Swastika symbol - types and meaning. The real origin of the swastika

As we can see, there is no indication in the law about the use of the Swastika symbols, so why are the law enforcement agencies signing it under this law. All this happens due to elementary ignorance of their own history and their own language.

Let's understand the terminology gradually.

First, consider the term Nazism:
National Socialism (German Nationalsozialismus, abbreviated Nazism) - official political ideology Third Reich.

Translating the essence of the name: Making socially oriented changes for development, (although not always) within the same nation. Or abbreviated Change of the Nation - Nazism. This system existed in Germany from 1933 to 1945.

Unfortunately, our politicians did not study history at all, otherwise they would have known that from 1917 to 1980, the Socialist system was officially adopted in our country, which was called International Socialism. What in translation: Carrying out socially oriented changes for development, (although not always) within one multinational people. Or abbreviated International Nation Change - Internationalism.

For ease of comparison, I will also give the Latin form of writing these two regimes Nationalsozialismus and InterNationalsozialismus

In other words, you and I, ladies and gentlemen, were exactly the same Nazis as the inhabitants of Germany.

Accordingly, according to this law, all symbols of the former USSR and modern Russia are banned.

And besides, I will give not big statistics. During the Second World War, more than 20 million people died in Russia. This is a clear reason to have a negative attitude towards the political regime of Germany in the 30s. During the revolution of 1918 in Russia (during the repressions) more than 60 million people died. In my opinion, the reason for the negative attitude towards the Soviet government is 3 times more.

But at the same time, the symbol of the Swastika, which was used by the Nazis, is banned in the Russian Federation, and the Symbols of the Bolsheviks "Red Star" and "Hammer and Sickle" are symbols of the national treasure. In my opinion, on the face of a bright injustice.

I deliberately do not use the term Fascism in relation to Nazi Germany, because this is another very important misconception. There has never been fascism in Germany and never could be. He flourished in Italy, France, Belgium, Poland, Great Britain, but not in Germany.

Fascism (Italian fascismo from fascio "bundle, bundle, association") - as a political science term, is a generalized name for specific extreme right political movements, their ideology, as well as those led by them political regimes dictatorial type.

In a narrower historical sense, fascism is understood as a mass political movement that existed in Italy in the 1920s and early 1940s under the leadership of B. Mussolini.

This can be elementarily confirmed by the fact that fascism implies a cohesive unification of the church and the state into one body or collegium, and in Nationalist Germany the church was separated from the state and was oppressed in every possible way.

By the way, the Symbol of Fascism is not a swastika at all, but 8 arrows tied with a ribbon (Fashina is a bunch).

In general, we have more or less figured out the terminology, now let's move on to the Swastika symbol itself.

Consider the Etymology of the word Swastika, but based on the origin of the language, and not, as everyone is used to, on the roots of the Sanskrit language. In Sanskrit, the translation is also very favorable, but we will look for the essence, and not adjust the convenience to the truth.

The swastika consists of two words and a bunch: Sva (Sun, the primordial energy of the universe, Inglia), C-preposition of connection and Tika (fast movement or circular motion). That is, Swa with Tick is the Swastika, the Sun with rotation or movement. Solstice!

This ancient symbol is used Slavic culture since its inception, and has several hundred different variations. Also, this ancient symbol is used by many other religions, including Buddhism. But for some reason, when this symbol is depicted on Buddha statues, no one ranks Buddhists as fascists or Nazis.

Why is there Buddhism, in the tradition of Russian patterns and ornaments, swastikas are found at every turn. And even on Soviet money, the swastika symbol was depicted, moreover, one to one like in Nationalist Germany, except perhaps not black.

So why are we, or rather our (not our) authorities, trying to denigrate this symbol and put it out of use. Unless they are afraid of his true power, which is able to open their eyes to all their atrocities.

Absolutely all the galaxies that exist in our space have the shape of a swastika, so the ban on this symbol is just pure absurdity.

Well, enough talk about the negative, let's look at the Swastikas themselves a little closer.
Swastika symbols have two main types of orientation:
Right-sided solstice - rays directed to the left, create the effect of rotation to the right. It is a symbol of creative solar energy, a symbol of birth and development.

Left-sided solstice - the rays are directed to the right, creating the effect of rotation to the left. It is a symbol of the energy of "destruction". The word is deliberately put in quotation marks, because there is no pure destruction in the universe. For a new one to be born solar system, first one of the suns must explode, that is, destructure and be cleared of the old program. Then there is a new creation. Accordingly, the left-sided swastika is a symbol of Purification, healing, and renewal. And wearing or using this symbol does not destroy, but purifies.

Therefore, it is important to carefully select this symbol based on the changes that you want to get.

The Slavic Swastika is one of the most powerful symbols that has ever existed in the universe. It is stronger than Runic, because it is understood in any galaxy and any universe. It is a universal symbol of being. Treat this symbol with Respect and do not classify it as one people only. And even more so to one extremely small event on the scale of the universe.

Symbols were powerful weapons in the Nazi transformation of society. Never before or since in history have symbols played such an important role in political life and not used so deliberately. The national revolution, according to the Nazis, not only had to be carried out - it had to be seen.

The Nazis not only destroyed all those democratic public institutions laid down during the Weimar Republic, they also nullified all the external signs of democracy in the country. The National Socialists absorbed the state even more than Mussolini did in Italy, and party symbols became part of the state symbols. The black-red-yellow banner of the Weimar Republic was replaced by the Nazi red-white-black with a swastika. The German state emblem was replaced by a new one, and the swastika took center stage in it.

The life of society at all levels was saturated with Nazi symbols. No wonder Hitler was interested in methods of influencing mass consciousness. Based on the opinion of the French sociologist Gustave Le Bon that the best way to control large groups of people is through propaganda aimed at the senses and not the intellect, he created a gigantic propaganda apparatus that was supposed to convey to the masses the ideas of National Socialism in a simple, understandable and emotional. Many official symbols appeared, each reflecting a part of Nazi ideology. Symbols worked like the rest of propaganda: uniformity, repetition, and mass production.

The desire of the Nazis for total power over citizens was also manifested in the insignia that people from various fields had to wear. Members of political organizations or administrations wore cloth patches, badges of honor and pinned badges with symbols approved by the Goebbels Propaganda Ministry.

The insignia was also used to separate the "unworthy" to participate in the construction of the new Reich. Jews, for example, were stamped with the letter J (Jude, Jew) in their passports to control their entry and exit from the country. The Jews were also ordered to wear stripes on their clothes - a yellow six-pointed "star of David" with the word Jude ("Jew"). Such a system was most widespread in concentration camps, where prisoners were divided into categories and forced to wear stripes indicating their belonging to a particular group. Often the stripes were triangular, like warning road signs. Different categories of prisoners corresponded to different colors of stripes. Blacks were worn by the mentally handicapped, alcoholics, lazy, gypsies and women sent to concentration camps for so-called anti-social behavior: prostitution, lesbianism or for the use of contraceptives. Homosexual men were required to wear pink triangles, members of the Jehovah's Witnesses - purple. Red, the color of socialism so hated by the Nazis, was worn by "enemies of the state": political prisoners, socialists, anarchists and freemasons. The patches could be combined. For example, a homosexual Jew was forced to wear a pink triangle on a yellow triangle. Together they created a two-color "Star of David".

Swastika

The swastika is the most famous symbol of German National Socialism. This is one of the oldest and most common symbols in the history of mankind, which was used in many cultures, at different times and in different parts Sveta. Its origin is debatable.

The most ancient archaeological finds with the image of a swastika are rock paintings on ceramic shards found in southeastern Europe, their age is more than 7 thousand years. The swastika is found there as part of the "alphabet" that was used in the Indus Valley in bronze age, i.e. 2600-1900 BC Similar finds of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages have also been discovered during excavations in the Caucasus.

Archaeologists have found the swastika not only in Europe, but also on objects found in Africa, South and North America. Most likely, in different regions this symbol was used completely independently.

The meaning of the swastika can be different depending on the culture. In ancient China, for example, the swastika denoted the number 10,000 and then infinity. In Indian Jainism, it denotes four levels of being. In Hinduism, the swastika, in particular, symbolized the fire god Agni and the sky god Diaus.

Its names are also numerous. In Europe, the symbol was called "four-legged", or cross gammadion, or even just gammadion. The word "swastika" itself comes from Sanskrit and can be translated as "something that brings happiness."

