The swastika (from Sanskrit svástika स्वास्तिक ) is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing (卐) or left-facing (卍) forms. The term is derived from Sanskrit svasti, meaning well-being. The Thai greeting sawasdee is from the same root and carries the same implication.

Archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates from the Neolithic period. It has long been widely used in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Hindus often decorate the swastika with a dot in each quadrant. In India, it is common enough to be a part of several Devanagari fonts. It is also a symbol in the modern Unicode and is often imprinted on religious texts, marriage invitations, and decorations. It is used to mark religious flags in Jainism and Buddhist temples in Asia.

In 1920, the right-facing swastika was appropriated as a Nazi symbol, and since then has become a controversial motif. In the Western world, this usage is the most familiar.

The symbol occurs in other Asian, European, African and Native American cultures – sometimes as a geometrical motif and sometimes as a religious symbol.

Etymology and alternative names

The word swastika is derived from the Sanskrit svastika (in Devanagari, ), meaning any lucky or auspicious object, and in particular a mark made on persons and things to denote good luck. It is composed of su- (cognate with Greek ευ-, eu-), meaning "good, well" and asti (cognate with the Romance copula, coming ultimately from the Proto-Indo European root *steh₂-), a verbal abstract to the root as "to be"; svasti thus means "well-being." The suffix -ka forms a diminutive, and svastika might thus be translated literally as "little thing associated with well-being," corresponding to "lucky charm" or "thing that is auspicious."^[1] The word first appears in the Classical Sanskrit (in the Ramayana and Mahabharata epics).

The Sanskrit term has been in use in English since 1871, replacing gammadion (from Greek γαμμάδιον).

Alternative historical English spellings of the Sanskrit word include suastika and svastica. Alternative names for the shape are:

• crooked cross
• cross cramponned, ~nnée, or ~nny (in heraldry), as each arm resembles a crampon or angle-iron (German: Winkelmaßkreuz)
• double cross, by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, on the April 6, 1941 edition of his radio program The Catholic Hour, not only comparing the Cross of Christ with the swastika, but also implying that siding with fascism was a "double-crossing" of Christianity
• fylfot, possibly meaning "four feet", chiefly in heraldry and architecture (See fylfot for a discussion of the etymology)
• gammadion, tetragammadion (Greek: τέτραγαμμάδιον), or cross gammadion (Latin: crux gammata; Old French: croiz gammée), as each arm resembles the Greek letter Γ (gamma)
• hooked cross (German: Hakenkreuz);
• Mundilfari, in Norse Mythology the primordial entity of cycles is iconographically depicted as a bindrune visually cognate with the swastika;
• sun wheel, a name also used as a synonym for the sun cross
• tetraskelion (Greek: τετρασκέλιον), "four legged", especially when composed of four conjoined legs (compare triskelion (Greek: τρισκέλιον))
• Thor's hammer, from its supposed association with Thor, the Norse god of the weather, but this may be a misappropriation of a name that properly belongs to a Y-shaped or T-shaped symbol^[2]. The swastika shape appears in Icelandic grimoires wherein it is named Şórshamar
• The Tibetan swastika is known as nor bu bzhi -khyil, or quadruple body symbol, defined in Unicode at codepoint U+0FCC ࿌.

History

The swastika has an extensive history. The motif seems to have first been used in Neolithic Eurasia. The symbol has an ancient history in Europe, appearing on artifacts from pre-Christian European cultures. In antiquity, the swastika was used extensively by the Indo-Aryans, Hittites, Celts and Greeks, among others. In particular, the swastika is a sacred symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism — religions with over a billion adherents worldwide, making the swastika ubiquitous in both historical and contemporary society. The symbol was introduced to Southeast Asia by Hindu kings and remains an integral part of Balinese Hinduism to this day, and it is a common sight in Indonesia. It also was adopted independently by several Native American cultures.

In the Western world, the symbol experienced a resurgence following the archaeological work in the late 19th century of Heinrich Schliemann, who discovered the symbol in the site of ancient Troy and associated it with the ancient migrations of Proto-Indo-Europeans. He connected it with similar shapes found on ancient pots in Germany, and theorized that the swastika was a "significant religious symbol of our remote ancestors", linking Germanic, Greek and Indo-Iranian cultures.^[3][4] By the early 20th century, it was widely used worldwide and was regarded as a symbol of good luck and success.

The work of Schliemann soon became intertwined with the völkisch movements, for which the swastika was a symbol of "Aryan" identity, a concept that came to be equated by theorists such as Alfred Rosenberg with a Nordic master race originating in northern Europe. Since its adoption by the Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler, the swastika has been associated with fascism, racism (white supremacy), World War II, and the Holocaust in much of the West. The swastika remains a core symbol of Neo-Nazi groups, and is used regularly by activist groups to signify the supposed Nazi-like behavior of organizations and individuals they oppose.

Origin hypotheses

Main article: Swastika origin theories

The ubiquity of the swastika symbol is easily explained by its being a very simple symbol that will arise independently in any basket-weaving society. The swastika is a repeating design, created by the edges of the reeds in a square basket-weave. Other theories attempt to establish a connection via cultural diffusion or an explanation along the lines of Carl Jung's collective unconscious.

