a symbol in both Jainism and Buddhism, as well as a Nordic runic emblem and a Navajo sign. By definition, the swastika is a primitive symbol or ornament in the form of a cross. As the illustration below shows, the arms of the cross are of equal length with a section of each arm projecting at right angles from the end of each arm, all in the same direction and usually clockwise.

When Adolph Hitler, the frustrated artist, was placed in charge of propaganda for the fledgling National Socialist Party in 1920, he realized that the party needed a vivid symbol to distinguish it from rival groups. He sought a design, therefore, that would attract the masses. Hitler selected the swastika as the emblem of racial purity displayed on a red background “to win over the worker,” Hitler had a convenient but spurious reason for choosing the Hakenkreuz or hooked cross. It had been used by the Aryan nomads of India in the Second Millennium B.C. In Nazi theory, the Aryans were the Germans ancestors, and Hitler concluded that the swastika had been “eternally anti-Semitic.” In spite of its fanciful origin the swastika flag was a dramatic one and it achieved exactly what Hitler intended from the first day it was unfurled in public.

Anti-Semites and unemployed workers rallied to the banner, and even Nazi opponents were forced to acknowledge that the swastika had a “hypnotic effect.” “The hooked cross” wrote American correspondent William Shirer “seemed to beckon to action the insecure lower-middle classes which had been floundering in the uncertainty of the first chaotic postwar years.” The swastika flag had a suggestive sense of power and direction. It embodied all of the Nazi concepts within simple symbol. As Adolph Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, “In red we see the social idea of the movement, in white the Nationalist idea, and in the swastika the vision of’ the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man.” The Bremen Incident One of the first actions Hitler carried or after becoming Chancellor in 1933 was to abolish the Weimar Republic flag. On April 22, 1933 he decreed that the national flags of German would be the old Imperial red, white, and black tricolor and flown in conjunction with the swastika flag. These flags were to be flown together on all merchant ships, which led to a serious incident with diplomatic consequences.

On the night of Friday, July 26, 1935, several hundred Communists took part in an anti Nazi demonstration on a pier in New York harbor as the German liner Bremen was about to depart for Europe. They attempted to board the liner and were fought by 250 policemen, detectives, and crew members. Thirty of the demonstrators gained the forelock of the vessel and tore down the swastika flag flying there and threw it into the Hudson River. In the short fierce struggle with the police, a detective was badly beaten before the Communists were ejected. Meanwhile, there was savage fighting on the pier and in the adjacent streets. The police used their batons freely on the heads of the Communists and after a time the demonstrators we drawn off. The police arrested four men alleged to be the assailants of the injured detective. Three others were arrested for disorderly conduct. The injured detective and two of the rioters were taken to the hospital. Ten of the Bremen’s crew also were treated for cuts and bruises. The liner departed on time, and 20 policemen sailed with her as far as the quarantine station to guard against the possibility that other Communists might be concealed on board and start a new attack.

The Bremen’s commander, Captain Ziegenbein, commended the police’s work. The police officials, however, blamed the ship’s officers for taking too lightly a warning they had sent them hours before the riot occurred. The indignities inflicted upon the German flag by the American anti-Nazi demonstrators on board the Bremen resulted four days later in an emphatic protest being delivered to the American Acting Secretary of State by the German Charge d’Affaires in Washington. It was pointed out to the German diplomat, however, that the insult had been aimed at the “Party” flag and that the National flag had not been interfered with: a very fine distinction in the circumstances but one which precipitated the Nuremberg Flag Laws of September 15, 1935. The whole question of the German National flag was resolved seven weeks later during the Seventh Reichsparteitag Congress held at Nuremberg in September 1935. This annual occasion was used by Hitler to publicly announce that the red, white, and black swastika flag of the Nazi Party would henceforth be the National flag of Germany.