The swastika as an Aryan symbol

The transformation of the swastika from an ancient symbol of the sun and good luck to one of the most hated signs in the Western world began with the excavations of the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann. In the 70s of the 19th century, Schliemann began excavating the ruins of ancient Troy near Hisarlik in the north of modern Turkey. On many finds, the archaeologist discovered a swastika, a symbol familiar to him from ancient pottery found during excavations at Köningswalde in Germany. Therefore, Schliemann decided that he had found the missing link connecting the Germanic ancestors, Greece of the Homeric era and the mythical India, sung in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.

Schliemann consulted the orientalist and racial theorist Emil Burnauf, who argued that the swastika is a stylized image (view from above) of the burning altar of the ancient Aryans. Since the Aryans worshiped fire, the swastika was their main religious symbol, Burnauf concluded.

The discovery caused a sensation in Europe, especially in the recently unified Germany, where the ideas of Burnauf and Schliemann met with a warm response. Gradually, the swastika lost its original meaning and began to be considered an exclusively Aryan symbol. Its distribution was considered a geographical indication of exactly where the ancient "supermen" were in one or another historical period. More sober-minded scientists resisted such a simplification and pointed to cases when the swastika was also found outside the region where the Indo-European languages ​​\u200b\u200bdistributed.

Gradually, the swastika began to be given an increasingly anti-Semitic meaning. Burnauf argued that the Jews did not accept the swastika. The Polish writer Mikael Zmigrodsky published Die Mutter bei den Völkern des arischen Stammes in 1889, which portrayed the Aryans as a pure race that did not allow mixing with Jews. In the same year, at the World Fair in Paris, Zmigrodsky arranged an exhibition of archaeological finds with a swastika. Two years later, the German scholar Ernst Ludwig Krause wrote the book Tuisko-Land, der arischen Stämme und Götter Urheimat, in which the swastika appeared as an obviously anti-Semitic symbol of popular nationalism.

Hitler and the swastika flag

The National Socialist Party of Germany (NSDAP) formally adopted the swastika as a party symbol in 1920. Hitler was not yet chairman of the party at that time, but he was responsible for propaganda issues in it. He understood that the party needed something that would distinguish it from competing groups and at the same time attract the masses.

Having made several sketches of the banner, Hitler chose the following: a black swastika in a white circle on a red background. The colors were borrowed from the old imperial banner, but expressed the dogmas of National Socialism. In his autobiography Mein Kampf, Hitler then explained: “Red is social thought in motion, white represents nationalism, and the swastika is a symbol of the struggle of the Aryans and their victory, which is thus the victory of the idea of ​​creative work, which in itself has always been anti-Semitic and always will be anti-Semitic.”

The swastika as a national symbol

In May 1933, just a few months after Hitler came to power, a law was passed to protect "national symbols". According to this law, the swastika was not supposed to be depicted on foreign objects, and the commercial use of the sign was also prohibited.

In July 1935, the German merchant ship Bremen entered the port of New York. The Nazi flag with the swastika flew next to the German national flag. Hundreds of union and American Communist Party members gathered on the wharf for an anti-Nazi rally. The demonstration escalated into riots, excited workers boarded the Bremen, tore off the swastika flag and threw it into the water. The incident led the German ambassador in Washington to demand a formal apology from the American government four days later. The Americans refused to apologize, saying that the disrespect was shown not to the national flag, but only to the flag of the Nazi Party.

The Nazis were able to use this incident to their advantage. Hitler called it "the humiliation of the German people". And to prevent this from happening in the future, the status of the swastika was raised to the level of a national symbol.

On September 15, 1935, the first of the so-called Nuremberg Laws came into force. It legalized the colors of the German state: red, white and black, and the flag with a swastika became the state flag of Germany. In November of the same year, this banner was introduced into the army. During the Second World War, it spread to all the countries occupied by the Nazis.

The cult of the swastika

However, in the Third Reich, the swastika was not a symbol state power, and above all an expression of the worldview of National Socialism. During their reign, the Nazis created a cult of the swastika that more closely resembled a religion than the usual political use of the symbols. The grandiose mass gatherings organized by the Nazis were like religious ceremonies, where Hitler was assigned the role of high priest. During party days in Nuremberg, for example, Hitler exclaimed "Heil!" - and hundreds of thousands of Nazis answered in chorus: "Heil, my Fuhrer"! With bated breath, the huge crowd watched as huge banners with swastikas were slowly unfurled to the solemn drum roll.

This cult also included a special veneration of the banner, preserved from the time of the "beer putsch" in Munich in 1923, when several Nazis were shot dead by the police. The legend claimed that a few drops of blood fell on the cloth. Ten years later, after coming to power, Hitler ordered the delivery of this flag from the archives of the Bavarian police. And since then, each new army standard or flag with a swastika went through a special ceremony, during which the new cloth touched this blood-stained banner, which became a relic of the Nazis

The cult of the swastika as a symbol of the Aryan race was to eventually replace Christianity. Since the Nazi ideology presented the world as a struggle between races and peoples, Christianity with its Jewish roots was in their eyes another proof that the previously Aryan regions had been "conquered" by the Jews. Towards the end of World War II, the Nazis developed far-reaching plans to transform the German church into a "national" church. All Christian symbols were to be replaced in it with Nazi ones. Party ideologue Alfred Rosenberg wrote that all crosses, Bibles and images of saints should be removed from churches. Instead of a Bible, Mein Kampf should be on the altar, and a sword to the left of the altar. Crosses in all churches should be replaced by "the only invincible symbol - the swastika."

post-war period

After the Second World War, the swastika in the Western world was so associated with the atrocities and crimes of Nazism that it completely overshadowed all other interpretations. Today in the West, the swastika is associated primarily with Nazism and right-wing extremism. In Asia, the swastika sign is still considered positive, although, since the middle of the 20th century, some Buddhist temples have been decorated only with left-handed swastikas, although signs of both directions were previously used.

National symbols

Just as the Italian fascists presented themselves as the modern heirs of the Roman Empire, the Nazis sought to prove their connection to ancient German history. It was not for nothing that Hitler called the state he conceived the Third Reich. The first large-scale state formation was the German-Roman Empire, which existed in one form or another for almost a thousand years, from 843 to 1806. A second attempt at a German empire, made in 1871, when Bismarck united the North German lands under Prussian rule, failed with Germany's defeat in World War I.

German National Socialism, like Italian Fascism, was an extreme form of nationalism. This was expressed in their borrowing of signs and symbols from the early history of the Germans. These include the combination of red, white and black colors, as well as the symbols used by the militaristic power during the Prussian Empire.

Scull

The image of the skull is one of the most common symbols in the history of mankind. AT different cultures it had a different meaning. In the West, the skull is traditionally associated with death, with the passage of time, with the finiteness of life. Skull drawings existed in ancient times, but became more noticeable in the 15th century: they appeared in abundance in all cemeteries and mass graves associated with the plague epidemic. In Sweden, church paintings depict death as a skeleton.

The associations associated with the skull have always been a suitable symbol for those groups that wanted to either scare people or emphasize their own contempt for death. Everyone famous example- pirates of the West Indies of the 17th and 18th centuries, who used black flags with the image of a skull, often combining it with other symbols: a sword, an hourglass or bones. For the same reasons, the skull and crossbones began to be used to indicate danger in other areas. For example, in chemistry and medicine, a skull and crossbones on a label means that the drug is poisonous and life-threatening.

SS men wore metal badges with skulls on their headdresses. The same sign was used in the Life Hussars of the Prussian Guards back in the time of Frederick the Great, in 1741. In 1809, the "Black Corps" of the Duke of Brunswick wore a black uniform depicting a skull without a lower jaw.

Both of these options - a skull and bones or a skull without a lower jaw - existed in the German army during the First World War. In the elite units, these symbols meant fighting courage and contempt for death. When in June 1916 the sapper regiment of the First Guard received the right to wear a white skull on the sleeve, the commander addressed the soldiers with the following speech: "I am convinced that this insignia of the new detachment will always be worn as a sign of contempt for death and fighting spirit."

After the war, the German units that refused to recognize the Treaty of Versailles chose the skull as their symbol. Some of them entered Hitler's personal guard, which later became the SS. In 1934, the leadership of the SS officially approved the version of the skull, which is still used by neo-Nazis today. The skull was also the symbol of the SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf". This division was originally recruited from concentration camp guards. The ring with a "dead head", that is, with a skull, was also an honorary award that Himmler presented to distinguished and well-deserved SS men.

