Some history about the swastika (1 Viewer)

Ahsoka · 28 September 2023

I know, controversial. And based on a post here, but this isn’t to say anything negative about that, I just got interested and learned some history about it and wanted to share because I know many people don’t know much about it. On with the history.

The real origins aren’t really clear from what I saw. It’s been used as a symbol or decoration for ages. Like they found a swastika covered engraved mammoth tusk. So really really old.

It has been found in old ruins all around the world as well, from North America to Greece to India. The symbol has been used for ages in some religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, and is still used today as a symbol of good luck and well being among various peoples and religions.

The way the swastika got known as a symbol of Nazi Germany mainly started with an archeological discovery. Someone who has been working for a long time to find Troy found where the city was (along with many other ancient cities as well), and in the ruins there were many swastika decorated finds. The swastika symbol re-spread primarily after these discoveries to Europeans and North Americans, both as a symbol of good and bad. Sports teams adopted the symbol for luck, the US military outfits had it, and it was added to architecture, along with many many more uses. As for the bad, this next part is confusing to me because the leap seems to be really big but somehow, someone looked at the Troy discovery and decided that since it’s found in Europe and Asia, that means Asia was conquered by white Europeans, particularly what they called Aryans (which was originally used to describe a language group, not race), who supposedly brought the swastika to Asia through conquest and were the “master race”. It gained popularity in Germany for that usage among extremist groups, and eventually, when Hitler rose to power, he adopted it because of its white/German supremacist ties. Commercial use of it was banned without permission, and through the propaganda, conquests, and genocides, it began to take on a meaning of evil to many westerners, who often eliminated its usage during and after the war. Even after the war, in the west, it continues to be seen exclusively as a Nazi symbol by many, and is completely banned in some countries such as Germany. It is still used by Neo Nazis and other such groups. Even in present day, people are finding Nazi swastikas in crazy places like trees (evergreen trees surrounding trees with leaves that turn yellow in the shape of a swastika, only able to be seen in a brief window for fall from a low flying aircraft). But it also remains a big part of some religions as a symbol of good. It’s unfortunate that Hitler ruined a symbol for some that had been used as good for countless years and made its main association with the west one of evil that needs to be covered up. But it is also hard to make it associated exclusively with good given it’s too recent and even present day usage for evil. It’s a hard situation admittedly. But anyways, that’s the basic history of the swastika, and how it came to be used around the world. Hope you guys learned something new here, it’s something that has more history behind it than a lot of people think.

Some sources:

How the Swastika, an Ancient Symbol of Good Fortune Used Around the World, Became the Nazi Logo

Archaeologists have found the distinctive design on artifacts from India, Europe, Africa, China and the Americas. When Adolf Hitler co-opted it, its meaning changed forever

www.smithsonianmag.com

Why did Hitler choose the swastika as a Nazi symbol?

By the early 1920s, the swastika, an ancient religious symbol, had been adopted by Adolf Hitler to represent the German Reich. How did it become the symbol of the Nazi party?

www.historyextra.com

alo · 28 September 2023

Vikki said:
I know, controversial. And based on a post here, but this isn’t to say anything negative about that, I just got interested and learned some history about it and wanted to share because I know many people don’t know much about it. On with the history.

The real origins aren’t really clear from what I saw. It’s been used as a symbol or decoration for ages. Like they found a swastika covered engraved mammoth tusk. So really really old. It has been found in old ruins all around the world as well, from North America to Greece to India. The symbol has been used for ages in some religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, and is still used today as a symbol of good luck and well being among various peoples and religions.