The incentive to solve the unsatisfactory arrangement of flying two flags together representing the nation had been thrust upon the Fuhrer as a direct result of the Bremen incident. The official use of the swastika flag came simultaneously with the increased use of racial policies. The Swastika Flag’s use as the National Flag was a symbol of the acceleration of the Nazi’s anti-Semitic agenda which included the September 15, 1936, “Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor.” These laws revoked the Jews’ citizenship in the Reich. Jews could not vote, marry Aryans, or employ “in domestic service, female subjects of German or kindred blood who are under the age of 45 years.” Jews found themselves excluded from schools, libraries, theaters, and public transpor-tation facilities- Passports were stamped with the word “Jew.” Name changes were disallowed, but Jewish men had to add the middle name “Israel,” Jewish women the name “Sarah.” Jewish wills that offended the “sound judgement of the people” could be legally voided.

Furthermore, Jewish businesses were taken away from their owners and placed in the hands of German “trustees.” The Bremen Incident led the Nazi’s to raise their banner of hatred as a national symbol while making the Jews into “second class subjects” of Germany. The Jews were then treated as the untermenschenHitler believed they were. Hitler's Hakenkreuz was not a swastika. Mein Kampf, Dr. Friedrich Krohn, sanskrit and the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazis) HITLER'S HAKENKREUZ WAS NOT A SWASTIKA The swastika myth has been exposed. Debunked is the claim that the swastika was used by Hitler as a sanskrit sign for “good luck” and stolen from an eastern culture (or that it was reversed for "evil"). It is in a new online book The myth began in translations of Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” containing the only comments ever made about the symbol by the leader of the monstrous National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazis).

Hitler did not use the word "swastika." Hitler used the German word “hakenkreuz.” The most literal translation is “hooked cross.” Most readers intuitively understand “hooked cross” or "crooked cross" or even “hakenkreuz,” but not “swastika.” There is no evidence that Hitler knew “swastika.” The word "swastika" as used in English for the symbol of the National Socialist German Workers' Party was a misleading translation of "hakenkreuz." In "Mein Kampf" Hitler gives little information about his selection of the symbol, but he states "a dental surgeon from Starnberg submitted a good design very similar to mine, with only one mistake, in that his swastika with curved corners was set upon a white background." Hitler in his own words states that the design was not enough like the hard-cornered "S" letters of the sieg rune as used also in the "SS" division. Some people have identified the dental surgeon as Dr. Friedrich Krohn, and they claim that Krohn's design also pointed in the opposite direction, which was changed to point clockwise by Hitler.

Another source claims that many National Socialists accepted Krohn's design, but Hitler insisted changing it. All of the above shows Hitler's deliberate alteration of the original proposals into a specific goal-orented symbol of "S" letters. Hitler's Hakenkreuz was not a swastika. A swastika can point left or right, and historically sits flat on one side in a square shape. 1. The socialist swastika's arms reach clockwise. Before modern times, the most common representation of swastikas was with arms that reached counter-clockwise. The reason that the National Socialist German Workers' Party turned their swastika's arms to reach clockwise was to highlight the letter “S” shape for “socialism.” 2. The socialist swastika is turned 45 degrees to the horizontal. The reason that the National Socialist German Workers' Party turned their swastika 45 degrees to the horizontal was to highlight the letter “S” shape. In ancient times, the swastika is usually flat on one side in a square shape, not a diamond. 3.

The socialist swastika repeats the thunder-bolt "S" characters commonly used for words beginning with "S" in other symbolism by the National Socialist German Workers' Party. 4. The socialist swastika resembles a rune from the ancient Germanic alphabet that corresponds to the letter "S" used as a stylized "S" in other Nazi symbolism. The "S is for Socialism" symbol is a mnemonic device today because a hackneyed abbreviation for "National Socialist German Workers' Party" is used exclusively by media and government schools so that most people who use the abbreviation do not know what the abbreviation abbreviates (National Socialist German Workers' Party). PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE A lie has only to be repeated often enough before it enters the popular consciousness as "truth" – that's the first lesson in any good propagandist's lesson book. Government schools have a crack team of liars working overtime to put one over on Americans, beaming nonstop misinformation 24/7 about the Pledge, national socialism and everything. It is odd how the U.S. government often portrays its enemy of the week as Hitler.