For both the Prussian army and the soldiers of the imperial units, the skull was a symbol of blind loyalty to the commander and readiness to follow him to death. This meaning has also been transferred to the symbol SS. “We wear a skull on black caps as a warning to the enemy and as a sign of readiness to sacrifice our lives for the Fuhrer and his ideals,” such a statement belongs to Alois Rosenvink, an SS man.

Since the image of the skull was widely used in the most different areas, then in our time it turned out to be the least symbol associated with Nazi ideology. The most famous modern Nazi organization that uses the skull in its symbolism is the British Combat 18.

iron Cross

Initially, the "Iron Cross" was the name of a military order established by the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm III in March 1813. Now both the order itself and the image of the cross on it are called so.

The "Iron Cross" of various degrees was awarded to soldiers and officers of four wars. First in the Prussian war against Napoleon in 1813, then during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, and then during the First World War. The order symbolized not only courage and honor, but was closely associated with the German cultural tradition. For example, during the Prussian-Austrian war of 1866, the Iron Cross was not awarded, since it was considered a war between two fraternal peoples.

With the outbreak of World War II, Hitler revived the order. In the center of the cross was added, the colors of the ribbon were changed to black, red and white. However, the tradition has been preserved to indicate the year of issue. Therefore, the year 1939 is stamped on the Nazi versions of the Iron Cross. During the Second World War, approximately 3.5 million Iron Crosses were awarded. In 1957, when the wearing of Nazi symbols was banned in West Germany, war veterans were given the opportunity to turn in orders and get back the same ones, but without the swastika.

The symbolism of the order has a long history. The Christian cross, which began to be used in ancient Rome in the 4th century BC, originally meant the salvation of mankind through martyrdom Christ on the cross and the resurrection of Christ. When Christianity militarized in the era of the Crusades in the 12th and 13th centuries, the meaning of the symbol expanded and began to cover such virtues of the crusaders as courage, loyalty and honor.

One of the many knightly orders that arose at that time was the Teutonic Order. In 1190, during the siege of Acre in Palestine, merchants from Bremen and Lübeck founded a field hospital. Two years later, the Teutonic Order received formal status from the Pope, who endowed it with a symbol: a black cross on a white background, called the cross patté. The cross is equilateral, its crossbars are curved and expand from the center to the ends.

Over time, the Teutonic Order grew in numbers and its importance increased. During the Crusades to Eastern Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries, the Teutonic Knights conquered significant territories in the place of modern Poland and Germany. In 1525, the order underwent secularization, and the lands belonging to it became part of the Duchy of Prussia. The black-and-white knights' cross existed in Prussian heraldry until 1871, when its stylized version with straight lines became the symbol of the German war machine.

Thus, the iron cross, like many other symbols that were used in Nazi Germany, is not a Nazi political symbol, but a military one. Therefore, it is not banned in modern Germany, in contrast to purely fascist symbols, and is still used in the Bundeswehr army. However, neo-Nazis began to use it during their gatherings instead of the banned swastika. And instead of the forbidden banner of the Third Reich, the war flag of Imperial Germany is used.

The iron cross is also common among biker groups. It is also found in popular subcultures, for example, among surfers. Variants of the iron cross are found in the logos of various companies.

wolf hook

In 1910, the German writer Hermann Löns published a historical novel called Werwolf (Werewolf). The action in the book takes place in a German village during the Thirty Years' War. It's about the fight peasant son Garma Wolf against legionnaires who, like insatiable wolves, terrorize the population. The hero of the novel makes his symbol "wolf hook" - a transverse crossbar with two sharp hooks at the ends. The novel became extremely popular, especially in nationalist circles, because of the romantic image of the German peasants.

Löns was killed in France during the First World War. However, his popularity continued in the Third Reich. By order of Hitler in 1935, the remains of the writer were transferred and buried on German soil. The Werewolf novel was reprinted several times, and the cover often featured this sign, which was included in the number of state-sanctioned symbols.

After the defeat in the First World War and the collapse of the empire, the "wolf hook" became a symbol of national resistance against the policies of the victors. It was used by various nationalist groups - Jungnationalen Bundes and Deutschen Pfadfinderbundes, and one volunteer corps even took the name of the novel "Werwolf".

The sign "wolf hook" (Wolfsangel) existed in Germany for many hundreds of years. Its origin is not entirely clear. The Nazis claim that the sign is pagan, citing its resemblance to the Old Norse i rune, but there is no evidence for this. The "wolf hook" was carved on the buildings by members of the medieval masons' guild, who traveled around Europe and built cathedrals as early as the 14th century (these artisans were then formed into masons or "free masons"). Later, starting from the 17th century, the sign was included in the heraldry of many noble families and city coats of arms. According to some versions, the shape of the sign resembles a tool that was used to hang wolf carcasses after hunting, but this theory is probably based on the name of the symbol. The word Wolfsangel itself is first mentioned in the Wapenkunst heraldic dictionary of 1714, but denotes a completely different symbol.

Different versions of the symbol were used by young “wolf cubs” from the Hitler Youth and in the military apparatus. The most well-known examples of the use of this symbol: stripes with a “wolf hook” were worn by the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich, the Eighth Panzer Regiment, the 4th SS Motorized Infantry Division, the Dutch SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Landstorm Nederland. In Sweden, this symbol was used in the 1930s by the youth wing of Lindholm's Youth of the North (Nordisk Ungdom).

At the end of World War II, the Nazi regime began to create a kind of partisan groups that were supposed to fight the enemy who had entered German soil. Influenced by Löns's novels, these groups also began to be called "Werwolf", and in 1945 the "wolf hook" became their hallmark. Some of these groups continued to fight against the Allied forces even after the surrender of Germany, for which today's neo-Nazis began to mythologize them.

The "wolf hook" can also be depicted vertically, with points pointing up and down. In this case, the symbol is called Donnerkeil - "lightning".

Working class symbols

Before Hitler got rid of the socialist faction of the NSDAP during the Night of the Long Knives, the party also used the symbols of the labor movement - primarily in the SA assault squads. In particular, as with the Italian fascist militants a decade earlier, in the early 30s, a revolutionary black banner was encountered in Germany. Sometimes it was completely black, sometimes combined with symbols such as the swastika, "wolf hook" or skull. At present, black banners are found almost exclusively among anarchists.

Hammer and sword

In the Weimar Republic of the 1920s, there were political groups that tried to combine socialist ideas with völkisch ideology. This was reflected in the attempts to create symbols that combined elements of these two ideologies. Most often among them there were a hammer and a sword.

The hammer was drawn from the symbolism of the developing labor movement late XIX- the beginning of the XX century. The symbols that glorified the working people were taken from a set of common tools. The most famous were, of course, the hammer and sickle, which in 1922 were adopted as symbols of the newly formed Soviet Union.

The sword has traditionally served as a symbol of struggle and power, and in many cultures it has also been an integral part of various gods of war, for example, the god Mars in Roman mythology. In National Socialism, the sword became a symbol of the struggle for the purity of the nation or race and existed in many variants.

The sword symbol contained the idea of ​​the future "unity of the people", which the workers and soldiers were to achieve after the revolution. For several months in 1924, the radical left and later nationalist Sepp Erter published a newspaper called "Hammer and Sword", the logo of which used a symbol in the form of two crossed hammers intersecting with a sword.

And in Hitler's NSDAP there were leftist movements - primarily represented by the brothers Gregor and Otto Strasser. The Strasser brothers published books at the Rhein-Ruhr and Kampf publishing houses. Both firms used the hammer and sword as emblems. The symbol was also found on early stages existence of the Hitler Youth, until in 1934 Hitler cracked down on all socialist elements in the Nazi movement.

Gear

Most of the symbols used in the Third Reich have existed in one form or another for hundreds, sometimes thousands of years. But the gear refers to much later symbols. It began to be used only after the industrial revolution of the 18th and 18th centuries. The symbol denoted technology in general, technical progress and mobility. Due to the direct connection with industrial development, the gear has become a symbol of factory workers.

The first in Nazi Germany to use the gear as its symbol was the Technical Department (Technische Nothilfe, TENO, TENO), founded back in 1919. This organization, where the letter T in the form of a hammer and the letter N was placed inside the gear, carried out technical support various right-wing extremist groups. TENO was responsible for the operation and protection of such important industries as water and gas. Over time, TENO joined the German war machine and became directly subordinate to Himmler.

