Nazi Symbols - The Story Behind the Imagery

There are five

symbols

that are most closely associated with the National Socialists, but you may be surprised to know that they were not created by them. They are the swastika, the eagle, the right arms salute the skull and the ss runes. They are all politically sensitive nowadays and are banned. in some countries, but what are the stories behind them? Where did they originate and how did they end up being appropriated by the Nazis? Let's start with the most controversial: the swastika. I lived in Asia for 10 years and saw swastikas almost every week. They are the most common.

They are found in religious buildings, but are used in many aspects of life in Asia. Originating in India, this remarkable symbol meant good luck until it was used by the Nazis. The swastika is derived from the Sanskrit word swastika, which means auspicious for well-being. There are many different forms of the swastika. found in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, all positive and spiritual

symbols

in Europe, the swastika has many names in Germany, it is called hakken hakenkreits or hooked cross, it has represented gods such as zeus in ancient Greece, Jupiter in the Roman Empire and Thor in the ancient Germanic religion in North America the swastika was commonly used for the same reason as a positive symbol of good luck many Native American tribes used it primarily by the Navajo Sioux Hopi and Passimaquadi peoples before World War II It was even the symbol of the 45th United States Infantry Division worn as a shoulder patch.

I grew up in the English county of Essex and Chelmsford Town Hall is covered in swastikas to this day and none of that has anything to do with it. With National Socialism the adoption of this symbol by the Nazis was a masterful piece of marketing, perhaps the most successful logo in hi

story

, after all, it doesn't matter where you are in the world, if you see a swastika, regardless of its use, you can't help but think of the Nazis, even 80 years later, so of course Hitler didn't invent it. The swastika rather adapted a symbol already common in Europe for many centuries for its own purposes.

Hitler created the image of the Nazi party in 1925 after much trial and error by taking a black swastika facing right, rotating 45 degrees within a white circle on a red colored background. It deliberately echoes the old German imperial flag while the cross represented a racial emblem for the German people an Aryan symbol in this again Hitler was not original as the swastika had first been used in Germany with this symbolism in 1907 in the flag of the order of the new templars an austrian nationalist secret society it is tragic that a thousands of years old religious symbol that symbolizes so many positive things has been permanently defamed by just 20 years of use by the

nazi

s.

Today there are calls to rehabilitate the swastika, but Nazi images endure long. strongly and this is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Next we have the Nazi eagle or Rags Adler, which is actually much older than the Third Reich period, as with many Nazi symbols it was expropriated from German hi

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and tradition and later modified Reichsadler means imperial. The eagle and the oldest example remained from the Holy Roman Empire, who themselves copied it from the eagle banner of the Roman army, which represented strength and unity. The order of Teutonic Knights displayed an imperial eagle on its coat of arms.

This black eagle was later used by the state. of prussia between 1466 and 1772 and then formed the basis of the arms of the kingdom of prussia until 1918. the adler reich came to be seen as the symbol of german unity the single-headed eagle became the insignia of the german empire and After World War One and the abolition of the monarchy, the Weimar Republic also used the eagle. After Hitler came to power in 1933, a stylized eagle with the Nazi swastika and its claws became the official national emblem from 1935. The Nazis used two types of eagle, the partai adler or party eagle facing its left shoulder was the symbol of the nsdap the reichsadler faced its right shoulder and was a national symbol of Germany curiously in 1950 the reichs adler was resurrected by the federal republic of germany today called bundes adler is an official symbol of the german government showing that the eagle remains a central motif of german national identity to this day the rigid salute with the right arm in the

nazi

period the german salute is another image that the Nazis adopted from history it has long been suggested that The Romans began the practice of the stiff right arm salute, although no documentary evidence of this has emerged in two thousand years.

In fact, the salute was probably attributed to the Romans by the 18th-century painter Jacques Louis David, who used it in the famous painting Oath by Him. of the hareshai in 1784. During the 19th and 20th centuries, artists and playwrights further associated the salute with the Romans. This artistic invention was made into a silent film and appeared on screen in the 1914 Italian film, Kiberia, written by the Italian ultranationalist Gabriele Diancio. This salute invented by the French was then adopted in Italy by ultra-nationalists, including Benito Mussolini's fascists, in 1923. Some members of the Nazi party used this salute to greet Hitler and in 1926 it became mandatory.

It was not universally popular among early Nazis. Some thought it was an Italian gesture and therefore not Germanic so deputy führer Rudolf Hess published an article in 1928 wrongly stating that the salute had been used by the party since 1921 and was a good fascist gesture since 1933 all the germans had to use this salute the history of the powerful ss symbol the policeman totten for The skull is much older than the Nazi period and was and is still used in some countries as an army symbol that has no connection with the National Socialism, yet another symbol that the Nazis adopted from history for their own purposes.

King Frederick the Great of Prussia first used it. the totenkopf as a military emblem when he formed a hussar regiment the unit also wore black uniforms in 1809 another german state braunschweig or brunswick also formed a black uniformed huzzah regiment wearing the totenkopf the frowning badge was used as a sign of revenge against the French this unit fought alongside the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. With the creation of the German Empire, the Totenkopf continued in military service, most famously, the Prussian Skull Huzzahs, an elite cavalry force, several members of the german imperial family were members of this regiment during the first world war the torton policeman was used again as a regimental insignia in action in 1919 the emblem was used by the right-wing german paramilitaries of the frey corps who fought against communism in the post-war Germany and later worn in the Weimar Republic by the 5th Cavalry Regiment, continuing the traditions of the former imperial cavalry, it first appeared in the early Nazi period as the insignia of Hitler's first bodyguard unit shtabswaka The unit was eventually renamed the Schutz Staffer or SS and continued to wear the German imperial symbol on its caps, but during World War II the Totten Cop was not just limited to the SS.

The long cavalry tradition of the regular army meant that it was also used as the insignia of the army's panzer uniform outside of Germany. the skull is still used today. the British Army's Royal Lancers cap insignia and the saying death or glory motto, the Royal Air Force's 100th Squadron uses a skull and crossbones symbol, while the British Marine Corps Reconnaissance Battalions The United States uses it, as does South Korea's Third Infantry Division, the SS, as the personification of the pseudo- The Aryan scientific supermen used ancient Germanic runes trying to draw a line back to some North Germanic pagan myths and legends. of Europe.

The most famous runic symbol they used was that of the SS itself, the doppelta zigaruna. Originally, the lightning-shaped rune represented the sun, but an early precursor to the Nazi movement, the volkisch movement of the 19th century changed its meaning to represent zeke or victory, hence its name. Today, the zeigrun advanced rapidly until 1933 and the ss required a symbol that was both memorable and symbolic, ss officer walter heck, who was a graphic The Bonn designer decided on the zigrun, but duplicated it and placed them side by side like lightning bolts in a clever play on words. The runes represent both the SS name and the war cry of the volkisch movement.

Reinterpretation of the rune as victory. Thank you very much for watching, please. Subscribe and share and also visit my audiobook channel War Stories with Mark Felton. You can also help support both of my channels on PayPal and Patreon. Details in description box below.