While the existence of the swastika symbol in the Americas may be explained by the basket-weave theory, its American presence weakens the cultural diffusion theory. While some have proposed that the swastika was transferred to North America by an early seafaring civilization on Eurasia, a separate but parallel development is considered the most likely explanation.

The genesis of the swastika symbol is often treated in conjunction with cross symbols in general, such as the "sun wheel" of Bronze Age religion.

Another explanation is suggested by Carl Sagan in his book Comet. Sagan reproduces an ancient Chinese manuscript (the Book of Silk) that shows comet tail varieties: most are variations on simple comet tails, but the last shows the comet nucleus with four bent arms extending from it, recalling a swastika. Sagan suggests that in antiquity a comet could have approached so close to Earth that the jets of gas streaming from it, bent by the comet's rotation, became visible, leading to the adoption of the swastika as a symbol across the world.^[5]

Archaeological record

The earliest swastika symbols of the archaeological record date to the Neolithic. The symbol was found on a number of shards in the Khuzestan province of Iran and as part of the "Vinca script" of Neolithic Europe of the 5th millennium BC. In the Early Bronze Age, it appears on pottery found in Sintashta, Russia.

Swastika-like symbols also appear in Bronze and Iron Age designs of the northern Caucasus (Koban culture), and Azerbaijan, as well as of Scythians and Sarmatians [1]. In all these cultures, the swastika symbol does not appear to occupy any marked position or significance, but appears as just one form of a series of similar symbols of varying complexity.

Historical use

The symbol rose to importance in Buddhism in the Mauryan Empire and in Hinduism with the Decline of Buddhism in India in the Gupta period India.

With the spread of Buddhism, the Buddhist swastika reached Tibet and China. The use of the swastika by the indigenous Bön faith of Tibet, as well as syncretic religions, such as Cao Dai of Vietnam and Falun Gong of China, is thought to be borrowed from Buddhism as well.

Reintroduction of the swastika in the West

Main article: Western use of the Swastika in the early 20th century

The discovery of the Indo-European language group in the 1790s led to a great effort by archaeologists to link the pre-history of European peoples to the ancient "Aryans" (variously referring to the Indo-Iranians or the Proto-Indo-Europeans). Following his discovery of objects bearing the swastika in the ruins of Troy, Heinrich Schliemann consulted two leading Sanskrit scholars of the day, Emile Burnouf and Max Müller. Schliemann concluded that the Swastika was a specifically Indo-European symbol. Later discoveries of the motif among the remains of the Hittites and of ancient Iran seemed to confirm this theory. This idea was taken up by many other writers, and the swastika quickly became popular in the West, appearing in many designs from the 1880s to the 1920s.

These discoveries, and the new popularity of the swastika symbol, led to a widespread desire to ascribe symbolic significance to every example of the motif. In Germanic countries, examples of identical shapes in ancient European artifacts and in folk art were interpreted as emblems of good-luck linked to the Indo-Iranian meaning.

Western use of the motif, along with the religious and cultural meanings attached to it, was subverted in the early 20th century after it was adopted as the emblem of the Nazi Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei). This association occurred because Nazism stated that the historical Aryans were the forefathers of modern Germans and then proposed that, because of this, the subjugation of the world by Germany was desirable, and even predestined. The swastika was used as a conveniently-geometrical and eye-catching symbol to emphasize the so-called Aryan-German correspondence and instill racial pride. It was also adopted by some German militants in the March 1920 Kapp Putsch.

The swastikas on the Order of the White Rose designed in 1918 by Akseli Gallen-Kallela remained in use until 1963.

Geometry and symbolism

Geometrically, the swastika can be regarded as an irregular icosagon or 20-sided polygon. The arms are of varying width and are often rectilinear (but need not be). However, the proportions of the Nazi swastika were fixed: they were based on a 5x5 grid.^[6]

Characteristic is the 90° rotational symmetry (that is, the symmetry of the cyclic group C_4h) and chirality, hence the absence of reflectional symmetry, and the existence of two versions that are each other's mirror image.

The mirror-image forms are often described as:

• left-facing and, as depicted across, right-facing;
• left-hand and right-hand;
• clockwise and counterclockwise.

"Left-facing" and "right-facing" are used mostly consistently. In an upright swastika, the upper arm faces either the viewer's left (卍) or right (卐). The other two descriptions are ambiguous as it is unclear whether they refer to the direction of the bend in each arm or to the implied rotation of the symbol. If the latter, whether the arms lead or trail remains unclear. However, "clockwise" usually refers to the "right-facing" swastika. The terms are used inconsistently (sometimes even by the same writer), which is confusing and may obfuscate an important point, that the rotation of the swastika may have symbolic relevance, although little is known about this symbolic relevance.

Nazi ensigns had a through and through image, so each version was present on one side, but the Nazi flag on land was right-facing on both sides and generally at a 45° rotation([2], at the bottom).

Seen as a cross, the four lines emanate from the center to the four cardinal directions. The most common association is with the Sun. Other proposed correspondences are to the visible rotation of the night sky in the Northern Hemisphere around the pole star.