After Hitler came to power in 1933, all trade unions were banned in the country. Instead of trade unions, the workers were united in the German Labor Front (DAF, DAF). The same gear was chosen as a symbol, but with a swastika inside, and the workers were obliged to wear these badges on their clothes. Similar badges, a gear with an eagle, were awarded to aviation maintenance workers - the Luftwaffe.

The gear itself is not Nazi symbol. It is used by workers' organizations different countries- as a socialist direction, and not related to it. Among the skinhead movement, dating back to the British labor movement of the 1960s, it is also a common symbol.

Modern neo-Nazis use the gear when they want to emphasize their working origin and oppose themselves to the "cuffs", that is, the clean-cut employees. In order not to be confused with the left, neo-Nazis combine the gear with purely fascist, right-wing symbols.

A striking example is the international organization of skinheads "Hammerskins" (Hammerskins). In the center of the gear they put the numbers 88 or 14, which are used exclusively in Nazi circles.

Symbols of the ancient Germans

Many Nazi symbols were borrowed from the neo-pagan occult movement that existed in the form of anti-Semitic sects even before the formation of the Nazi parties in Germany and Austria. In addition to the swastika, this symbolism included signs from the pre-Christian era of the history of the ancient Germans, such as "irminsul" and "the hammer of the god Thor."

Irminsul

In the pre-Christian era, many pagans had a tree or pillar in the center of the village, around which religious rites were performed. Among the ancient Germans, such a pillar was called "irminsul". This word consists of the name of the ancient German god Irmin and the word "sul", denoting a pillar. In northern Europe, the name Jörmun, consonant with "Irmin", was one of the names of the god Odin, and many scholars suggest that the Germanic "irminsul" is associated with the World Tree Yggdrasil in Norse mythology.

In 772, the Christian Charlemagne leveled the cult center of the pagans in the sacred grove of Externsteine ​​in what is now Saxony. In the 20s of the XX century, at the suggestion of the German Wilhelm Teudt, a theory arose that the most important Irminsul of the ancient Germans was located there. As evidence, a relief carved in stone by monks of the 12th century was cited. The relief shows the irminsul, bent under the image of St. Nicodemus and the cross - a symbol of the victory of Christianity over paganism.

In 1928 Teudt founded the Society for the Study of Ancient German History, symbolized by the "straightened" Irminsul from the Externstein relief. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, the Society fell into the sphere of Himmler's interests, and in 1940 became part of the German Society for the Study of Ancient German History and Heritage of Ancestors (Ahnenerbe).

"Ahnenerbe", created by Himmler in 1935, was engaged in the study of the history of Germanic tribes, but the results of studies that did not fit into the National Socialist doctrine of the purity of the race could not be published. The irminsul became the symbol of Ahnenerbe, and many employees of the institute wore small silver jewelry that reproduced the relief image. This sign is still used by neo-Nazis and neo-pagans to this day.

Runes

The Nazis considered the Third Reich a direct successor of the ancient German culture, and it was important for them to prove the right to be called the heirs of the Aryans. In their pursuit of evidence, the runes caught their attention.

Runes are signs of the writing of the pre-Christian era of the peoples who inhabited the north of Europe. Just as the letters of the Latin alphabet correspond to sounds, each runic sign corresponded to a specific sound. Preserved runic writings different options, carved on stones at different times and different regions. It is assumed that each rune, like each letter of the alphabet, had its own name. However, everything we know about runic writing is not obtained from primary sources, but from later medieval records and an even later Gothic script, so it is not known whether this information is correct.

One of the problems for Nazi research on runic signs was that there were not too many of these stones in Germany itself. Research was mainly based on the study of stones with runic inscriptions found in the European North, most often in Scandinavia. Scientists supported by the Nazis found a way out: they argued that the half-timbered buildings, widespread in Germany, with their wooden posts and braces that give the building a decorative and expressive appearance, repeat the way the runes were written. It was understood that in such an "architectural and construction way" the people supposedly kept the secret of the runic inscriptions. Such a trick led to the discovery in Germany of a huge number of "runes", the meaning of which could be interpreted by the most fantastic way. However, beams or logs in half-timbered structures, of course, cannot be "read" as text. The Nazis solved this problem too. Without any reason, it was announced that in ancient times each individual rune had some hidden meaning, an “image”, which only the initiated could read and understand.

Serious researchers who studied the runes only as writing lost their subsidies because they became "renegades", apostates from Nazi ideology. At the same time, quasi-scientists who adhered to the theory sanctioned from above received significant funds at their disposal. As a result, almost all research work was aimed at finding evidence of the Nazi view of history and, in particular, in search of the ritual meaning of runic signs. In 1942, runes became the official holiday symbols of the Third Reich.

Guido von List

The main representative of these ideas was the Austrian Guido von List. A supporter of the occult, he devoted half his life to the revival of the "Aryan-Germanic" past and was at the beginning of the 20th century a central figure among anti-Semitic societies and associations involved in astrology, theosophy and other occult activities.

Von List was engaged in what in occult circles was called "medium writing": with the help of meditation, he plunged into a trance and in this state "saw" fragments of ancient German history. Coming out of a trance, he wrote down his "visions". Von List argued that the faith of the Germanic tribes was a kind of mystical "natural religion" - Wotanism, which was served by a special caste of priests - "Armans". In his opinion, these priests used runic signs as magical symbols.

Further, the "medium" described the Christianization of Northern Europe and the expulsion of the Armans, who were forced to hide their faith. However, their knowledge did not disappear, and the secrets of the runic signs were preserved by the German people for centuries. With the help of his "supernatural" abilities, von List could find and "read" these hidden symbols everywhere: from the names of German settlements, coats of arms, gothic architecture and even the names of different types of pastries.

After an ophthalmic operation in 1902, von List saw nothing for eleven months. It was at this time that he was visited by the most powerful visions, and he created his own "alphabet" or runic row of 18 characters. This series, which had nothing in common with the scientifically accepted, included runes from different times and places. But, despite his anti-science, he greatly influenced the perception of runic signs not only by the Germans in general, but also by the Nazi "scientists" who studied runes in the Ahnenerbe.

The magical meaning that von List attributed to runic writing has been used by the Nazis from the time of the Third Reich to the present day.

Rune of Life

"Rune of Life" - the Nazi name for the fifteenth in the Old Norse series and the fourteenth in the series of Viking runes runic sign. Among the ancient Scandinavians, the sign was called "mannar" and denoted a man or a person.

For the Nazis, it meant life and was always used when it came to health, family life or the birth of children. Therefore, the "rune of life" became the emblem of the women's branch of the NSDAP and other women's associations. In combination with a cross inscribed in a circle and an eagle, this sign was the emblem of the Association of German Families, and together with the letter A, the symbol of pharmacies. This rune has replaced the Christian star in newspaper announcements of the birth of children and near the date of birth on tombstones.

The "Rune of Life" was widely used on patches, which were awarded for merit in a variety of organizations. For example, the girls of the Health Service wore this emblem in the form of an oval patch with a red rune on a white background. The same sign was issued to members of the Hitler Youth who had undergone medical training. All physicians initially used the international symbol of healing: the snake and the bowl. However, in the desire of the Nazis to reform society down to the smallest detail in 1938, this sign was also replaced. The “Rune of Life”, but on a black background, could also be received by the SS.

Rune of Death

This runic sign, the sixteenth in a series of Viking runes, became known among the Nazis as the "rune of death." The symbol was used to glorify the murdered SS. It replaced the Christian cross in newspaper obituaries and death announcements. He began to be depicted on gravestones instead of a cross. They also put it on the places of mass graves on the fronts of the Second World War.

This sign was also used by Swedish right-wing extremists in the 30s and 40s. For example, the "rune of death" is printed in the announcement of the death of a certain Hans Linden, who fought on the side of the Nazis and was killed on the Eastern Front in 1942.

Modern neo-Nazis, of course, follow the traditions of Nazi Germany. In 1994, in a Swedish newspaper called The Torch of Freedom, an obituary for the death of the fascist Per Engdal was published under this rune. A year later, the newspaper "Valhall and the Future", which was published by the West Swedish Nazi movement NS Gothenburg, under this symbol, published an obituary for the death of Eskil Ivarsson, who in the 30s was an active member of Lindholm's Swedish fascist party. The 21st-century Nazi organization, the Salem Foundation, still sells patches in Stockholm with images of the "life rune", "death rune" and torch.

Rune Hagal

The rune, meaning the sound "x" ("h"), in the ancient runic series and in the newer Scandinavian one looked different. The Nazis used both signs. "Hagal" is an old form of the Swedish "hagel" which means "hail".

