Early 20th century
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, whose
proto-language was not coincidentally termed "Proto-Indo-Germanic" by
German language historians. 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 it to
ancient Teutons, Greeks of the time of Homer and Indians of the Vedic era. By the early 20th century, it was used
worldwide and was regarded as a symbol of good luck and success.
Schliemann's work soon became intertwined with the political
völkisch movements, which used the swastika as a symbol for the "Aryan
race" – a concept that theorists such as Alfred Rosenberg equated 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 Nazism,
fascism, racism in its (white supremacy) form, the Axis powers in World War II,
and the Holocaust in much of the West. The swastika remains a core symbol of
neo-Nazi groups.
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. The
Lambach swastika is probably of Medieval origin.
Europe
Britain
Theosophical Seal
In the 1880s the Theosophical Society adopted a swastika as
part of its seal, along with an Om, a hexagram or star of David, an Ankh and an
Ouroboros. Unlike the much more recent Raëlian movement, the Theosophical Society
symbol has been free from controversy, and the seal is still used. The current
seal also includes the text "There is no religion higher than truth."
The British author and poet Rudyard
Kipling used the symbol on the cover art of a number of his works, including
The Five Nations, 1903, which has it twinned with an elephant.
Denmark
Carlsberg's Elephant Tower
The Danish brewery company Carlsberg Group used the swastika
as a logo from the 19th century until the middle of the 1930s when it was
discontinued because of association with the Nazi Party in neighbouring
Germany. The swastika carved on elephants at the entrance gates of the
company's headquarters in Copenhagen in 1901 can still be seen today.
Iceland
The Swastika, or the Thor's hammer as the logo was called,
was used as the logo for H/f. Eimskipafjelag Íslands from founding day in 1914
until the Second World War when it was discontinued and changed to read only
the letters Eimskip.
Ireland
The Swastika Laundry was a laundry founded in 1912, located
on Shelbourne Road, Ballsbridge, a district of Dublin, Ireland. In the fifties
Heinrich Böll came across a van belonging to the company while he was staying
in Ireland, leading to some awkward moments before he realized the company was
older than Nazism and totally unrelated to it. The chimney of the boiler-house
of the laundry still stands, but the laundry has been redeveloped.
Finland
Tursaansydän/Mursunsydämet variants
In Finland, the swastika (vääräpää meaning 'crooked-head',
and later hakaristi, meaning 'hook-cross') was often used in traditional
folk-art products, as a decoration or magical symbol on textiles and wood. The
swastika was also used by the Finnish Air Force until 1945, and is still used
on air force flags.
The tursaansydän, an elaboration on the swastika, is used by
scouts in some instances, and by a student organization. The Finnish village of Tursa uses the
tursaansydän as a kind of a certificate of authenticity on products made there,
and is the origin of this name of the symbol (meaning 'heart of Tursa'), which
is also known as the mursunsydän ('walrus-heart'). Traditional textiles are
still made in Finland with swastikas as parts of traditional ornaments.
Finnish military
Order of the Cross of Liberty of Finland
The Finnish Air Force used the swastika as an emblem,
introduced in 1918. The type of swastika adopted by the air-force was the
symbol of luck for the Swedish count Eric von Rosen, who donated one of its
earliest aircraft; he later became a prominent figure in the Swedish
nazi-movement.
The swastika was also used by the women's paramilitary
organization Lotta Svärd, which was banned in 1944 in accordance with the
Moscow Armistice between Finland and the allied Soviet Union and Britain.
The President of Finland is the grand master of the Order of
the White Rose. According to the protocol, the president shall wear the Grand
Cross of the White Rose with collar on formal occasions. The original design of
the collar decorated with 9 swastikas, dates from 1918 and was designed by the
artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela. The Grand Cross with the swastika collar has been
awarded 41 times to foreign heads of state. To avoid misunderstandings, the
swastika decorations were replaced by fir crosses at the decision of President
Urho Kekkonen in 1963 after it became known that the President of France
Charles De Gaulle was uncomfortable with the swastika collar.
Also a design by Gallen-Kallela from 1918, the Cross of
Liberty has a swastika pattern in its arms. The Cross of Liberty is depicted in
the upper left corner of the standard of the President of Finland.
In December 2007, a silver replica of the World War
II-period Finnish air defense’s relief ring decorated with a swastika became
available as a part of a charity campaign.
The original war-time idea was that the public swap their
precious metal rings for the state air defense’s relief ring, made of iron.
Latvia
The swastika is an ancient Baltic thunder cross symbol
(pērkona krusts; also fire cross, ugunskrusts), used to decorate objects,
traditional clothing and in archaeological excavations. Latvia adopted the swastika, for its Air Force
in 1918/1919 and continued its use until the Soviet occupation in 1940. The cross itself was maroon on a white
background, mirroring the colors of the Latvian flag. Earlier versions pointed
counter-clockwise, while later versions pointed clock-wise and eliminated the
white background. Various other Latvian
Army units and the Latvian War College (the predecessor of the National Defence
Academy) also had adopted the symbol in their battle flags and insignia during
the Latvian War of Independence. A
stylized fire cross is the base of the Order of Lāčplēsis, the highest military
decoration of Latvia for participants of the War of Independence. The Pērkonkrusts, an ultra-nationalist
political organization active in the 1930s, also used the fire cross as one of
its symbols.
Lithuania
As in Latvia, the symbol is a traditional Baltic ornament,
found on relics dating from at least the 13th century.
Poland
The traditional symbols of the Podhale Rifles include the
edelweiss flower and the Mountain Cross, a swastika symbol popular in folk
culture of the Polish mountainous regions. The units of Podhale Rifles, both
historical and modern, are notable for their high morale and distinctive
uniforms.
Sweden
ASEA logo before 1933
The Swedish company ASEA, now a part of ABB, in the late
1800s introduced a company logo featuring a swastika. The logo was replaced in
1933, when Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany. During the early 1900s, the
swastika was used as a symbol of electric power, perhaps because it resembled a
waterwheel or turbine. On maps of the period, the sites of hydroelectric power
stations were marked with swastikas.
Norway
Wrought iron gate of the Oslo Municipal Power Station,
1932
The headquarters of the Oslo Municipal Power Station was
designed by architects Bjercke and Eliassen in 1928–31. Swastikas adorn its
wrought iron gates. The architects knew the swastika as a symbol of electricity
and were probably not yet aware that it had been usurped by the German Nazi
party and would soon become the foremost symbol of the German Reich. The fact
that these gates survived the cleanup after the German occupation of Norway
during WW II is a testimony to the innocence and good faith of the power plant
and its architects.
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