The name "sauwastika" is sometimes given to the left-facing form of the swastika (卍), based on D'Alviella (1894),^[7] though the term is merely an alternate spelling of swastika. Indians of all faiths sometimes use the symbol in both orientations, mostly for symmetry. Buddhists outside India generally use the left-facing swastika rather than the right-facing swastika, although both can be used. Claims to the effect that the left-facing swastika has inauspicious or "evil" connotations are without substance. In particular, the left-facing swastika is often carved in a see-through lattice in entrance doors of Buddhist temples in China. When exiting the temple, one sees the reverse side of this lattice on the same door, which looks like a right-facing swastika.

Art and architecture

The swastika is common as a design motif in current Hindu architecture and Indian artwork as well as in ancient Western architecture, frequently appearing in mosaics, friezes, and other works across the ancient world. Ancient Greek architectural designs are replete with interlinking swastika motifs. Related symbols in classical Western architecture include the cross, the three-legged triskele or triskelion and the rounded lauburu. The swastika symbol is also known in these contexts by a number of names, especially gammadion.

In Chinese, Korean, and Japanese art, the swastika is often found as part of a repeating pattern. One common pattern, called sayagata in Japanese, comprises left and right facing swastikas joined by lines.^[8] As the negative space between the lines has a distinctive shape, the sayagata pattern is sometimes called the "key fret" motif in English.

The swastika symbol was found extensively in the ruins of the ancient city of Troy and can also be found in some of the mosaics in the ruins of Pompeii.

In Greco-Roman art and architecture, and in Romanesque and Gothic art in the West, isolated swastikas are relatively rare, and the swastika is more commonly found as a repeated element in a border or tessellation. The swastika often represented perpetual motion, reflecting the design of a rotating windmill or watermill. A meander of connected swastikas makes up the large band that surrounds the Augustan Ara Pacis. A design of interlocking swastikas is one of several tessellations on the floor of the cathedral of Amiens, France.^[9] A border of linked swastikas was a common Roman architectural motif,^[10] and can be seen in more recent buildings as a neoclassical element. A swastika border is one form of meander, and the individual swastikas in such a border are sometimes called Greek keys.^[11]

Swastikas have also been found on pottery in archaeological digs in the area of ancient Kush. Swastikas were found on pottery at the Gebel Barkal temples as well as in digs corresponding to the later X-Group peoples. ^[12]

The Laguna Bridge in Yuma, Arizona was built in 1905 by the U.S. Reclamation Department and is decorated with a row of swastikas.^[13][14]

Metal typeface Swastika borders were used by U.S. printers in the early 1900s.^[15] Controversy arose in 1937 when they appeared on Passaic, New Jersey sample election ballots. The printer responded "I've used the swastika emblems for ballot borders long before the world ever knew Hitler".^[16]

Ceramic tiles with a swastika design have appeared in many parts of the world including the United States in the early 20th century. The tiles typically are, however, a minor decorative element. Some of the pre-World War II swastikas have become controversial after Jewish groups demanded they be removed. A number of the buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places or as Unesco World Heritage sites, and are considered worthy of historical preservation. See Western use of the Swastika in the early 20th century for specific examples.

The Primate's Palace in Bratislava has security grills on the ground floor that incorporate swastikas in their design.

Religion and mythology

Hinduism

In Hinduism, the two symbols represent the two forms of the creator god Brahma: facing right it represents the evolution of the universe (Pravritti), facing left it represents the involution of the universe (Nivritti). It is also seen as pointing in all four directions (north, east, south and west) and thus signifies stability and groundedness. Its use as a sun symbol can first be seen in its representation of the god Surya. The swastika is considered extremely holy and auspicious by all Hindus, and is regularly used to decorate items related to Hindu culture. It is used in all Hindu yantras and religious designs. Throughout the subcontinent of India, it can be seen on the sides of temples, religious scriptures, gift items, and letterheads. The Hindu god Ganesh is often shown sitting on a lotus flower on a bed of swastikas.

The swastika is found all over Hindu temples, signs, altars, pictures and iconography where it is sacred. It is used in Hindu weddings, festivals, ceremonies, houses and doorways, clothing and jewelry, motor transport and even decorations on food items such as cakes and pastries. Among the Hindus of Bengal, it is common to see the name "swastika" (Bengali: স্বস্তিক sbastik) applied to a slightly different symbol, which has the same significance as the common swastika, and both symbols are used as auspicious signs. This symbol looks something like a stick figure of a human being.^[17] "Swastika" (স্বস্তিক Sbastik) is a common given name amongst Bengalis^[18] and a prominent literary magazine in Kolkata (Calcutta) is called the Swastika.

The Aum symbol is also sacred in Hinduism. While Aum is representative of a single primordial tone of creation, the Swastika is a pure geometrical mark and has no syllabic tone associated with it. The Swastika is one of the 108 symbols of Lord Vishnu and represents the sun's rays, without which there would be no life.

In the news

Since the swastika is such an ancient part of Hindu culture, it is often accepted without any suggestion of anti-semitism.Jews of India do not regard swastika as anti-jew as majority hindus never have indulged in any anti-semantic propaganda. But recent news events indicate that the potential for disagreements still exist.^[19][20]

Buddhism

The symbol as it is used in Buddhist art and scripture is known in Japanese as a manji (literally, "the character for eternality" 萬字), and represents Dharma, universal harmony, and the balance of opposites. When facing left, it is the omote (front) manji, representing love and mercy. Facing right, it represents strength and intelligence, and is called the ura (rear) manji. Balanced manji are often found at the beginning and end of Buddhist scriptures (outside India).