The hagal rune was a popular symbol of the völkisch movement. Guido von List put a deep symbolic meaning into this sign - the connection of man with the eternal laws of nature. In his opinion, the sign called on a person to "embrace the Universe in order to master it." This meaning was borrowed by the Third Reich, where the hagal rune represented absolute faith in Nazi ideology. In addition, an anti-Semitic magazine called Hagal was published.

The rune was used by the SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen on flags and badges. In the Scandinavian form, the rune was depicted on a high award - the SS ring, and also accompanied the weddings of the SS.

In modern times, the rune has been used by the Swedish party Hembygd, the right-wing extremist group Heimdal, and the small Nazi group Popular Socialists.

Rune Odal

The Odal rune is the last, 24th rune of the Old Norse series of runic signs. Its sound matches the pronunciation latin letter Oh, and the shape goes back to the letter "omega" of the Greek alphabet. The name is derived from the name of the corresponding sign in the Gothic alphabet, which resembles the Old Norse "property, land". This is one of the most common signs in Nazi symbols.

The nationalistic romanticism of the 19th century idealized the simple and close to nature life of the peasants, emphasizing the love for their native village and homeland in general. The Nazis continued this romantic line, and the Odal rune took on special significance in their "blood and soil" ideology.

The Nazis believed that there was some kind of mystical connection between the people and the land where they live. This idea was formulated and developed in two books written by SS member Walter Darre.

After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Darré was appointed minister Agriculture. Two years earlier, he had headed a sub-section of the SS, which in 1935 became a state central administration on race and resettlement Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt (RuSHA), whose task was the practical application of the basic ideas of Nazism about racial purity. In particular, in this institution they checked the purity of the race of SS members and their future wives; sexual relationship with a German or a German woman. The symbol of this department was the rune Odal.

The odal was worn on the collars by the soldiers of the SS Volunteer Mountain Division, where they both recruited volunteers and took “ethnic Germans” from the Balkan Peninsula and from Romania by force. During the Second World War, this division operated in Croatia.

Rune Zig

The Zig rune was considered by the Nazis a sign of strength and victory. The ancient Germanic name for the rune was sowlio, which means "sun". The Anglo-Saxon name for the rune sigel also means "sun", but Guido von List mistakenly associated this word with the German word for victory - "sieg" (Sieg). From this mistake arose the meaning of the rune, which still exists among neo-Nazis.

"Zig-rune", as it is called, is one of the most famous signs in the symbolism of Nazism. First of all, because this double sign was worn on the collars of the SS. In 1933, the first such patches, designed in the early 1930s by SS man Walter Heck, were sold by the textile factory of Ferdinand Hoffstatters to SS units for a price of 2.50 Reichsmarks apiece. The honor of wearing a double "zig-rune" on the collars of the uniform was the first to be awarded to part of the personal guard of Adolf Hitler.

They wore a double "zig-rune" in combination with the image of a key and in the SS Panzer Division "Hitler Youth" formed in 1943, which recruited young people from the organization of the same name. A single "zig-rune" was the emblem of the Jungfolk organization, which taught the basics of Nazi ideology to children from 10 to 14 years old.

Rune Tyr

Rune Tir is another sign that was borrowed by the Nazis from the pre-Christian era. The rune is pronounced like the letter T and also denotes the name of the god Tyr.

The god Tyr was traditionally seen as the god of war, hence the rune symbolized struggle, battle and victory. Graduates of the officer school wore a bandage with the image of this sign on their left arm. The symbol was also used by the 30 January Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division.

A special cult around this rune was created in the Hitler Youth, where all activities were aimed at individual and group rivalry. The Tyr rune reflected this spirit - and meetings of members of the Hitler Youth adorned colossal Tyr runes. In 1937, the so-called "Adolf Hitler Schools" were created, where the most capable students were prepared for important positions in the administration of the Third Reich. The students of these schools wore the double "Tyr rune" as an emblem.

In Sweden in the 1930s, this symbol was used by the Youth of the North, a branch of the Swedish Nazi Party NSAP (NSAP).

The four-beam swastika is a hexagon, with axial symmetry of the 4th order. The correct -beam swastika is described by a point symmetry group (Schoenflies symbolism). This group is generated by rotation of the -th order and reflection in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation - the so-called "horizontal" plane in which the pattern lies. Due to the operation of reflecting the swastika achiral and does not have enantiomer(that is, a "double" obtained by reflection, which cannot be combined with the original figure by any rotation). As a result, in oriented space, right- and left-handed swastikas do not differ. The right- and left-handed swastikas differ only on the plane, where the pattern has purely rotational symmetry. For even, an inversion appears, where is a rotation of the 2nd order.

You can build a swastika for anyone; when you get a figure similar to the sign of the integral. For example, the symbol borjgali(see below) is a swastika with . A swastika-like figure will generally be obtained if we take any area on the plane and multiply it by rotating it times about the vertical axis , which does not lie in the vertical plane of symmetry of the area .

Origin and meaning

Illustration from ESBE.

The word "swastika" is a compound of two Sanskrit roots: सु, su, "good, good" and अस्ति, asti, "life, existence", that is, "well-being" or "well-being". There is another name for the swastika - "gammadion" (Greek. γαμμάδιον ), since the Greeks saw in the swastika a combination of four letters "gamma" (Γ).

The swastika is a symbol of the Sun, good luck, happiness and creation. In Western European medieval literature, the name of the sun god of the ancient Prussians Swiikstiks(Svaixtix) is first found in Latin-language monuments - the beginning of the 17th century: "Sudauer Buchlein"(mid-15th century), "Episcoporum Prussiae Pomesaniensis atque Sambiensis Constitutiones Synodales" (1530), "De Sacrificiis et Idolatria Veterum Borvssorvm Livonum, aliarumque uicinarum gentium" (1563), "De Diis Samagitarum" (1615) .

The swastika is one of the ancient and archaic solar signs - an indicator of the apparent movement of the Sun around the Earth and the division of the year into four parts - four seasons. The sign fixes two solstices: summer and winter - and the annual movement of the Sun.

Nevertheless, the swastika is considered not only as a solar symbol, but also as a symbol of the fertility of the earth. It has the idea of ​​four cardinal points, centered around an axis. The swastika also suggests the idea of ​​movement in two directions: clockwise and counterclockwise. Like "Yin" and "Yang", a dual sign: rotating clockwise symbolizes male energy, counterclockwise - female. In ancient Indian scriptures, male and female swastikas are distinguished, which depicts two female, as well as two male deities.

About the meaning of the swastika, the Encyclopedia of Brockhaus F. A. and Efron I. A. writes as follows:

The swastika is "correct" and reverse. Accordingly, the swastika of the opposite direction symbolizes darkness, destruction. In ancient times, both swastikas were used simultaneously. This has a deep meaning: day replaces night, light replaces darkness, new birth replaces death - and this is the natural order of things in the Universe. Therefore, in ancient times there were no "bad" and "good" swastikas - they were perceived in unity.

One of the oldest forms of the swastika is Asia Minor and is an ideogram of the four cardinal points in the form of a figure with four cross-shaped curls. The swastika was understood as a symbol of the four main forces, the four cardinal points, the elements, the seasons, and the alchemical idea of ​​the transformation of the elements.

Use in religion

In many religions, the swastika is an important religious symbol.

Buddhism

Other religions

Widely used by Jains and followers of Vishnu. In Jainism, the four arms of the swastika represent the four levels of existence.

Usage in history

The swastika is a sacred symbol and is found already in the Upper Paleolithic period. The symbol is found in the culture of many nations. Ukraine, Egypt, Iran, India, China, Maverannahr, Russia, Armenia, Georgia, the Mayan state in Central America - this is the incomplete geography of this symbol. The swastika is presented in oriental ornaments, on monumental buildings and household utensils, on various amulets and Orthodox icons.

In the ancient world

The swastika was found on clay vessels from Samarra (the territory of modern Iraq), which date back to the 5th millennium BC, and in ornaments on ceramics of the South Ural Andronovo culture. The left- and right-handed swastika is found in the pre-Aryan culture of Mohenjo-Daro (Indus River basin) and ancient China around 2000 BC.

One of the oldest forms of the swastika is Asia Minor and is an ideogram of the four cardinal points in the form of a figure with four cross-shaped curls. Back in the 7th century BC, images similar to the swastika were known in Asia Minor, consisting of four cross-shaped scrolls - rounded ends are signs of cyclic movement. There are interesting coincidences in the image of Indian and Asia Minor swastikas (dots between the branches of the swastika, jagged thickenings at the ends). Other early forms of the swastika - a square with four plant-like roundings along the edges - are a sign of the earth, also of Asia Minor origin.

