Though some Paleolithic artifacts show swastika-like designs, it seems
that the swastika appeared with the beginning of the Bronze Age, simultaneously
in Asia Minor and central Europe. Since it appearance, it has been used
as a symbol, as a decoration, as an amulet, and as a talisman.
Examples of swastikas have been found in every continent, except in
Australia. Theories about its appearance in America abound, but they are
often contradictory, highly controversial, and most of the times the product
of conjecture.
In the natural world the swastika appears both in the micro world--DNA
molecule, crystals, fractals-- and in the macro world--hurricanes, spiral
galaxies. It appears under two main forms: with its legs pointing clockwise,
that is, with its virtual sense of movement turning to the left, and with
its legs pointing counterclockwise, that is, with its virtual sense of
movement turning to the right.
The fact that the legs of the swastika point to the opposite direction
of its virtual movement has been the cause of most confusion about this
symbol. As a matter of fact, most authors erroneously believe that the
destroverse swastika is the one with its legs pointing to the right, and
that the sinistroverse one has its legs pointing to the left.
When the swastika appears in its sinistroverse form --that is, with
its legs pointing to the right--, most of the time it carries a negative
symbolism. As such, sinistroverse swastikas appear frequently on funerary
urns and monuments, on ceramic with depictions of mourning scenes, and
in weapons. A sinistroverse swastika was specifically chosen by Adolf Hitler
as the symbol of his Nazi movement.
When the swastika appears in its destroverse form --that is, with its
legs pointing to the left--, it usually carries a positive symbolism. This
is the way it mostly appears in Tibet, China and Japan. There is no total
agreement, however, on its use with the above mentioned specific symbolism
in mind. Some mourning scenes depicted on Greek ceramic show both destro-
and sinistroverse swastikas. The sinistroverse swastika is used in India,
China and Japan as a symbol of luck and good fortune.
Claims that the swastika is an Aryan symbol are unsubstantiated. The
swastika as a symbol has been found in pre-Aryan sites in the Indus Valley.
For some time it was used by the primitive Christians, apparently as a
cross in disguise, and, as shown in ancient synagogues in Cafarnaum, even
the Jews placed it close to their most sacred symbols. The swastika also
appears in large numbers in archeological artifacts in North, Central,
and South America.
After axial movement and the sun, life seems to be one of the most
widespread and old symbolisms attached to the swastika. So, it is amazing
to find out that graphic representations of the DNA molecule--the modern
symbol for life par excellence --shows a swastika-like structure.
It is difficult also to explain the presence of a perfect sinistroverse
Basque swastika (also called Croix a Virgules ) on the lid of a
birch bark box made by the Mimac Indians of Nova Scotia. Even more difficult
to explain is the presence of an ogee (made out of two intertwined S's)
destroverse swastika on a spindle whorl of the Salish Indians of Vancouver
Island, so distant in time and space from the dozens of similar ones found
by Schliemann at Troy.
Because of the appearance of swastikas on spindle whorls some scholars
have advanced the theory that the swastika symbolizes circular, or axial
movement. Does this explains the use of the swastika as the design of choice
for wheel covers on many American made cars?
The infamous Thule Gesselschaft (Thule Society), 
founded in Germany
in 1919, sported a swastika as its symbol. The swastika is also the most
important symbol of the Cuna Indians, of the Gulf of San Blas, in Panama.
In 1925 the Cunas rose in revolt, killed the Panamanian guards who lived
in their territory, and founded the independent republic of Tule, whose
flag was a swastika on an orange background with a red border. The republic
existed for several years.
Several theories, ranging from the fantastic to the pedestrian, have
been advanced to explain the facts mentioned above. I have intentionally
refrained to mention them in this paper, because I consider these theories
so unsubstantiated as to be irrelevant to this study. A fact remains, however,
and it is that the swastika constitutes a veritable riddle, as well as
a challenge for the researcher and the scholar.
Following Thomas Wilson's steps, the main goal of this study has been
to gather all the information I have found concerning the adoption of the
swastika as a symbol for the Nazi movement, and put in a compact, easy
to update form. Nevertheless, I am leaving to others the task of adjustment
of these facts and their arrangement into a harmonious and coherent theory.
Servando Gonzalez
Hot Springs, Arkansas, 1997