Buddhism originated in the Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BC and inherited the manji. These two symbols are included, at least since the Liao Dynasty, as part of the Chinese language, the symbolic sign for the character 萬 or 万 (wàn in Chinese, man in Korean/Japanese, vạn in Vietnamese) meaning "all" or "eternality" (lit. myriad) and as 卐, which is seldom used. A manji marks the beginning of many Buddhist scriptures. The manji (in either orientation) appears on the chest of some statues of Gautama Buddha and is often incised on the soles of the feet of the Buddha in statuary. Because of the association with the right-facing swastika associated with Nazism, Buddhist manji (outside India only) after the mid-20th century are almost universally left-facing: 卍. This form of the manji is often found on Chinese food packaging to signify that the product is vegetarian and can be consumed by strict Buddhists. It is often sewn into the collars of Chinese children's clothing to protect them from evil spirits.

In 1922, the Chinese Syncretist movement Daoyuan founded the philanthropic association Red Swastika Society in imitation of the Red Cross. The association was very active in China during the 1920s and the 1930s.

Jainism

Jainism gives even more prominence to the swastika than does Hinduism. It is a symbol of the seventh Jina (Saint), the Tirthankara Suparsva. In the Svetambar Jain tradition, it is also one of the symbols of the ashta-mangalas. It is considered to be one of the 24 auspicious marks and the emblem of the seventh arhat of the present age. All Jain temples and holy books must contain the swastika and ceremonies typically begin and end with creating a swastika mark several times with rice around the altar.

Jains use rice to make a swastika (also known as "Sathiyo" in the state of Gujarat, India) in front of idols in a temple. Jains then put an offering on this swastika, usually a ripe or dried fruit, a sweet (mithai), or a coin or currency note. In 2001, India issued a 100-rupee coin to commemorate the 2600^th anniversary of the birth of Mahavir, the 24^th and last Jainist Tirthankara; the design includes a swastika.^[21]

Abrahamic religions

The swastika was not widely utilized by followers of the Abrahamic religions. Where it does exist, it is not always portrayed as an explicitly religious symbol, and is often purely decorative or, at most, a symbol of good luck. One example of scattered use is the floor of the synagogue at Ein Gedi, built during the Roman occupation of Judea, which was decorated with a swastika.^[22]

In Christianity, the swastika is sometimes used as a hooked version of the Christian Cross, the symbol of Christ's victory over death. Some Christian churches built in the Romanesque and Gothic eras are decorated with swastikas, carrying over earlier Roman designs. Swastikas are prominently displayed in a mosaic in the St. Sophia church of Kiev, Ukraine dating from the 12th century. They also appear as a repeating ornamental motif on a tomb in the Basilica of St. Ambrose in Milan. A proposed direct link between it and a swastika floor mosaic in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Amiens, which was built on top of a pagan site at Amiens, France in the 1200s, is considered unlikely. The stole worn by a priest in the 1445 painting of the Seven Sacraments by Roger van der Weyden presents the swastika form simply as one way of depicting the cross. Swastikas also appear on the vestments on the effigy of Bishop William Edington (d.1366) in Winchester Cathedral.

The Benedictine choir school at Lambach Abbey, Upper Austria, which Hitler attended for several months as a boy, had a swastika chiseled into the monastery portal and also the wall above the spring grotto in the courtyard by 1868. Their origin was the personal coat of arms of Abbot Theoderich Hagn of the monastery in Lambach, which bore a golden swastika with slanted points on a blue field.^[23] The Lambach swastika is probably of Medieval origin. The Lambach depiction, in the Hindu style, did not inspire Hitler to use the symbol, as the Nazi Party's use of it stems from the Thule Society and previous occult societies.

The Muslim "Friday" mosque of Isfahan, Iran and the Taynal Mosque in Tripoli, Lebanon both have swastika motifs.

Other Asian traditions

Some sources indicate that the Chinese Empress Wu (武則天)(684–704) of the Tang Dynasty decreed that the swastika would be used as an alternative symbol of the sun. As part of the Chinese script, the swastika has Unicode encodings U+534D 卍 (pronunciation following the Chinese character "萬": pinyin:wàn); (left-facing) and U+5350 卐 (right-facing).^[24]

The Mandarin "Wan" is a homophone for "10,000" and is commonly used to represent the whole of creation, e.g. 'the myriad things' in the Dao De Jing.

In Japan, the swastika is called manji. Since the Middle Ages, it has been used as a family coat of arms. On Japanese maps, a swastika (left-facing and horizontal) is used to mark the location of a Buddhist temple. The right-facing manji is often referred as the gyaku manji (逆卍, lit. "reverse manji"), and can also be called kagi jūji, literally "hook cross".

The left-facing Buddhist swastika also appears on the emblem of Falun Gong. This has generated considerable controversy, particularly in Germany, where the police have reportedly confiscated several banners featuring the emblem. A court ruling subsequently allowed Falun Gong followers in Germany to continue the use of the emblem.