In Northeast Africa, a stele of the kingdom of Meroe was discovered, which existed in the 2nd-3rd centuries AD. e. The fresco on the stele depicts a woman entering the afterlife, and a swastika also flaunts on the clothes of the deceased. The rotating cross also adorns the golden weights for scales that belonged to the inhabitants of Ashanta (Ghana), and the clay utensils of the ancient Indians, and the carpets of the Persians. The swastika is often found on the charms of the Slavs, Germans, Pomors, Curonians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Mordovians, Udmurts, Bashkirs, Chuvashs and many other peoples. The swastika is found wherever there are traces of Buddhist culture.

In China, the swastika is used as a sign of all the deities worshiped in the Lotus School, as well as in Tibet and Siam. In ancient Chinese manuscripts, it included such concepts as "region", "country". Known in the form of a swastika are two curved mutually truncated fragments of a double helix, expressing the symbolism of the relationship "Yin" and "Yang". In maritime civilizations, the double helix motif was an expression of the relationship between opposites, a sign of the Upper and Lower Waters, and also signified the process of life becoming. On one of the Buddhist swastikas, each blade of the cross ends with a triangle indicating the direction of movement and crowned with an arch of a flawed moon, in which, like in a boat, the sun is placed. This sign represents the sign of the mystical arba, the creative quaternary, also called Thor's hammer. A similar cross was found by Schliemann during the excavations of Troy.

The swastika was depicted in pre-Christian Roman mosaics and on the coins of Cyprus and Crete. An ancient Cretan rounded swastika made of plant elements is known. The Maltese cross in the form of a swastika of four triangles converging in the center is of Phoenician origin. It was also known to the Etruscans. According to A. Ossendovsky, Genghis Khan wore a ring on his right hand with the image of a swastika, into which a ruby ​​was set. Ossendovsky saw this ring on the hand of the Mongol governor. At present, this magical symbol is known mainly in India and Central and East Asia.

Swastika in India

Swastika in Russia (and on its territory)

Various types of swastikas (3-beam, 4-beam, 8-beam) are present on the ceramic ornament of the Andronovo archaeological culture (Southern Urals of the Bronze Age).

The rhombus-meander swastika ornament in the Kostenkovskaya and Mezinskaya cultures (25-20 thousand years BC) was studied by V. A. Gorodtsov. So far, there is no reliable data on where the swastika was first used, but its earliest image was not registered in Russia.

The swastika was used in rituals and construction, in homespun production: in embroideries on clothes, on carpets. The swastika was used to decorate household utensils. She was also present on the icons. Embroidered on clothes, the swastika could have a certain protective meaning.

The swastika symbol was used as a personal sign and a talisman symbol by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Images of the swastika are found on hand-drawn postcards of the Empress. One of the first such "signs" was placed by the Empress after the signature "A." on a Christmas card drawn by her, sent on December 5, 1917 from Tobolsk to her friend Yu. A. Den.

The swastika was depicted on some banknotes of the Provisional Government of 1917 and on some Soviet signs printed with the cliché "Kerenok", which were in circulation from 1918 to 1922. .

In November 1919, the commander of the South-Eastern Front of the Red Army, V. I. Shorin, issued a statement that approved the distinctive sleeve insignia of the Kalmyk formations using a swastika. The swastika in the order is indicated by the word "lyungtn", that is, the Buddhist "Lungta", meaning - "whirlwind", "vital energy".

Also, the image of the swastika can be seen on some historical monuments in Chechnya, in particular on ancient crypts in the Itum-Kalinsky district of Chechnya (the so-called "City of the Dead"). In the pre-Islamic period, the swastika was a symbol of the sun god among pagan Chechens (Dela-Malkh).

The swastika and censorship in the USSR

On the territory of modern Israel, images of the swastika were discovered during excavations in the mosaics of ancient synagogues. Thus, the synagogue on the site of the ancient settlement of Ein Gedi in the Dead Sea region dates back to the beginning of the 2nd century, and the synagogue on the site of the modern kibbutz Maoz Chaim on the Golan Heights operated between the 4th and 11th centuries.

In North, Central and South America, the swastika is found in Mayan and Aztec art. In North America, the Navajo, Tennessee, and Ohio tribes used the swastika symbol in ritual burials.

Thai greeting Swatdi! comes from the word svatdika(swastika).

The swastika as the emblem of the Nazi organizations

Nevertheless, I was forced to reject all the countless designs sent to me from all over by young supporters of the movement, since all these projects boiled down to only one theme: they took the old colors and on this background drew a hoe-shaped cross in various variations. […] After a series of experiments and alterations, I myself drew up a completed project: the main background of the banner is red; a white circle inside, and in the center of this circle is a black hoe-shaped cross. After much rework, I finally found the necessary ratio between the size of the banner and the size white circle, and finally settled on the size and shape of the cross.

In the view of Hitler himself, she symbolized "the struggle for the triumph of the Aryan race." This choice combined both the mystical occult meaning of the swastika, and the idea of ​​the swastika as an “Aryan” symbol (due to its prevalence in India), and the already established use of the swastika in the German extreme right tradition: it was used by some Austrian anti-Semitic parties, and in March 1920 during the Kapp putsch, it was depicted on the helmets of the Erhardt brigade that entered Berlin (here, perhaps, there was the influence of the Baltic states, since many fighters of the Volunteer Corps encountered a swastika in Latvia and Finland). Already in the 20s, the swastika became increasingly associated with Nazism; after 1933, it finally began to be perceived as a Nazi symbol par excellence, as a result of which, for example, it was excluded from the emblems of the scouting movement.

However, strictly speaking, not any swastika was a Nazi symbol, but a four-pointed one, with the ends pointing to the right side and rotated by 45 °. At the same time, it should be in a white circle, which in turn is depicted on a red rectangle. It was this sign that was on the state banner of National Socialist Germany from 1933 to 1945, as well as on the emblems of the civil and military services of this country (although, of course, other options were used for decorative purposes, including by the Nazis).

Actually, the Nazis used the term to designate the swastika that served as their symbol. Hakenkreuz ("Hackenkreuz", literally "hook cross", translation options also - "crooked" or "arachnid"), which is not a synonym for the word swastika (German. Swastika), which is also used in German. It can be said that "Hackenkreuz"- the same national name for the swastika in German, as "solstice" or "kolovrat" in Russian or "hackaristi" in Finnish, and is usually used specifically to refer to the Nazi symbol. In Russian translation, this word was translated as "hoe-shaped cross".

On the poster of the Soviet graphic artist Moor "Everything on" G "" (1941), the swastika consists of 4 letters "G", symbolizing the first letters of the names of the leaders of the Third Reich written in Russian - Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler, Goering.

Geographical objects in the form of a swastika

forest swastika

Forest swastika - forest plantation in the form of a swastika. They are found both in open areas in the form of a corresponding schematic planting of trees, and in the forest area. In the latter case, as a rule, a combination of coniferous (evergreen) and deciduous (deciduous) trees is used.

Until 2000, a forest swastika existed northwest of the settlement of Zernick, in the district of Uckermark, in the state of Brandenburg in northwestern Germany.

On a hillside near the village of Tash-Bashat, in Kyrgyzstan, on the border with the Himalayas, there is a forest swastika "Eki Narin" ( 41.447351 , 76.391641 41°26′50.46″ N sh. 76°23′29.9″ E d. /  41.44735121 , 76.39164121 (G)).

Labyrinths and their images

Buildings in the shape of a swastika

Complex 320-325(English) Complex 320-325) - one of the buildings of the naval landing base in Coronado (Eng. Naval Amphibious Base Coronado ), in San Diego Bay, California. The base is operated by the US Navy and is the central training and operations base for the Special Forces and Expeditionary Forces. Coordinates 32.6761, -117.1578.

The building of the Complex was built between 1967 and 1970. The original design consisted of two central buildings for the boiler plant and a relaxation area and a threefold repetition of a 90-degree angle to the central buildings of the L-shaped barracks building. The completed building is shaped like a swastika when viewed from above.

Swastika computer symbol

The Unicode character table has the Chinese characters 卐 (U+5350) and 卍 (U+534D), which are swastikas.