The way the swastika got known as a symbol of Nazi Germany mainly started with an archeological discovery. Someone who has been working for a long time to find Troy found where the city was (along with many other ancient cities as well), and in the ruins there were many swastika decorated finds. The swastika symbol re-spread primarily after these discoveries to Europeans and North Americans, both as a symbol of good and bad. Sports teams adopted the symbol for luck, the US military outfits had it, and it was added to architecture, along with many many more uses. As for the bad, this next part is confusing to me because the leap seems to be really big but somehow, someone looked at the Troy discovery and decided that since it’s found in Europe and Asia, that means Asia was conquered by white Europeans, particularly what they called Aryans (which was originally used to describe a language group, not race), who supposedly brought the swastika to Asia through conquest and were the “master race”. It gained popularity in Germany for that usage among extremist groups, and eventually, when Hitler rose to power, he adopted it because of its white/German supremacist ties. Commercial use of it was banned without permission, and through the propaganda, conquests, and genocides, it began to take on a meaning of evil to many westerners, who often eliminated its usage during and after the war. Even after the war, in the west, it continues to be seen exclusively as a Nazi symbol by many, and is completely banned in some countries such as Germany. It is still used by Neo Nazis and other such groups. Even in present day, people are finding Nazi swastikas in crazy places like trees (evergreen trees surrounding trees with leaves that turn yellow in the shape of a swastika, only able to be seen in a brief window for fall from a low flying aircraft). But it also remains a big part of some religions as a symbol of good. It’s unfortunate that Hitler ruined a symbol for some that had been used as good for countless years and made its main association with the west one of evil that needs to be covered up. But it is also hard to make it associated exclusively with good given it’s too recent and even present day usage for evil. It’s a hard situation admittedly. But anyways, that’s the basic history of the swastika, and how it came to be used around the world. Hope you guys learned something new here, it’s something that has more history behind it than a lot of people think.

Some sources:

How the Swastika, an Ancient Symbol of Good Fortune Used Around the World, Became the Nazi Logo

Archaeologists have found the distinctive design on artifacts from India, Europe, Africa, China and the Americas. When Adolf Hitler co-opted it, its meaning changed forever

www.smithsonianmag.com

Why did Hitler choose the swastika as a Nazi symbol?

By the early 1920s, the swastika, an ancient religious symbol, had been adopted by Adolf Hitler to represent the German Reich. How did it become the symbol of the Nazi party?

www.historyextra.com

none of this info is new to me as an indian, raised hindu. you'll find many temples, heck even people's houses, decorated with the swastika, as a sign representing good. however, the nazi swastika (which hitler never called the swastika himself btw, he always called it the hakenkreuz or the hooked cross) is a very different symbol, and can easily be distinguished from the hindu or buddhist swastika by any indian who went to school till at least 9th grade (cause nazism is covered in 9th grade history here).

going off on a tangent here: the whole concept of the aryan race is also another can of worms i probably shouldn't be opening rn cause it's past 12 am, but fuck it i will anyway. some people (getting politically spicy rn, so i'll say it - by some people i mean some of the conservative hindu supremacists) out here actually consider themselves to be the true descendants of the aryans. that all hindus are descendants of the aryans. that aryans were the supreme race. and thus, hindus are superior to literally all other people in the country. as you rightly said, there was no aryan race, it was a language group. but white people studying our history through their biased lenses just... kinda interpreted there was an aryan race. and while that has been proven false, some people out there don't care, and still try to establish themselves as superior to everyone else.

Ahsoka · 28 September 2023

alo said:
none of this info is new to me as an indian, raised hindu. you'll find many temples, heck even people's houses, decorated with the swastika, as a sign representing good. however, the nazi swastika (which hitler never called the swastika himself btw, he always called it the hakenkreuz or the hooked cross) is a very different symbol, and can easily be distinguished from the hindu or buddhist swastika by any indian who went to school till at least 9th grade (cause nazism is covered in 9th grade history here).

going off on a tangent here: the whole concept of the aryan race is also another can of worms i probably shouldn't be opening rn cause it's past 12 am, but fuck it i will anyway. some people (getting politically spicy rn, so i'll say it - by some people i mean some of the conservative hindu supremacists) out here actually consider themselves to be the true descendants of the aryans. that all hindus are descendants of the aryans. that aryans were the supreme race. and thus, hindus are superior to literally all other people in the country. as you rightly said, there was no aryan race, it was a language group. but white people studying our history through their biased lenses just... kinda interpreted there was an aryan race. and while that has been proven false, some people out there don't care, and still try to establish themselves as superior to everyone else.

Even the mammoth tusk part and Nazi tree propaganda wasn’t new?