Native American traditions

The swastika shape was used by some Native Americans. It has been found in excavations of Mississippian-era sites in the Ohio valley. It was widely used by many southwestern tribes, most notably the Navajo. Among various tribes, the swastika carried different meanings. To the Hopi it represented the wandering Hopi clan; to the Navajo it was one symbol for a whirling winds (tsil no'oli'), a sacred image representing a legend that was used in healing rituals (after learning of the Nazi mimic "whirling winds" the Navajo rejected the symbol).^[25] A brightly colored First Nations saddle featuring swastika designs is on display at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada.^[26]

A swastika shape is an ancient symbol in the culture of the Kuna people of Kuna Yala, Panama. In Kuna tradition, it symbolizes the octopus that created the world; its tentacles, pointing to the four cardinal points, gave rise to the rainbow, the sun, the moon and the stars.^[27]

In February, 1925, the Kuna revolted against Panamanian suppression of their culture, and were granted autonomy in 1930; the flag they adopted at this time is based on the swastika shape, and remains the official flag of Kuna Yala. A number of variations on the flag have been used over the years: red top and bottom bands instead of orange were previously used, and in 1942 a ring (representing the traditional Kuna nose-ring) was added to the center of the flag to distance it from the symbol of the Nazi party.^[28]

Pre-Christian Europe

In Bronze Age Europe, the "Sun cross" (a cross in a circle) appears frequently, often interpreted as a solar symbol. Occasional swastika shapes are known from artifacts of Iron Age Europe (Greco-Roman, Illyrian, Etruscan, Baltic, Celtic, Germanic and Slavic), and are sometimes interpreted as a variant of the "Sun cross".

Baltic

The swastika is one of the most common symbols used throughout Baltic art. The symbol was related to the Sun, as well as Dievas (the god of creation), Perkūnas (the god of thunder) and Laima (the goddess of joy and destiny). It is featured on distaffs, dowry chests, cloths and other items.

Celtic

The bronze frontspiece of a ritual pre-Christian (ca 350-50 BC) shield found in the River Thames near Battersea Bridge (hence "Battersea Shield") is embossed with 27 swastikas in bronze and red enamel.^[30]

An Ogham stone found in Anglish, Co Kerry (CIIC 141) was modified into an early Christian gravestone, and was decorated with a cross pattée and two swastikas.^[31]

At the Northern edge of Ilkley Moor in West Yorkshire, there is a swastika-shaped pattern engraved in a stone known as the Swastika Stone.^[32]

Germanic

The swastika shape (also called a fylfot, a term coined in the 19th century from a 1500 reference to a figure used to fill empty space at the foot of stained-glass windows in medieval churches), appears occasionally in Germanic Migration period and Viking Age artifacts, such as the Gothic spearhead found at Brest-Litovsk, Russia, or the Younger Futhark Snoldelev Stone, in Ramsø, Denmark, drawn left-facing or right-facing.

Swastika shapes glossed as Şórshamar "Thor's hammer" appear in some Icelandic grimoires.^[33]

There are many examples of the Swastika symbol from Anglo-Saxon graves of the pagan period, and it is particularly prominent on cremation urns from the cemeteries of East Anglia. On some of these, on display at the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, are depicted with such care and art that it must have possessed special significance as a funeral symbol.^[33]

The Swastika is clearly marked on a hilt and sword belt found at Bifrons in Kent, in a grave of about the sixth century.^[33]

The pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo, England, contains gold cups and shields adorned with swastika-like shapes.

Sami

An object very much like a hammer or a double axe is depicted among the magical symbols on the drums of Sami shamans, used in their religious ceremonies before Christianity was established. The name of the Lappish thunder god was Horagalles, thought to be derived from old man thor (Şórr karl'). Sometimes on the drums, a male figure with a hammer-like object in either hand is shown, and sometimes it is more like a cross with crooked ends, or a swastika.^[33]

Slavic

The swastika shape was also present in pre-Christian Slavic mythology. It was dedicated to the sun god Svarog and called kolovrat, (Polish kołowrót). In the Polish first Republic the symbol of the swastika was also popular with the nobility. According to chronicles, Rus' prince Oleg, who in the 9th century had captured Constantinople, had nailed his shield (which had a large red swastika painted on it) to the city's gates. Several Polish noble houses, e.g. Boreyko, Borzym, and Radziechowski from Ruthenia, also had Swastikas as their coat of arms. The family had reached its greatness in the 14th and 15th centuries and its crest can be seen in many heraldry books produced at that time.

Swastika in history of Poland and the Slav For the Slavs the swastika is a magic sign manifesting the power and majesty of the sun and fire.it was often used as a ornament decorating ritualistic untensils of a cult cinerary urnes with ashes of the dead ones(pic.1).It was the symbol of power(in attests picture of swastika on coins of Mieszko 1st).The power both laic and divine,because it was often placed on alters in pagan temples.After acceptance of christianity,and destroying of pagan holy places,pieces of sculptures of pagan gods(swastika too) were build into walls of churches.It was a form of fight with paganism,we can find examples of it in the cathedral in Kruszwica and in churches in Inowroclaw,Strzelno and Lowicz. in the beginning of renaissance swastikas ornaments disappeared on utenslils,but it doesn't mean the end of the swastika among the Slavs.It became an popular ornament on Easter eggs and in wayside shrines in the folk culture.This ornament still existed in 1940-50.Swastika was also heraldy sign,for example coat of arms "Borejko",used by nobelmans lines from Poland and Ukraine.In 19th century the swastika was one of the Russian empire's symbol.it was placed in coines as a background of Russian eagle.In the beginning of 20th century the swastika became a sign of IE identity,as the result of development of nationalistic movements.The swastika was used ,for example by Polish National-Socialist party and neopoagan"Zadruga".In the Czech Republic the swastika was a cognizance of the Chech National-Socialist Workers' and Peasants' Party of M.Mlococh (so called Green swastikas).Besides the swastika was a cognizance of Tatra Higshlands' Riflemen(to the year 1940),and of 1st Mot. Art. Regiment of the Polish Armed Force (to the year 1947).

