Nazi Symbols - The Story Behind the Imagery

[Music] there are five symbols that are most closely associated with the national socialists but you may be surprised that they were not created by them they are the swastika the eagle the right arms salute the death's head and the ss runes all are politically sensitive today and are banned in some countries but what are the stories behind them where did they originate and how did they end up appropriated by the nazis let's begin with the most contentious the swastika i lived in asia for 10 years and i saw swastikas almost every week they are most

commonly found on religious buildings but are used in many aspects of life in asia originating in india this remarkable symbol meant good luck until used by the nazis swastika is derived from the sanskrit word swastika which means conducive to well-being many different forms of the swastika are to be found in hinduism buddhism and jainism all positive and spiritual symbols in europe the swastika has many names in germany it is called the hakken hakenkreits or hooked cross it has represented gods such as zeus in ancient greece jupiter in the roman empire and thor in ancient germanic

religion in north america the swastika was commonly used for the same reason as a positive symbol of good luck many native american tribes used it primarily the navajo sioux hopi and passimaquadi peoples before world war ii it was even the symbol of the united states 45th infantry division worn as a shoulder patch i grew up in the english county of essex and the city hall in chelmsford is covered in swastikas to this day and none of it has anything to do with national socialism the adoption of this symbol by the nazis was a masterful piece

of marketing perhaps the most successful logo in history after all no matter where you are in the world if you see a swastika regardless of its use you can't help but think of nazis even 80 years later so of course hitler didn't invent the swastika rather he adapted a symbol already common in europe for many centuries for his own purposes hitler created the nazi party image in 1925 after much trial and error taking a black swastika facing right turn 45 degrees inside a white circle against a red background the colours deliberately echo the old german

imperial flag while the cross represented a race emblem for the german people an aryan symbol in this again hitler was not original for the swastika had first been used in germany with this symbolism in 1907 on the flag of the order of the new templars an austrian nationalist secret society it is tragic that a religious symbol thousands of years old that symbolizes so many positive things has been permanently defamed because of just 20 years use by the nazis there are calls today to rehabilitate the swastika but nazi imagery endures very strongly and it is unlikely

that this will happen anytime soon next up we have the nazi eagle or rags adler which is actually far older than the third reich period as with many nazi symbols it was expropriated from german history and tradition and then modified reichsadler means imperial eagle and the earliest example stayed from the holy roman empire who themselves copied it from the roman army's eagle standard which represented strength and unity the order of the teutonic knights displayed an imperial eagle on their coat of arms this black eagle was later used by the state of prussia between 1466 and

1772 and then formed the basis of the arms of the kingdom of prussia until 1918. the reichs adler came to be seen as the symbol of german unity the single-headed eagle became the insignia the german empire and following world war one and the abolition of the monarchy the weimar republic used the eagle as well after hitler came to power in 1933 a stylized eagle with the nazis swastika and its talons became the official national emblem from 1935 onwards the nazis used two types of eagle the partai adler or party eagle looking to its left shoulder

was the symbol of the nsdap the reichsadler looked to its right shoulder and was a national symbol of germany interestingly in 1950 the reichs adler was resurrected by the federal republic of germany today called the bundes adler it is an official german government symbol demonstrating that the eagle remains a central motif of german national identity right up to the present day the stiff right arm salute order in the nazi period the german greeting is another image that the nazis adopted from history it has long been suggested that the romans began the practice of the stiff

right arms salute though no documentary evidence for this has ever emerged in two thousand years in fact the salute was probably attributed to the romans by the 18th century painter jacques louis david who used it in his famous painting oath of the hareshai in 1784. during the 19th and 20th centuries the salute was further associated with the romans by artists and playwrights this artistic invention tipped over into silent film appearing on the screen in the 1914 italian movie kiberia written by an italian ultra nationalist gabriele diancio so this french invented salute was adopted in italy

by ultra nationalists including benito mussolini's fascists in 1923 some nazi party members used this salute to greet hitler and in 1926 it became compulsory it was not universally popular among early nazis some thought it an italian gesture and therefore ungermanic so deputy fuhrer rudolf hess published an article in 1928 claiming erroneously that the salute had been used by the party since 1921 and was a good fascist gesture from 1933 all germans had to use this salute [Applause] the history of the potent ss symbol the totten cop for death's head is far older than the nazi

period and was and still is used in some countries as an army symbol that has no connection to national socialism yet another symbol that the nazis adopted from history for their own purposes king frederick the great of prussia first used the totenkopf as a military emblem when he formed a regiment of hussars the unit also wore black uniforms in 1809 another german state braunschweig or brunswick also formed a black uniformed huzzah regiment that wore the totenkopf the scowl badge was worn as a sign of revenge against the french this unit fought alongside the duke of

wellington the battle of waterloo in 1815. with the creation of the german empire the totenkopf continued in military service most famously the prussian death's head huzzahs an elite cavalry force several members of the german imperial family were members of this regiment during world war one the torton cop was again worn as a regimental badge in action in 1919 the emblem was used by the frey corps right-wing german paramilitaries that fought against communism in post-war germany it was next used from the weimar republic by the fifth cavalry regiment continuing the traditions of the old imperial cavalry

it first appeared in the early nazi period as the insignia of the shtabswaka hitler's early bodyguard unit the unit was eventually renamed the schutz staffer or ss and continued to use the german imperial symbol on its caps but during world war ii the totten cop was not only limited to the ss the regular army's long cavalry tradition saw it also used as an army panzer uniform badge outside of germany the death's head is still used today the british army's royal lancers cap badge and motto form the saying death or glory the royal air force's number

100 squadron uses a skull and crossbones symbol while the united states marine corps reconnaissance battalions use it as well as the south korean 3rd infantry division the ss as the personification of heinrich himmler's pseudo-scientific aryan supermen employed ancient germanic runes attempting to draw a line back to some pagan northern european germanic myths and legends the most famous runic symbol they used was that of the ss itself the doppelta zigaruna originally the lightning-shaped rune represented the sun but an early precursor to the nazi movement the volkisch movement of the 19th century changed its meaning to represent

zeke or victory hence its name today the zeigrun fast forward to 1933 and the ss required a symbol that was both memorable and symbolic ss officer walter heck who was a graphic designer in bonn decided on the zigrun but doubled and placed side by side like lightning bolts in a clever play on words the runes represent both the name ss and the rallying cry from the volkisch movement reinterpretation of the rune as victory victory many thanks for watching please subscribe and share and also visit my audiobook channel war stories with mark felton you can also

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