The Swastika and the Nazis

Introduction

A few years ago, voters in Nepal went to the polls. They expressed their choice by stamping a swastika next to the name of the candidate of their preference. Farmers in Tibet frequently place a swastika on their home doors, so that no evil can enter the place. A similar custom is followed by Irish farmers, where the swastika placed in their doors is called a Brigit's cross. Cuna Indians in Panama design their blouses with colorful swastikas. Navajo medicine men use colored sand to draw swastikas on the floor while performing their curative rites. As a form of benediction Indian boys paint a swastika on their shaved heads. The swastika is, without a doubt, an ever present symbol. A modern author called it the "Symbol of the Century."

I have seen swastikas in museums all around the world, from Zürich to New York and from Moscow to London and Mexico City. My photo on the left, standing on a frieze of sinistroverse meandroid swastikas, was taken at the entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

During a trip to Japan in 1975, my friend Shigehisa Yoshino invited me to visit the Senso-ji Buddhist temple in Tokyo's Asakusa district. Its huge lanterns, made famous to Westerners through the prints of Hiroshige, show several swastikas.

But you don't need to go as far as Japan to see swastikas. Many pieces in the collections at the Metropolitan Museum in New York show them. A close look at the Capitol building in Washington D.C. will reveal several friezes formed out of swastikas. It is difficult, in fact, to find an old book on art, mythology, or archaeology, without seen swastikas profusely represented.

Scholarly research on the swastika in modern times, however, seems to be limited to two peak periods: the first around the beginning of the twentieth century; the second during the period of the emergency of Nazism in Germany.

Though Hitler himself gives his version of why the swastika was adopted as a symbol of the Nazi movement, there are several other explanations as well. The Swastika and the Nazis is an attempt to show the different theories without taking sides on which of them may the correct one. As it happens with many historical events most likely there is not a single explanation, and the correct answer is a combination of some of these theories.

The analysis of symbols is currently one of the noteworthy interests in anthropology. Yet, one of the most important symbols of mankind is largely ignored. One explanation for that may be that the Nazi connotations brought up by he swastika are so strong that most researchers and scholars feel this infamous symbol either does not deserve to be studied at all or that any effort in that direction will only serve to arouse suspicions of Nazi sympathy on the part of its author. As an example of this I can point to the fact that, even though the swastika is an important symbol in Japan, the Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan (1983 edition) shows no entry under the subject of the swastika.

It seems as, after the Nazis appropriated the swastika and put it to their evil use, they contaminated this symbol forever. They have had the swastika hostage for more than 50 years. The swastika, most people believe, symbolizes Nazism and evil.

But the swastika had a long life before Hitler and the Nazis. It has been for centuries a symbol of peace, laughter, joy and good luck. It is one of the oldest symbols of mankind. Its Nazi links are only a minor speck in its very long existence. It is a symbol that deserves a better treatment from history.

Also, leaving the swastika in Nazi hands is the worst disservice we can do to the Indians of North, Central and South America. Moreover, it is a disservice to the peoples of Tibet, India and China. It is a disservice to the Basque, to the French, to the Greek, to the Swiss, to the Japanese and to the Irish. It is a disservice to the Ashanti of Africa and to the Tlingit of Alaska; to the Cuna in Panama and to the Navajo and the Hopi in the United States.

In his book Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period, Erwin Goodenough tells a revealing anecdote. Rabbi Silverman told him of the horror of his congregation at the Emmanuel Synagogue in Hartford when it was discovered, after Hitler came to power in Germany, that in 1927 the vestibule of the synagogue had been paved with a mosaic floor in which the swastika was frequently represented. The entire mosaic was at once ripped out.

It is easy to understand and sympathize with Rabbi Silverman's sentiment. But ripping off swastikas from buildings, purging art and history books from swastikas, or simply ignoring them, is neither a scientific, nor a rational way to deal with this subject. As graphic designer Henry Dreyfuss put it, "the fact that an ignominious fanatic placed a Swastika on his battle flag is insufficient reason for ignoring this symbol's historic significance."

The Nazis and neoNazis have no registered copyrights on the use of the swastika. They stole this symbol from mankind and use it for their evil purposes. Allowing the Nazis an exclusive privilege for using this symbol is equivalent to an act of moral cowardice.

The time is ripe to redeem this beautiful and enigmatic symbol, taking it from under Nazi control. We must bring it back to the illustrious place it deserves among other similar symbols in the long history of mankind.

The Swastika and the Nazis

About 45 years ago, I gave a lecture on Communication Theory and Semiotics at the Lyceum Society in Havana. Though I mentioned many common symbols, however, out of prejudice I did not mention a very important one.

After I finished my presentation, one of the people who attended the lecture asked me about the swastika, and I gave a perfunctory answer in which I recall I mentioned that it was a very old symbol. I didn’t know him at the time, but the person who asked me the question was Marcus Matterin, the Library Director at the Jewish Community center in Havana. Later we became friends.

But he picqued my curiosity. Next day I went to the library at the University of Havana where I discovered, to my total surprise, that in the 19th century already many articles and books had been written about the swastika. Actually, still the best work about the subject is The Swastika by Thomas Wilson, a curator at the U.S. National Museum, who wrote his book in 1894.

Since Matterin asked me that question I have been engaged in what I call “a search and rescue mission” of this symbol —which belongs to mankind, not to any particular ideology or political movement.

The most widely accepted explanation of how Adolf Hitler adopted the swastika as a symbol of the Nazi movement is found in his Mein Kampf. The connection, he claimed, came through Dr. Friedrich Krohn, a dentist, and member of the Nazi party. But, like many things related to Hitler and the Nazis, there are other explanations. This study is an attempt to bring some light to other not so well known connections. These connections are not presented in order or importance, nor are they exhaustive. I plan to keep adding new connections to the list.

Servando Gonzalez.