Nazi Germany

Further information: Nazi Germany

In the wake of widespread popular usage, the Nazi Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) formally adopted the swastika (in German: Hakenkreuz (hooked cross)) in 1920. This was used on the party's flag (right), badge, and armband. It had also been used unofficially by the NSDAP and its predecessor, the German Workers Party, Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (DAP).

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.

When Hitler created a flag for the Nazi party, he sought to incorporate both the swastika and "those revered colors expressive of our homage to the glorious past and which once brought so much honor to the German nation" (red, white, and black were the colors of the flag of the old German Empire). He also stated that "As National Socialists, we see our program in our 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." (Mein Kampf).^[34]

The use of the swastika was associated by Nazi theorists with their conjecture of Aryan cultural descent of the German people. Following the Nordicist version of the Aryan invasion theory, the Nazis claimed that the early Aryans of India, from whose Vedic tradition the swastika sprang, were the prototypical white invaders. It was also widely believed that the Indian caste system had originated as a means to avoid racial mixing. The concept of Racial purity was an ideology central to Nazism though it is now considered unscientific. For Rosenberg, the Aryans of India were both a model to be imitated and a warning of the dangers of the spiritual and racial "confusion" that, he believed, arose from the close proximity of races. Thus, they saw fit to co-opt the sign as a symbol of the Aryan master race. The use of the swastika as a symbol of the Aryan race dates back to writings of Emile Burnouf. Following many other writers, the German nationalist poet Guido von List believed it to be a uniquely Aryan symbol.

Before Nazis, the swastika was already in use as a symbol of German völkisch nationalists movements (Völkische Bewegung). In Deutschland Erwache (ISBN 0-912138-69-6), Ulric of England (sic) says:

[…] what inspired Hitler to use the swastika as a symbol for the NSDAP was its use by the Thule Society (German: Thule-Gesellschaft) since there were many connections between them and the DAP … from 1919 until the summer of 1921 Hitler used the special Nationalsozialistische library of Dr. Friedrich Krohn, a very active member of the Thule-Gesellschaft, … Dr. Krohn was also the dentist from Sternberg who was named by Hitler in Mein Kampf as the designer of a flag very similar to one that Hitler designed in 1920 … during the summer of 1920, the first party flag was shown at Lake Tegernsee … these home-made … early flags were not preserved, the Ortsgruppe München'' flag was generally regarded as the first flag of the Party.

José Manuel Erbez says:

'' The first time the swastika was used with an "Aryan" meaning was on December 25, 1907, when the self-named Order of the New Templars, a secret society founded by [Adolf Joseph] Lanz von Liebenfels, hoisted at Werfenstein Castle (Austria) a yellow flag with a swastika and four fleurs-de-lys.[35]

However, Liebenfels was drawing on an already established use of the symbol.

On 14 March 1933, shortly after Hitler's appointment as Chancellor of Germany, the NSDAP flag was hoisted alongside Germany's national colors. It was adopted as the sole national flag on 15 September 1935.

The swastika was used for badges and flags throughout Nazi Germany, particularly for government and military organizations, but also for "popular" organizations such as the Reichsbund Deutsche Jägerschaft.^[36]

While the DAP and the NSDAP had used both right-facing and left-facing swastikas, the right-facing swastika is used consistently from 1920 onwards. However, Ralf Stelter notes that the swastika flag used on land had a right-facing swastika on both sides, while the ensign (naval flag) had it printed through so that you would see a left-facing swastika when looking at the ensign with the flagpole to the right.^[37]

Several variants are found:

• a 45° black swastika on a white disc as in the NSDAP and national flags;
• a 45° black swastika on a white lozenge (e.g., Hitler Youth^[38]);
• a 45° black swastika with a white outline was painted on the tail of aircraft of the Luftwaffe;
• a 45° black swastika outlined by thin white and black lines on a white disc (e.g., the German War Ensign^[39]);
• an upright black swastika outlined by thin white and black lines on a white disc (e.g., Adolf Hitler's personal standard in which a gold wreath encircles the swastika; the Schutzstaffel; and the Reichsdienstflagge, in which a black circle encircles the swastika);
• small gold, silver, black, or white 45° swastikas, often lying on or being held by an eagle, on many badges and flags.^[40]
• a swastika with curved outer arms forming a broken circle, as worn by the SS Nordland Division. (See photo at "http://www.geocities.com/nordland@sbcglobal.net/".)

There were attempts to amalgamate Nazi and Hindu use of the swastika, notably by the French writer Savitri Devi who declared Hitler an avatar of Vishnu (see Nazi mysticism).

Taboo in Western countries

Because of its use by Hitler and the Nazis and, in modern times, by neo-Nazis and other hate groups, for many people in the West, the swastika is associated primarily with Nazism and white supremacy. Hence, outside historical contexts, it has become taboo in Western countries. The historical context of architectural decorations has sometimes been ignored in local efforts to remove swastikas from pre-World War II buildings.