The somewhat hapless Slobodan Milosevic was portrayed as the reincarnation of Hitler, just as Saddam Hussein was later made into this larger-than-life despot whose evil achieved Hitlerian dimensions. Many Americans continue to believe Saddam Hussein was responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. History repeats itself: the first time as tragedy, and the second time as even greater tragedy – with the likelihood of more to come. Nazism: Why is the symbol of Swastika adopted by Hitler slightly inverted? - Quora Quora World History Nazism: Why is the symbol of Swastika adopted by Hitler slightly inverted? If they were adopting the Hindu symbol, why didn't they keep it as it is? Is there a reason why it was done? Written Apr 15, 2013 The Nazi Swastika is not inspired/derived from Hinduism. If there is any influence whatsoever, it is indeed very little. Hitler's immediate inspiration came from the symbol adopted by Dr.Friedrich Krohn (pic of the symbol below). Actually, Swastika was being widely used as a symbol of good luck and prosperity in the West at the turn of 20th century.

However, the more important reason why it caught Hitler's eye was that it was also an integral symbol of German "völkisch" movements (far right German movements). This is clearly not the only inspiration as Hitler had been exposed to the symbol even in school, but remains the strongest and the decisive influence. The Nazi party formally adopted the swastika - what they called the Hakenkreuz, the hooked cross - in 1920. Hitler cites his own creativity behind the tweaking of the Swastika in Mein Kampf. The colour red depicts the socialist struggle (possibly blood?), the white disk represents the whiteness of the Aryan man and the black Swastika itself represents "the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man, and, by the same token, the victory of creative work, which always has been and always will be anti-semitic" (source: Wiki and my own reading of Mein Kampf). As to why the Nazi Swastika is bent 45 degrees counterclockwise, I am not really sure. At least there is no mention of the reason in Mein Kampf (or elsewhere, to the best of my knowledge) The link below makes for an interesting read.

History of the Swastika By Jennifer Rosenberg Updated July 01, 2016. The swastika is an extremely powerful symbol. The Nazis used it to murder millions of people during the Holocaust , but for centuries it had positive meanings. What is the history of the swastika? Does it now represent good or evil? The Oldest Known Symbol The swastika is an ancient symbol that has been used for over 3,000 years. (That even predates the ancient Egyptian symbol, the Ankh!) Artifacts such as pottery and coins from ancient Troy show that the swastika was a commonly used symbol as far back as 1000 BCE. During the following thousand years, the image of the swastika was used by many cultures around the world, including in China, Japan, India, and southern Europe. By the Middle Ages , the swastika was a well known, if not commonly used, symbol but was called by many different names: China - wan Greece - tetraskelion and gammadion India - swastika Though it is not known for exactly how long, Native Americans also have long used the symbol of the swastika.

continue reading below our video 10 Facts About the Titanic That You Don't Know The Original Meaning The word "swastika" comes from the Sanskrit svastika - "su" meaning "good," "asti" meaning "to be," and "ka" as a suffix. Until the Nazis used this symbol, the swastika was used by many cultures throughout the past 3,000 years to represent life, sun, power, strength, and good luck. Even in the early twentieth century, the swastika was still a symbol with positive connotations. For instance, the swastika was a common decoration that often adorned cigarette cases, postcards, coins, and buildings. During World War I , the swastika could even be found on the shoulder patches of the American 45th Division and on the Finnish air force until after World War II . A Change in Meaning In the 1800s, countries around Germany were growing much larger, forming empires; yet Germany was not a unified country until 1871.

To counter the feeling of vulnerability and the stigma of youth, German nationalists in the mid-nineteenth century began to use the swastika, because it had ancient Aryan/Indian origins, to represent a long Germanic/Aryan history. By the end of the nineteenth century, the swastika could be found on nationalist German volkisch periodicals and was the official emblem of the German Gymnasts' League. In the beginning of the twentieth century, the swastika was a common symbol of German nationalism and could be found in a multitude of places such as the emblem for the Wandervogel, a German youth movement; on Joerg Lanz von Liebenfels' antisemitic periodical Ostara; on various Freikorps units; and as an emblem of the Thule Society. Hitler and the Nazis In 1920, Adolf Hitler decided that the Nazi Party needed its own insignia and flag. For Hitler, the new flag had to be "a symbol of our own struggle" as well as "highly effective as a poster." (Mein Kampf, pg.