Swastika in culture

In the Spanish TV series "Black Lagoon" (Russian version of "Closed School"), a Nazi organization developing in the depths of a secret laboratory under a boarding school had a coat of arms in which the swastika was encrypted.

Gallery

• Swastika in European culture



Swastika in a 2nd century AD Roman mosaic

see also

Notes

1. R. V. Bagdasarov. Radio program "Swastika: blessing or curse" on "Echo of Moscow".
2. Korablev L. L. Graphic magic of the Icelanders. - M.: "Veligor", 2002. - S. 101
3. http://www.swastika-info.com/images/amerika/usa/cocacola-swastika-fob.jpg
4. Gorodtsov V. A. Archeology. Stone period. M.; Pg., 1923.
5. Yelinek Jan. Large Illustrated Atlas primitive man. Prague, 1985.
6. Tarunin A. Past - Kolovrat in Russia.
7. Bagdasarov, Roman; Dymarsky Vitaly, Zakharov Dmitry Swastika: blessing or curse. "The Price of Victory". "Echo of Moscow". Archived from the original on August 23, 2011. Retrieved April 7, 2010.
8. Bagdasarov, Roman.. - M .: M., 2001. - S. 432.
9. Sergei Fomin. Materials for the history of the Tsaritsyn Cross
10. Letters from the Royal Family from imprisonment. Jordanville, 1974, p. 160; Dehn L. The Real Tsaritsa. London, 1922. P. 242.
11. There. S. 190.
12. Nikolaev R. Soviet "credit cards" with a swastika? . Site "Bonistika". - the article was also published in the newspaper "Miniature" 1992 No. 7, p. 11. Archived from the original on August 23, 2011. Retrieved June 24, 2009.
13. Evgeny Zhirnov. To assign the right to wear a swastika to all Red Army soldiers // Vlast magazine. - 08/01/2000 - No. 30 (381)
14. http://www.echo.msk.ru/programs/victory/559590-echo/ Interview with historian and religious scholar Roman Bagdasarov
15. http://lj.rossia.org/users/just_hoaxer/311555.html LYUNGTN
16. Kuftin B.A. Material culture of Russian Meshchera. Part 1. Women's clothing: shirt, poneva, sundress. - M.: 1926.
17. W. Shearer. Rise and fall of the Third Reich
18. quote from R. Bagdasarov's book "Mysticism of the Fiery Cross", M., Veche, 2005
19. Discussion of the terms Hakenkreuz and Swastika in the LiveJournal community "Linguaphiles" (in English)
20. Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf"
21. Kern German. Labyrinths of the world / Per. from English. - St. Petersburg: Azbuka-klassika, 2007. - 432 p.
22. Azerbaijani Carpets
23. Li Hongzhi. Zhuan Falun Falun Dafa

Literature

In Russian

1. Wilson Thomas. Swastika. The oldest known symbol, its movement from country to country, with observations on the movement of some crafts in prehistoric times / Translation from English: A. Yu. Moskvin // The history of the swastika from ancient times to the present day. - Nizhny Novgorod: Books Publishing House, 2008. - 528 p. - S. 3-354. - ISBN 978-5-94706-053-9.
   (This is the first publication in Russian of the best fundamental work on the history of the swastika, written by Thomas Wilson, curator of the department of prehistoric anthropology of the US National Museum, and published for the first time in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution (Washington) in 1896).
2. Akunov V. The swastika is the oldest symbol of mankind (a selection of publications)
3. Bagdasarov R.V. Swastika: sacred symbol. Ethnoreligious Essays. - Ed. 2nd, corrected. - M .: White Alvy, 2002. - 432 p. - 3000 copies. - ISBN 5-7619-0164-1
4. Bagdasarov R.V. Mystic of the fiery cross. Ed. 3rd, add. and corrected - M.: Veche, 2005. - 400 p. - 5000 copies. - (Labyrinths of occult knowledge). -

The version that it was Hitler who had the brilliant idea to make the swastika a symbol of the National Socialist movement belongs to the Fuhrer himself and was voiced in Mein Kampf. Probably, for the first time, nine-year-old Adolf saw a swastika on the wall of a Catholic monastery near the town of Lambach.

The swastika has been popular since ancient times. A cross with curved ends has been featured on coins, household items, coats of arms since the eighth millennium BC. The swastika personified life, the sun, prosperity. Hitler could see the swastika again in Vienna on the emblem of Austrian anti-Semitic organizations.

By christening the archaic solar symbol the Hakenkreuz (Hakenkreuz is German for hook cross), Hitler claimed the priority of discoverer, even though the idea of ​​the swastika as a political symbol had taken root in Germany before him. In 1920, Hitler, who was an unprofessional and mediocre, but still an artist, allegedly independently developed the design of the party logo, proposing a red flag with a white circle in the middle, in the center of which a black swastika was rapaciously spreading hooks.

The red color, according to the leader of the National Socialists, was chosen in imitation of the Marxists, who also used it. Seeing the one hundred and twenty thousandth demonstration of the left forces under the scarlet banners, Hitler noted the active influence of the bloody color on the common man. In Mein Kampf, the Fuhrer mentioned the "great psychological significance" of symbols and their ability to powerfully influence emotions. But it was precisely by controlling the emotions of the crowd that Hitler managed to introduce the ideology of his party to the masses in an unprecedented way.

By adding a swastika to the red color, Adolf gave a diametrically opposite meaning to the favorite color scheme of the socialists. By attracting the attention of the workers with the familiar color of the posters, Hitler was "re-recruiting".

The red color in the interpretation of Hitler personified the idea of ​​movement, white - the sky and nationalism, the hoe-shaped swastika - labor and the anti-Semitic struggle of the Aryans. Creative work was mysteriously treated as anti-Semitic.

In general, it is impossible to call Hitler the author of National Socialist symbols, contrary to his statements. He borrowed the color from the Marxists, the swastika and even the name of the party (slightly rearranging the letters) from the Viennese nationalists. The idea of ​​using symbols is also plagiarism. It belongs to the oldest member of the party - a dentist named Friedrich Krohn, who submitted a memorandum back in 1919 to the party leadership. However, in the bible of National Socialism, the book Mein Kampf, the name of the quick-witted dentist is not mentioned.

However, Kron put a different content into the decoding of symbols. The red color of the banner is love for the motherland, the white circle is a symbol of innocence for unleashing the First World War, the black color of the cross is grief over losing the war.

In the interpretation of Hitler, the swastika became a sign of the Aryan struggle against "subhumans". The claws of the cross seem to be aimed at Jews, Slavs, representatives of other peoples who do not belong to the race of "blond beasts".

Unfortunately, the ancient positive sign was discredited by the National Socialists. The Nuremberg Tribunal in 1946 banned Nazi ideology and symbols. The swastika was also banned. Recently, she has been somewhat rehabilitated. Roskomnadzor, for example, admitted in April 2015 that displaying this sign outside of a propaganda context is not an act of extremism. Although the "reprehensible past" cannot be deleted from the biography, the swastika is used by some racist organizations.

Swastika (Skt. स्वस्तिक from Skt. स्वस्ति , match, greeting, good luck) - a cross with curved ends ("rotating"), directed clockwise (卐) or counterclockwise (卍). The swastika is one of the most ancient and widespread graphic symbols.

The swastika was used by many peoples of the world - it was present on weapons, everyday items, clothes, banners and coats of arms, and was used in the design of churches and houses. The oldest archaeological finds with the image of the swastika date back to approximately 10-15 millennium BC.

The swastika as a symbol has many meanings, for most peoples they were all positive. The swastika among most ancient peoples was a symbol of the movement of life, the Sun, light and prosperity.

Occasionally, the swastika is also used in heraldry, mainly English, where it is called fylfot and is usually depicted with shortened ends.

In the Vologda region, where swastika patterns and signs are extremely widespread, village old people in the 50s said that the word swastika - Russian word, which comes from sva- (one’s own, following the example of a matchmaker, brother-in-law, etc.) -isti- or is, I exist, with the addition of a particle -ka, which must be understood as a diminishing value of the main word (river - river, stove - stove, etc. . d.), that is, a sign. Thus, the word swastika, in such an etymology, means the sign "one's own", and not someone else's. What was it like for our grandfathers, from the same Vologda region, to see the sign “there is one” on the banners of their worst enemy.

Near the constellation Ursa Major (dr. Makosh) allocate a constellation swastikas, to date not included in any astronomical atlas.