On the other hand, millions of people of Indian origin live in the West, e.g. including over two million Indian-Americans in the United States, and Jain, Hindu and other Indian religions, festivals, marriages and ceremonies continue to use the swastika as their main religious and cultural symbol.

United States

The swastika symbol was popular as a good luck or religious/spiritual symbol in the United States, prior to its association with Nazi Germany. The symbol remains visible on numerous historic buildings, including sites that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It also appeared on tiles, lampposts, metal valves, tools, surfboards, stock certificates, brand names, place names, medals, commercial tokens, postcards, souvenirs, rugs and clothing.

Some critics have alleged that the of Denver International Airport resembles a swastika. The runways are arranged in a pin-wheel fashion to avoid queues and overlapping ground traffic.

On November 8, 2004 Microsoft released a "critical update" to remove "unacceptable symbols" from the Bookshelf Symbol 7 font. An analysis of the unpatched and patched fonts shows the symbol deemed unacceptable to be a swastika.

In September of 2007 the United States Navy announced it would spend $600,000 to "camouflage" a barracks at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado near San Diego, so that it would no longer resemble a "Nazi swastika" from the air.^[41]

A swastika can be seen at the main entrance of the Swan and Dolphin Hotel owned and operated by Walt Disney World Resorts. The symbol can be seen easily using Google Earth.

Germany

The German (and Austrian) postwar criminal code makes the public showing of the Hakenkreuz (the swastika) and other Nazi symbols illegal and punishable, except for scholarly reasons. It is even censored from the lithographs on boxes of model kits, and the decals that come in the box. It is also censored from the reprints of 1930s railway timetable published by Bundesbahn. The eagle remains, but appears to be holding a solid black circle between its claws. The swastikas on Hindu and Jain temples are exempt, as religious symbols cannot be banned in Germany. It has been proposed that this law be applied to all of the European Union.^[42]

A German fashion company was investigated for using traditional British-made folded leather buttons after complaints that they resembled swastikas. In response, Esprit destroyed two hundred thousand catalogues.^[43][44]

A controversy was stirred by the decision of several police departments to begin inquiries against anti-fascists.^[45] In late 2005 police raided the offices of the punklabel and mailorder "Nix Gut Records" and confiscated merchandise depicting crossed-out swastikas and fists smashing swastikas. In 2006 the Stade police department started an inquiry against anti-fascist youths using a placard depicting a person dumping a swastika into a trashcan. The placard was displayed in opposition to the campaign of right-wing nationalist parties for local elections.^[46]

On Friday, March 17, 2006, a member of the Bundestag Claudia Roth reported herself to the German police for displaying a crossed-out swastika in multiple demonstrations against Neo-Nazis, and subsequently got the Bundestag to suspend her immunity from prosecution. She intended to show the absurdity of charging anti-fascists with using fascist symbols: "We don't need prosecution of non-violent young people engaging against right-wing extremism."

On March 15, 2007, the Federal Court of Justice of Germany reversed the above-mentioned verdicts, since the crossed-out symbols were clearly "directed against a revival of national-socialist endeavors", hereby settling the dispute for the future.^[47]

The relevant excerpt^[48] of the German criminal code reads:

§ 86 StGB Dissemination of Means of Propaganda of Unconstitutional Organizations

(1) Whoever domestically disseminates or produces, stocks, imports or exports or makes publicly accessible through data storage media for dissemination domestically or abroad, means of propaganda:

1. of a party which has been declared to be unconstitutional by the Federal Constitutional Court or a party or organization, as to which it has been determined, no longer subject to appeal, that it is a substitute organization of such a party; […]

4. means of propaganda, the contents of which are intended to further the aims of a former National Socialist organization, shall be punished with imprisonment for not more than three years or a fine. […]

(3) Subsection (1) shall not be applicable if the means of propaganda or the act serves to further civil enlightenment, to avert unconstitutional aims, to promote art or science, research or teaching, reporting about current historical events or similar purposes. […]

§ 86a StGB Use of Symbols of Unconstitutional Organizations'''

(1) Whoever:

1. domestically distributes or publicly uses, in a meeting or in writings (§ 11 subsection (3)) disseminated by him, symbols of one of the parties or organizations indicated in § 86 subsection (1), nos. 1, 2 and 4; or

2. produces, stocks, imports or exports objects which depict or contain such symbols for distribution or use domestically or abroad, in the manner indicated in number 1,

shall be punished with imprisonment for not more than three years or a fine.

(2) Symbols, within the meaning of subsection (1), shall be, in particular, flags, insignia, uniforms, slogans and forms of greeting. Symbols which are so similar as to be mistaken for those named in sentence 1 shall be deemed to be equivalent thereto. […]

Brazil

The use of the swastika in conjunction with any other Nazi allusion, and also its manufacture, distribution or broadcasting, is a crime as dictated by law 7.716/89 from 1989. The penalty is a fine and two to five years in prison.

Satirical use

The powerful symbolism acquired by the swastika has often been used in graphic design and propaganda as a means of drawing Nazi comparisons; examples include the cover of Stuart Eizenstat's 2003 book Imperfect Justice,^[49] publicity materials for Costa-Gavras's 2002 film Amen,^[50] and a billboard that was erected opposite the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Cuba, in 2004, which juxtaposed images of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse pictures with a swastika.