495) On August 7, 1920, at the Salzburg Congress, the red flag with a white circle and black swastika became the official emblem of the Nazi Party. In Mein Kampf , Hitler described the Nazis' new flag: "In red we see the social idea of the movement, in white the nationalistic idea, in the swastika the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man, and, by the same token, the victory of the idea of creative work, which as such always has been and always will be anti-Semitic." (pg. 496-497) Because of the Nazis' flag, the swastika soon became a symbol of hate, antisemitism, violence, death, and murder. What Does the Swastika Mean Now? There is a great debate as to what the swastika means now. For 3,000 years, the swastika meant life and good luck. But because of the Nazis, it has also taken on a meaning of death and hate. These conflicting meanings are causing problems in today's society. For Buddhists and Hindus , the swastika is a very religious symbol that is commonly used.

Chirag Badlani shares a story about one time when he went to make some photocopies of some Hindu Gods for his temple. While standing in line to pay for the photocopies, some people behind him in line noticed that one of the pictures had a swastika. They called him a Nazi. Unfortunately, the Nazis were so effective at their use of the swastika emblem, that many do not even know any other meaning for the swastika. Can there be two completely opposite meanings for one symbol? Does the Direction of the Swastika Matter? In ancient times, the direction of the swastika was interchangeable as can be seen on an ancient Chinese silk drawing. Some cultures in the past had differentiated between the clockwise swastika and the counter-clockwise sauvastika . In these cultures the swastika symbolized health and life while the sauvastika took on a mystical meaning of bad-luck or misfortune.

But since the Nazis use of the swastika, some people are trying to differentiate the two meanings of the swastika by varying its direction - trying to make the clockwise, Nazi version of the swastika mean hate and death while the counter-clockwise version would hold the ancient meaning of the symbol, life and good-luck. How the world loved the swastika - until Hitler stole it - BBC News How the world loved the swastika - until Hitler stole it By Mukti Jain Campion Kiev 23 October 2014 Close share panel Image copyright Steven Heller In the Western world the swastika is synonymous with fascism, but it goes back thousands of years and has been used as a symbol of good fortune in almost every culture in the world. As more evidence emerges of its long pre-Nazi history in Europe, can this ancient sign ever shake off its evil associations? In the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit, swastika means "well-being". The symbol has been used by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains for millennia and is commonly assumed to be an Indian sign. Early Western travellers to Asia were inspired by its positive and ancient associations and started using it back home.

By the beginning of the 20th Century there was a huge fad for the swastika as a benign good luck symbol. In his book The Swastika: Symbol Beyond Redemption? US graphic design writer Steven Heller shows how it was enthusiastically adopted in the West as an architectural motif, on advertising and product design. Image copyright Steven Heller Image caption 20th Century fad: Fruit packaging, a Coca-Cola pendant, and a pack of cards, all from the US "Coca-Cola used it. Carlsberg used it on their beer bottles. The Boy Scouts adopted it and the Girls' Club of America called their magazine Swastika. They would even send out swastika badges to their young readers as a prize for selling copies of the magazine," he says. It was used by American military units during World War One and it could be seen on RAF planes as late as 1939. Most of these benign uses came to a halt in the 1930s as the Nazis rose to power in Germany. The Nazi use of the swastika stems from the work of 19th Century German scholars translating old Indian texts, who noticed similarities between their own language and Sanskrit.

