By the summer of 1920 the
swastika was commonly
used in Germany as the official symbol of the Nazi (short for Hitler's
Nazional- socialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) [National Socialist
German Workers' Party]) party. Twenty five years later it became a symbol
of shame and defeat for Germany. After its adoption by the Nazis, few other
symbols in the history of mankind have become so widely associated with
evil.
Most authors agree that it was Hitler himself who chose the swastika
as a symbol of his Nazi movement. There is no agreement, however, about
who influenced him into making such decision.
In Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler claimed that the form in which the
Nazis used the swastika [1] was based
on a design by Dr. Friedrich Krohn, a dentist who had belonged to several
Völkisch [2] groups, including the
Germanen Order. [3]
Krohn, a dentist from Starnberg, submitted his design of a flag which
had been used at the founding meeting of his own party local: a swastika
against a black-white-red background. The swastika, for long time a symbol
of the Teutonic Knights, had been in use by Lanz von Liebenfels, [4] the Thule Society [5]
and a number of Freikorps units.
Hitler gives his own account: "Actually, a dentist from
Starnberg did deliver a design that was not bad after
all, and, incidentally, was quite close to my own, having only the one
fault that a swastika with curved legs was composed into a white disk."
[6]
Krohn knew that the Buddhist destroverse or clockwise swastika symbolized
good fortune and well being, and made his design accordingly, with the
swastika's legs pointing to the left. [7]
The majority of the Nazi leaders accepted Krohn's design, but Hitler
insisted on a sinistroverse or anti-clockwise one and changed the design
accordingly, similar to the one on the right. [8]
1. Hitler often mentioned that the American Indians used the
swastika as a symbol. It seems that he had read about it in stories by
Karl May, a German who wrote about the American "Wild West."
(Glen B. Infield, Hitler's Secret Life. New York: Day Books, 1981, 240-241).
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2. The German word "völkisch" has been erroneously
translated as "folkic" or "folkish." There is no equivalent
of such word in the English language. Völkisch has nothing to do with
"folk" as we commonly use it, as in "folklore" or "folk
music." I have chosen to use the word without attempting to translate
it, hoping to keep its original Germanic and racial connotations.
The German Völkisch movement was a confused and complicated ideological
phenomenon, steaming from the ideas of the ate Romantic movement and German
nationalism. As a social group the Völkisch-en were mainly middle
class, and identified with a passionate and irrational belief in the sanctity
of everything that was specifically German or "Germanic". They
represented the most extreme and chauvinistic form of German nationalism.
Though politically ineffective, they constituted an active and vociferous
pressure group.
The Völkischen were anti Semitic, and their anti Semitism was
directly inherited from the pre-1914 generation of Völkischen. They
believed that the Jews, whether German or any other nationality, represented
dishonest, decadent and racially inferior qualities. In contrast, they
believed that the Germanic (Aryan) race was noble, heroic, honest and possessed
all the attributes proper to the Herrenvolk or master race.
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3. The Germanen Order (also called the Teutonic Order), founded
in Berlin in 1912, by Theodor Fritsch, Hermann Pohl, Philipp Stauff, and
a few others, was one of the many secret societies which swarmed in Germany
at the beginning of the century . It was an off-shot of the loosely organized
Germanische Glaubensgemeinschaft (Community for German Beliefs), which
had been founded in 1907 by Professor Ludwig Fahrenkrog of Barmen following
pseudo-Masonic lines.
In order to be admitted to the Community for German Beliefs, the candidate
had to prove that he had no non-Aryan blood in his veins and that he will
keep his blood pure through marriage. Local groups of the sect met annually
to celebrate the summer solstice (always an important festivity in Völkisch
circles and later in Nazi Germany). Members were encouraged to study the
Edda as well as some of the German mystics, including Meister Eckart, Jacob
Boehme and Paracelsus. Readings of these and other Germanic authors were
common to the meetings of all these sects.
Whereas the Theosophical and Anthroposophical societies had an international
outlook, and freely admitted Jews, the Germanen Order represented German
nationalism and anti-Semitism in its most extreme, psychopathic form. It
is believed that the Germanen Order was also the "inner group"
behind the so-called Hammer League (Hammerbund), which was solely dealing
with disseminating anti-Semitic propaganda
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4. See The Ostara Connection.
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5. See The Thule Society Connection.
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6. Mein Kampf. Boston: 1943, 496.
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7. The left has always been associated with evil. Black magic is also
called "the Left-hand Path". 
Moving to the
left in magic is always done with evil intent and it is supposed to attract
evil influences. Some spells work only if you move to the left while repeating
them.
The swastika represents, among many other things, the eternal movement
and spiritual renewal. The counterclockwise swastika adopted by the Nazis
is regarded as symbolizing movement "away from the Godhead,"
and has become a contemporary motif of evil, while the clockwise swastika
represents movement towards God and suggests a cosmic rythm in tune with
the Universe. (See Nevill Drury, Dictionary of Mysticism and the Occult
. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1985, 248-249).
The virtual movement of the swastika is depicted in the above illustration,
a cover of a fireworks box from India (c. 1930). As it is shown in the
picture of the swastika wheel on the upper right corner, once ignited the
swastika will turn counterclockwise, that is, contrary to the direction
of its arms.
| The fact that the virtual movement of the swastika runs in the opposite
direction of its arms, has been a source of confusion. To better evidence
the direction of the swastika's virtual movement, author Rudiger Dahle
has suggested to visualize it with its legs ended in four flame throwers,
creating a jet flow.
(Mandalas of the World . New York: Sterling Publishing, 1992,
90-91). |
  |
The tendency to connect the left with evil is very old. When the Babylonians
drew omens they usually considered the left side bad and the ride side
good. In Homer birds flying towards the right are a favorable omen, while
the ones flying to the left are unfavorable. "Sinister" is the
Latin word for both left and evil, a meaning still kept in English and
in most romance languages.
The sephiroth of the Jewish Cabala run from right to left on the tree,
perhaps because the Hebrew language is written from right to left. Those
sephiroth on the right side of the tree are male and positive, those on
the left or evil side are female and negative.
Ancient authors describe a witch's initiation saying that the Devil
draws blood from the witch's left hand and then writes with it the pact
on a paper he keeps. (See Richard Cavendish, The Black Arts . New
York: Capricorn, 1967, 33, 103, and 356).
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According to some scholars, "swastika" is properly the name
for the symbol running destroverse or clockwise , i. e. with its legs pointing
to the left, while the"sauvastika" is actually the Indian name
for the sinistroverse swastika, the one running counterclockwise, i. e.
with its legs pointing to the right.
This hypothesis was advanced by J. G. Müller (Geschichte der
amerikanishen Urreligionen , Basel: 1855). But Thomas Wilson,
one of the main swastika scholars (The Swastika, the earliest known
symbol, and its migrations , Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution
Report,1894), sees no justification for it.
If one accepts Müller's hypothesis, however, the design selected
by Hitler as the symbol of the Nazi movement was not actually a swastika,
but a sauvastika.
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