Bona-fide use causing controversy

In recent years, controversy has erupted when consumer goods bearing the symbol have been exported (often unintentionally) to North America. In 2002, Christmas crackers containing plastic toy pandas sporting swastikas were pulled from shelves after complaints from consumers in Canada. The manufacturer, based in China, explained the symbol was presented in a traditional sense and not as a reference to the Nazis, and apologized to the customers for the cross-cultural mixup.^[51]

Founded in the 1970s, the Raëlian Movement, a small religious group believing in the possibility of immortality by scientific progress and extraterrestrial life, used a symbol that was the source of considerable controversy: an interlaced Star of David and swastika. In 1991, the symbol was changed to remove the swastika and deflect public criticism. The symbol was restored to its original form in 2007.[3]

Contemporary usage

Finland

The swastika was adopted by the Finnish Air Force after 6 March 1918, when Eric von Rosen donated an aeroplane, adorned with swastikas (his personal good luck symbols), from Sweden to the Finnish white army. The swastika was officially adopted as the nationality marking on the Finnish Air Force planes at 18 March 1918.

The roundel was used until late 1944 when a blue circle on white was substituted. Existing decorations and unit flags of the Finnish Air Force were not altered, and still feature the traditional blue swastika within a white circle.

The president of Finland is the grand master of the Order of the White Rose. According to protocol, the president shall wear the Cross of Liberty with Chains on formal occasions. The original design of the chains, decorated with swastikas, dates from 1918 when it was produced by the artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela. The Grand Cross with Chains has been awarded 11 times to foreign heads of state. To avoid misunderstanding, the swastika decorations were replaced by fir-crosses at the request of President Kekkonen in 1963.

Also a design by Gallen-Kallela in 1918, the Cross of Liberty has a swastika pattern in the arms of the cross. The Cross of Liberty is depicted in the upper left corner of the flag of the President of Finland.^[52]

South Asia

In South Asia, the swastika remains ubiquitous as a symbol of wealth and good fortune. Electoral ballot papers have been stamped with a round swastika-like pattern (to ensure that the accidental ink imprint on the other side of a folded ballot paper can be correctly identified as such), so that this variant of the symbol is connected with political elections. Many businesses and other organisations, such as the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange, use the swastika in their logos. The red swastika was suggested as an emblem of International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in India and Sri Lanka, but the idea was not implemented [4]. Swastikas can be found practically everywhere in Indian cities, on buses, buildings, auto-rickshaws, and clothing.

Tajikistan

In 2005, authorities in Tajikistan called for the widespread adoption of the swastika as a national symbol. President Emomali Rahmonov declared the swastika an "Aryan" symbol and 2006 to be "the year of Aryan culture," which would be a time to “study and popularize Aryan contributions to the history of the world civilization, raise a new generation (of Tajiks) with the spirit of national self-determination, and develop deeper ties with other ethnicities and cultures.”[5]

Neopaganism

Odinic Rite claims the "fylfot" as a "holy symbol of Odinism", citing the pre-Christian Germanic use of the symbol.

See also

• Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging
• Brigid's cross
• Celtic cross
• Fascist symbolism
• Forest swastika
• Fylfot
• Karl Haushofer
• Lauburu or Basque cross
• Mundilfari
• The Red Swastika Society (China)
• Rodło
• Sauwastika
• Solar symbols
• Sun cross, a traditional symbol also co-opted by many modern White Supremacists
• Swastika curve
• Swastika Laundry
• Triskelion, including the three-legged badge of the Isle of Man
• Tursaansydän
• Western use of the Swastika in the early 20th century
• Wolfsangel

Multimedia

• "The Occult History of the Third Reich The Enigma of the Swastika" from the War File Collection produced by Pegasus 2004.

References

Notes

External links

general

• The History of the Swastika (About.com)
• The Origins of the Swastika BBC News
• Sites presenting versions of Wilson's The Swastika
• The Swastika
• The Swastika (a scan of the original publication)
• The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol (DjVu) and layered PDFPDF (16.2 MiB) (a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries)

Dharmic religions

• "The Swastika", Lawrence Waldron, Chan Magazine, Summer 2000.
• Swastikam - Symbol of Auspiciousness (chapter 7 of Vishayasuchi by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami)
• Hindus opposing EU swastika ban (BBC)
• swastika-info.com.

early Western use

• Windsor's "Swastikas" Hockey Teams 1905–1916
• Finnish uses of the swastika
• http://www.airminded.net/F4b/BOE_P12.jpg US Army Air Corp (USAAC) Boeing P-12C with 55th Pursuit Squadrons swastika-insignia in 1930s. The USAAC became the United States Air Force in 1941.

Nazi use

• The Swastika and the Nazis by Servando González
• From Flags of the World:
• Origins of the Swastika Flag (Third Reich, Germany) (collection of links and comments)
• Neonazi flags (links to other FOTW pages)

miscellaneous

• Comets and the Bronze Age Collapse by Bob Kobres
• Swastika Gallery
• The Swastika Stone on Ilkley Moor in England
• Reclaim the Swastika
• Navy to mask Coronado's swastika-shaped barracks