They concluded that Indians and Germans must have had a shared ancestry and imagined a race of white god-like warriors they called Aryans. Image copyright ALAMY Image caption A Hindu boy with a shaved head, and a giant vase at a Buddhist temple in Japan This idea was seized upon by anti-Semitic nationalist groups who appropriated the swastika as an Aryan symbol to boost a sense of ancient lineage for the Germanic people. Image copyright Mukti Jain Campion We will always remember what the swastika was like in our life - a symbol of pure evil Freddie Knoller, Holocaust survivor The black straight-armed hakenkreuz (hooked cross) on the distinctive white circle and red background of the Nazi flag would become the most hated symbol of the 20th Century, inextricably linked to the atrocities committed under the Third Reich. "For the Jewish people the swastika is a symbol of fear, of suppression, and of extermination. It's a symbol that we will never ever be able to change," says 93-year-old Holocaust survivor Freddie Knoller. "If they put the swastika on gravestones or synagogues, it puts a fear into us.

Surely it shouldn't happen again." The swastika was banned in Germany at the end of the war and Germany tried unsuccessfully to introduce an EU-wide ban in 2007. The irony is that the swastika is more European in origin than most people realise. Archaeological finds have long demonstrated that the swastika is a very old symbol, but ancient examples are by no means limited to India. It was used by the Ancient Greeks, Celts, and Anglo-Saxons and some of the oldest examples have been found in Eastern Europe, from the Baltic to the Balkans . If you want to see just how deeply rooted the swastika pattern is in Europe, a good place to start is Kiev where the National Museum of the History of Ukraine has an impressive range of exhibits. Image copyright Mukti Jane Campion Among the museum's most highly prized treasures is a small ivory figurine of a female bird. Made from the tusk of a mammoth, it was found in 1908 at the Palaeolithic settlement of Mezin near the Russian border. Find out more Image copyright Mukti Jain Campion Mukti Jain Campion is the producer and presenter of Reclaiming the Swastika .

You can listen on BBC Radio 4 at 11:00 on Friday 24 October - or for another 30 days on the BBC iPlayer. BBC iWonder: Why did ordinary people commit atrocities during the Holocaust? On the torso of the bird is engraved an intricate meander pattern of joined up swastikas. It's the oldest identified swastika pattern in the world and has been radio carbon-dated to an astonishing 15,000 years ago. The bird was found with a number of phallic objects which supports the idea that the swastika pattern was used as a fertility symbol. In 1965 a palaeontologist called Valentina Bibikova discovered that the swastika meander pattern on the bird is very similar to the naturally occurring pattern visible on a cross-section of ivory. Could it be that the Palaeolithic makers of the figurine were simply reflecting what they saw in nature - the huge mammoth they associated with well-being and fertility? Single swastikas began to appear in the Neolithic Vinca culture across south-eastern Europe around 7,000 years ago.

But it's in the Bronze Age that they became more widespread across the whole of Europe. In the Museum's collection there are clay pots with single swastikas encircling their upper half which date back to around 4,000 years ago. When the Nazis occupied Kiev in World War Two they were so convinced that these pots were evidence of their own Aryan ancestors that they took them back to Germany. (They were returned after the war.) In the Museum's Grecian collection, the swastika is visible as the architectural ornament which has come to be known as the Greek key pattern, widely used on tiles and textiles to this day. Image copyright Mukti Jain Campion and Steven Heller Image caption Left: Grecian architectural swastikas in the Kiev museum. Right: Brooklyn Academy of Music (New York) The Ancient Greeks also used single swastika motifs to decorate their pots and vases. One fragment in the collection from around 7th Century BCE shows a swastika with limbs like unfurling tendrils painted under the belly of a goat.

Image copyright Mukti Jain Campion Image caption Fragments of a 12th Century princess's collar Perhaps the most surprising exhibit in the museum is of fragile textile fragments that have survived from the 12th Century AD. They are believed to belong to the dress collar of a Slav princess, embroidered with gold crosses and swastikas to ward off evil. The swastika remained a popular embroidery motif in Eastern Europe and Russia right up to World War Two. A Russian author called Pavel Kutenkov has identified nearly 200 variations across the region. But the hakenkreuz remains a highly charged symbol. In 1941 Kiev was the site of one of the worst Nazi mass murders of the Holocaust when nearly 34,000 Jews were rounded up and killed at the ravine of Babi Yar. In Western Europe the use of indigenous ancient swastikas petered out long before the modern era but examples can be found in many places such as the famous Bronze Age Swastika Stone on Ilkley Moor in Yorkshire . Some people think this long history can help revive the symbol in Europe as something positive.

