Swastika of the Third Reich
Since Adolf Hitler became chairman of the NSDAP and in 1920 established the swastika as the party's emblem - this then positive symbol has been desecrated and stripped of all good. The horror of the events surrounding the swastika, at the turn of 1920-1945 brought a huge dose of suffering to humanity.
All reports, broadcasts, publications mentioned the emblem of the Third Reich, uniforms, documents, vehicles, flags, buildings - even a book of the sign (Organizationsbuch der NSDAP) was created. The whole world received the signal and interpreted the swastika as a symbol of evil, sensitized itself to its sight and warned those closest to it.
Since the time of the ancestors, unconditional behaviors have been deeply engraved in us, as on a torn vinyl record. In that environment, the rugged forests and the windy savannah, any movement in the thickets could mean a mortal danger. Then we learned to pay attention to the details and symptoms of bad events. Evolution further reinforces such behavior, because some like who cares about our survival, albeit at great cost, but the end justifies the means.
The swastika does not have to be well reproduced to provoke a reaction in the recipient, a simple scratch of the hooked cross is enough to feel the chills. Designers - myself included - often noted that the Nazis were great design propagandists. The identification system they developed helped bolster a vital and ongoing campaign based entirely on a nefarious (and surprisingly effective) lie.
From everyday newspapers to posters, pamphlets, clips to uniforms — the graphics of the Third Reich served both to frame and reinforce a kind of visual language denigrating the enemy. (When fact is replaced by fantasy, fact is fantasy.) True, such forms of graphic expression were very effective, but the final the key to their power lay in the swastika itself - Courageous and impressive, it became the tool of a man whose goal was to make Germany great again.
Despite the fact that today it is banned in Germany, the swastika has survived in some form in every country where racial (and especially Jewish) hatred exists - including in Poland, where, unfortunately, it is still engraved in public places - from train stations to synagogues - a stark reminder of militancy, intolerance and the visual language of hate.
Swastika before World War II
Early travelers from the West to Asia, inspired by positive, ancient associations, began to use the swastika upon returning home. At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a huge fashion for the swastika as a symbol of good luck.
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In his book “The Swastika: Symbol Beyond Redemption,” American writer and graphic designer Steven Heller shows how it was enthusiastically received in the West as an architectural and graphic theme in advertising and product designs.
Origin of the swastika
In the ancient Indian Sanskrit language, swastika means “well-being”. This symbol has been used by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains for millennia and is widely considered an Indian sign.
But that's not where it started. The irony is that the swastika is of European origin. Archaeological finds have long proved 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 how deeply rooted the swastika pattern is in Europe, a good place to start your search is Kiev, where the National Museum of the History of Ukraine has an impressive array of exhibits.
Rescue for the “old” swastika
Some believe that this ancient history can help revive this symbol in Europe as something positive. Peter Madsen, owner of an upscale tattoo parlor in Copenhagen, says the swastika is an element of Norse mythology that is of great interest to many Scandinavians. He is one of the founders of the “Swastika Teaching Day” where tattoo artists from all over the world offered free swastikas to raise awareness about the symbol's long multicultural past.
“The swastika is a symbol of love, and Hitler used it. We're not trying to get the hakenkreuz back. That would be impossible. 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 right-wing fascists that it is wrong to use this symbol. If we can educate the public about the true meanings of the swastika, then maybe we can take it away from the fascists,” he says.
The beginning of the end of the evil swastika?
No one remembers the logo of the Hunnic chieftain Attila or Genghis Khan, even in a thousand years or less, who will remember the twenty-five-year-old symbol of Hitler's Reich. The ancient meaning of the swastika will eventually prevail. In turn, the atrocities committed on this wonderfully designed form can never be forgotten. Now that extremism, white nationalism and racism are becoming more common again, people for whom the swastika has a spiritual meaning are entitled to this symbol, nevertheless in our cultural context it is unquestionably an icon of evil, period.