Peter Madsen, owner of an upmarket tattoo parlour in Copenhagen says the swastika is an element of Norse mythology that holds a strong appeal to many Scandinavians. He is one of the founders of last year's Learn to Love the Swastika Day on 13 November, when tattoo artists around the world offered free swastikas, to raise awareness of the symbol's long multicultural past. "The swastika is a symbol of love and Hitler abused it. We're not trying to reclaim the hakenkreuz. That would be impossible. Nor is it something we want people to forget," he says. Image copyright Mukti Jain Campion Image caption One of the supporters of the Learn to Love the Swastika movement "We just want people to know that the swastika comes in many other forms, none of which have ever been used for anything bad. We are also trying to show the right-wing fascists that it's wrong to use this symbol.

If we can educate the public about the true meanings of the swastika, maybe we can take it away from the fascists." But for those like Freddie Knoller who have experienced the horrors of fascism, the prospect of learning to love the swastika is not so easy. "For the people who went through the Holocaust, we will always remember what the swastika was like in our life - a symbol of pure evil," he says. "We didn't know how the symbol dates back so many thousands of years ago. But I think it's interesting for people to learn that the swastika was not always the symbol of fascism." Pictures of the US Army biplane, of pre-war products from the US, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music are from the collection of Steven Heller . Mukti Jain Campion is the producer and presenter of Reclaiming the Swastika on BBC Radio 4 at 11:00 on Friday 24 October - and on the BBC iPlayer for 30 days after broadcast.

How the world loved the swastika - until Hitler stole it - BBC News How the world loved the swastika - until Hitler stole it By Mukti Jain Campion Kiev 23 October 2014 Close share panel Image copyright Steven Heller In the Western world the swastika is synonymous with fascism, but it goes back thousands of years and has been used as a symbol of good fortune in almost every culture in the world. As more evidence emerges of its long pre-Nazi history in Europe, can this ancient sign ever shake off its evil associations? In the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit, swastika means "well-being". The symbol has been used by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains for millennia and is commonly assumed to be an Indian sign. Early Western travellers to Asia were inspired by its positive and ancient associations and started using it back home. By the beginning of the 20th Century there was a huge fad for the swastika as a benign good luck symbol. In his book The Swastika: Symbol Beyond Redemption? US graphic design writer Steven Heller shows how it was enthusiastically adopted in the West as an architectural motif, on advertising and product design.

Image copyright Steven Heller Image caption 20th Century fad: Fruit packaging, a Coca-Cola pendant, and a pack of cards, all from the US "Coca-Cola used it. Carlsberg used it on their beer bottles. The Boy Scouts adopted it and the Girls' Club of America called their magazine Swastika. They would even send out swastika badges to their young readers as a prize for selling copies of the magazine," he says. It was used by American military units during World War One and it could be seen on RAF planes as late as 1939. Most of these benign uses came to a halt in the 1930s as the Nazis rose to power in Germany. The Nazi use of the swastika stems from the work of 19th Century German scholars translating old Indian texts, who noticed similarities between their own language and Sanskrit. They concluded that Indians and Germans must have had a shared ancestry and imagined a race of white god-like warriors they called Aryans.

Image copyright ALAMY Image caption A Hindu boy with a shaved head, and a giant vase at a Buddhist temple in Japan This idea was seized upon by anti-Semitic nationalist groups who appropriated the swastika as an Aryan symbol to boost a sense of ancient lineage for the Germanic people. Image copyright Mukti Jain Campion We will always remember what the swastika was like in our life - a symbol of pure evil Freddie Knoller, Holocaust survivor The black straight-armed hakenkreuz (hooked cross) on the distinctive white circle and red background of the Nazi flag would become the most hated symbol of the 20th Century, inextricably linked to the atrocities committed under the Third Reich. "For the Jewish people the swastika is a symbol of fear, of suppression, and of extermination. It's a symbol that we will never ever be able to change," says 93-year-old Holocaust survivor Freddie Knoller. "If they put the swastika on gravestones or synagogues, it puts a fear into us. Surely it shouldn't happen again." The swastika was banned in Germany at the end of the war and Germany tried unsuccessfully to introduce an EU-wide ban in 2007.

The irony is that the swastika is more European in origin than most people realise. Archaeological finds have long demonstrated that the swastika is a very old symbol, but ancient examples are by no means limited to India. It was used by the Ancient Greeks, Celts, and Anglo-Saxons and some of the oldest examples have been found in Eastern Europe, from the Baltic to the Balkans . If you want to see just how deeply rooted the swastika pattern is in Europe, a good place to start is Kiev where the National Museum of the History of Ukraine has an impressive range of exhibits. Image copyright Mukti Jane Campion Among the museum's most highly prized treasures is a small ivory figurine of a female bird. Made from the tusk of a mammoth, it was found in 1908 at the Palaeolithic settlement of Mezin near the Russian border. Find out more Image copyright Mukti Jain Campion Mukti Jain Campion is the producer and presenter of Reclaiming the Swastika . You can listen on BBC Radio 4 at 11:00 on Friday 24 October - or for another 30 days on the BBC iPlayer.

BBC iWonder: Why did ordinary people commit atrocities during the Holocaust? On the torso of the bird is engraved an intricate meander pattern of joined up swastikas. It's the oldest identified swastika pattern in the world and has been radio carbon-dated to an astonishing 15,000 years ago. The bird was found with a number of phallic objects which supports the idea that the swastika pattern was used as a fertility symbol. In 1965 a palaeontologist called Valentina Bibikova discovered that the swastika meander pattern on the bird is very similar to the naturally occurring pattern visible on a cross-section of ivory. Could it be that the Palaeolithic makers of the figurine were simply reflecting what they saw in nature - the huge mammoth they associated with well-being and fertility? Single swastikas began to appear in the Neolithic Vinca culture across south-eastern Europe around 7,000 years ago. But it's in the Bronze Age that they became more widespread across the whole of Europe.

In the Museum's collection there are clay pots with single swastikas encircling their upper half which date back to around 4,000 years ago. When the Nazis occupied Kiev in World War Two they were so convinced that these pots were evidence of their own Aryan ancestors that they took them back to Germany. (They were returned after the war.) In the Museum's Grecian collection, the swastika is visible as the architectural ornament which has come to be known as the Greek key pattern, widely used on tiles and textiles to this day. Image copyright Mukti Jain Campion and Steven Heller Image caption Left: Grecian architectural swastikas in the Kiev museum. Right: Brooklyn Academy of Music (New York) The Ancient Greeks also used single swastika motifs to decorate their pots and vases. One fragment in the collection from around 7th Century BCE shows a swastika with limbs like unfurling tendrils painted under the belly of a goat. Image copyright Mukti Jain Campion Image caption Fragments of a 12th Century princess's collar Perhaps the most surprising exhibit in the museum is of fragile textile fragments that have survived from the 12th Century AD.

They are believed to belong to the dress collar of a Slav princess, embroidered with gold crosses and swastikas to ward off evil. The swastika remained a popular embroidery motif in Eastern Europe and Russia right up to World War Two. A Russian author called Pavel Kutenkov has identified nearly 200 variations across the region. But the hakenkreuz remains a highly charged symbol. In 1941 Kiev was the site of one of the worst Nazi mass murders of the Holocaust when nearly 34,000 Jews were rounded up and killed at the ravine of Babi Yar. In Western Europe the use of indigenous ancient swastikas petered out long before the modern era but examples can be found in many places such as the famous Bronze Age Swastika Stone on Ilkley Moor in Yorkshire . Some people think this long history can help revive the symbol in Europe as something positive. Peter Madsen, owner of an upmarket tattoo parlour in Copenhagen says the swastika is an element of Norse mythology that holds a strong appeal to many Scandinavians.

He is one of the founders of last year's Learn to Love the Swastika Day on 13 November, when tattoo artists around the world offered free swastikas, to raise awareness of the symbol's long multicultural past. "The swastika is a symbol of love and Hitler abused it. We're not trying to reclaim the hakenkreuz. That would be impossible. Nor is it something we want people to forget," he says. Image copyright Mukti Jain Campion Image caption One of the supporters of the Learn to Love the Swastika movement "We just want people to know that the swastika comes in many other forms, none of which have ever been used for anything bad. We are also trying to show the right-wing fascists that it's wrong to use this symbol. If we can educate the public about the true meanings of the swastika, maybe we can take it away from the fascists." But for those like Freddie Knoller who have experienced the horrors of fascism, the prospect of learning to love the swastika is not so easy. "For the people who went through the Holocaust, we will always remember what the swastika was like in our life - a symbol of pure evil," he says.

"We didn't know how the symbol dates back so many thousands of years ago. But I think it's interesting for people to learn that the swastika was not always the symbol of fascism." Pictures of the US Army biplane, of pre-war products from the US, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music are from the collection of Steven Heller . Mukti Jain Campion is the producer and presenter of Reclaiming the Swastika on BBC Radio 4 at 11:00 on Friday 24 October - and on the BBC iPlayer for 30 days after broadcast. BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Origins of the swastika Origins of the swastika The Nazis hijacked the symbol from its Hindu origins The EU has been urged to ban the swastika because of its Nazi associations with hate and racism. But the symbol was around long before Adolf Hitler. The swastika is a cross with its arms bent at right angles to either the right or left. In geometric terms, it is known as an irregular icosagon or 20-sided polygon. The word is derived from the Sanskrit "svastika" and means "good to be".

In Indo-European culture it was a mark made on people or objects to give them good luck. It has been around for thousands of years, particularly as a Hindu symbol in the holy texts, to mean luck, Brahma or samsara (rebirth). Prince Harry's Nazi fancy dress uniform sparked anger Nowadays it is commonly seen in Indian artwork and current and ancient Hindu architecture, and in the ruins of the ancient city of Troy. It has also been used in Buddhism and Jainism, plus other Asian, European and Native American cultures. The British author Rudyard Kipling, who was strongly influenced by Indian culture, had a swastika on the dust jackets of all his books until the rise of Nazism made this inappropriate. It was also a symbol used by the scouts in Britain, although it was taken off Robert Baden-Powell's 1922 Medal of Merit after complaints in the 1930s. The Finnish Air Force also used it as its official symbol in World War II, and it still appears on medals, but it had no connection with the Nazi use.

It is rarely seen on its own in Western architecture, but a design of interlocking swastikas is part of the design of the floor of the cathedral of Amiens, France. Nazi's hooked cross Swastika is also a small mining town in northern Ontario, Canada, about 580 kilometres north of Toronto. Attempts by the government of Ontario to change the town's name during World War II were rejected by residents. But it is its association with the National Socialist German Workers Party in the 1930s which is etched on the minds of Western society. Before Hitler, it was used in about 1870 by the Austrian Pan-German followers of Schoenerer, an Austrian anti-Semitic politician. Its Nazi use was linked to the belief in the Aryan cultural descent of the German people. They considered the early Aryans of India to be the prototypical white invaders and hijacked the sign as a symbol of the Aryan master race. The Nazi party formally adopted the swastika - what they called the Hakenkreuz, the hooked cross - in 1920. This was used on the party's flag (above), badge, and armband.

In Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler wrote: "I myself, meanwhile, after innumerable attempts, had laid down a final form; a flag with a red background, a white disk, and a black swastika in the middle. After long trials I also found a definite proportion between the size of the flag and the size of the white disk, as well as the shape and thickness of the swastika." Bookmark with:

Question: What was called the Hakenkreuz by the Nazis?
Answer: The Swastika