Constellation swastikas in the upper left corner of the image of the map of stars in the sky of the Earth

The main human energy centers, called in the East chakras, earlier - on the territory of modern Russia were called swastikas: the oldest amulet symbol of the Slavs and Aryans, a symbol of the eternal cycle of the Universe. The swastika reflects the Highest Heavenly Law, to which everything that exists is subject. This fiery sign was used by people as a talisman that guards the existing order in the universe.

Swastika in the cultures of countries and peoples

The swastika is one of the most archaic sacred symbols, already found in the Upper Paleolithic among many peoples of the world. India, ancient Russia, China, Ancient Egypt, the Mayan state in Central America - this is the incomplete geography of this symbol. Swastika symbols denoted calendar signs back in the days of the Scythian kingdom. The swastika can be seen on old Orthodox icons. The swastika is a symbol of the Sun, good luck, happiness, creation (the "correct" swastika). And, accordingly, the swastika of the opposite direction symbolizes darkness, destruction, the “night Sun” among the ancient Russians. As can be seen from ancient ornaments, in particular, on jugs found in the vicinity of Arkaim, both swastikas were used. This has deep meaning. Day replaces night, light replaces darkness, new birth replaces death - and this is the natural order of things in the Universe. Therefore, in ancient times there were no "bad" and "good" swastikas - they were perceived in unity.

This symbol was found on clay vessels from Samarra (the territory of modern Iraq), which date back to the 5th millennium BC. The swastika in the left and right rotation form is found in the pre-Aryan culture of Mohenjo-Daro (Indus River basin) and ancient China around 2000 BC. In Northeast Africa, archaeologists have found a burial stele of the Meroz kingdom, which existed in the 2nd-3rd centuries AD. The fresco on the stele depicts a woman entering the afterlife, and a swastika also flaunts on the clothes of the deceased. The rotating cross also adorns the golden weights for scales that belonged to the inhabitants of Ashanta (Ghana), and the clay utensils of the ancient Indians, and the carpets of the Persians. The swastika was on almost all amulets among the Slavs, Germans, Pomors, Skalvians, Curonians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Mordovians, Udmurts, Bashkirs, Chuvashs and many other peoples. In many religions, the swastika is an important religious symbol.

Children light oil lamps on New Year's Eve Diwali.

The swastika in India has traditionally been seen as a solar sign - a symbol of life, light, generosity and abundance. It was closely associated with the cult of the god Agni. She is mentioned in the Ramayana. In the form of a swastika, a wooden tool was made to produce the sacred fire. They laid him flat on the ground; the recess in the middle served for the rod, which was rotated until the appearance of fire, kindled on the altar of the deity. It was carved in many temples, on the rocks, on the ancient monuments of India. Also a symbol of esoteric Buddhism. In this aspect, it is called the "Seal of the Heart" and, according to legend, was imprinted on the heart of the Buddha. Her image is placed on the hearts of the initiates after their death. Known as the Buddhist cross (it resembles a Maltese cross in shape). The swastika is found everywhere where there are traces of Buddhist culture - on rocks, in temples, stupas and on Buddha statues. Together with Buddhism, it penetrated from India to China, Tibet, Siam and Japan.

In China, the swastika is used as a sign of all the deities worshiped in the Lotus School, as well as in Tibet and Siam. In ancient Chinese manuscripts, it included such concepts as "region", "country". Known in the form of a swastika are two curved mutually truncated fragments of a double helix, expressing the symbolism of the relationship "Yin" and "Yang". In maritime civilizations, the double helix motif was an expression of the relationship between opposites, a sign of the Upper and Lower Waters, and also signified the process of life becoming. Widely used by Jains and followers of Vishnu. In Jainism, the four arms of the swastika represent the four levels of existence. On one of the Buddhist swastikas, each blade of the cross ends with a triangle indicating the direction of movement and crowned with an arch of a flawed moon, in which, like in a boat, the sun is placed. This sign represents the sign of the mystical arba, the creative quaternary, also called Thor's hammer. A similar cross was found by Schliemann during the excavations of Troy.

Greek helmet with swastika, 350-325 BC from Taranto, found at Herculanum. Cabinet of medals. Paris.

Swastika in Russia

A special kind of swastika, symbolizing the rising Sun-Yarilu, the victory of Light over Darkness, Eternal life over death, was called brace(lit. "wheel rotation", Old Church Slavonic form kolovrat was also used in Old Russian).

The swastika was used in rituals and construction. So, in particular, many ancient Slavic settlements had the form of a swastika, oriented to the four cardinal points. The swastika was often the main element of Proto-Slavic ornaments.

According to archaeological excavations, some ancient cities in Russia were built in this way. Such a circular structure can be observed, for example, in Arkaim, one of the most famous and oldest structures in Russia. Arkaim was built according to a pre-designed plan as a single complex complex, moreover, oriented to astronomical objects with the greatest accuracy. The pattern formed by four entrances in the outer wall of Arkaim is a swastika. Moreover, the swastika is “correct”, that is, directed towards the Sun.

The swastika was also used by the peoples of Russia in homespun production: in embroideries on clothes, on carpets. The swastika was used to decorate household utensils. She was also present on the icons.

In the light of the often heated and controversial discussions around the ancient symbol Russian National Culture - the Gamma Cross (Yarga-Swastika) must be reminded that it was one of the symbols of the struggle against the age-old oppression of the Russian people. Not many people know that many centuries ago, “the Lord God pointed out to Emperor Constantine the Great that with the cross he would win… only with Christ and precisely with the Cross the Russian People would defeat all their enemies and finally throw off the hated yoke of the Jews! But the Cross with which the Russian People will win is not simple, but, as usual, golden, but for the time being it is hidden from many Russian Patriots under the rubble of lies and slander. In news reports made according to the books of Kuznetsov V.P. "The history of the development of the shape of the cross." M. 1997; Kutenkova P. I. "Yarga-swastika - a sign of Russian folk culture" St. Petersburg. 2008; Bagdasarov R. "Mysticism of the Fiery Cross" M. 2005, tells about the place in the culture of the Russian People of the most fertile cross - the swastika. The swastika cross has one of the most perfect forms and contains in itself in graphic form the whole mystical mystery of God's Providence and the whole dogmatic fullness of the Church's doctrine.

Icon "Symbol of Faith"

Swastika in the RSFSR

It is necessary to remind and remember in the future that "Russians are the third God's Chosen People ( "Third Rome - Moscow, Fourth - do not happen"); swastika - graphic image all the mystical mystery of God's Providence, and all the dogmatic fullness of the Church's doctrine; The Russian People under the sovereign hand of the Tsar-victor from the Royal House of Romanov, who swore to God in 1613 to be faithful until the end of time and this people will defeat all their enemies under the banners, on which, under the face of the Savior Not Made by Hands, a swastika will develop - a gamma cross! In the State Emblem, the swastika will also be placed on a large crown, which symbolizes the power of the God-Anointed Tsar both in the earthly Church of Christ and in the Kingdom of the God-chosen Russian People.

In 3-2 millennia BC. e. a swastika braid is found on the ceramics of the Eneolithic of the Tomsk-Chulym region and on the gold and bronze products of the Slavs found in the barrows of Stavropol in the Kuban. In the second half of the 4th millennium BC. e. swastika symbols are common in the North Caucasus (where the Sumerians come from - Proto-Slavs) in the form of huge models of the Sun-mounds. In terms of mounds, they are already known varieties of swastikas. Only magnified a thousand times. At the same time, a swastika ornament in the form of a braid is often found in the Neolithic sites of the Kama region and the Northern Volga region. The swastika on a clay vessel found in Samara has also been dated to 4000 BC. e. At the same time, a four-pointed zoomorphic swastika is depicted on a vessel from the area between the Prut and Dniester rivers. In the 5th millennium BC. e. Slavic religious symbols - swastikas - are common everywhere. Anatolian dishes feature a centripetal rectangular swastika surrounded by two circles of fish and long-tailed birds. Spiral-shaped swastikas were found in Northern Moldavia, as well as in the area between the Seret and Strypa rivers and in the Moldavian Carpathian region. In the 6th millennium BC. e. swastikas are common on whorls in Mesopotamia, in the Neolithic culture of Trypillya-Kukuteni, on the bowls of Samara, etc. In the 7th millennium BC. e. Slavic swastikas are inscribed on the clay seals of Anatolia and Mesopotamia.

An ornamental swastika grid was found in stamps and on a bracelet made of mammoth bone in Myozyn, Chernihiv region. And this is a find from the 23rd millennium BC! And 35-40 thousand years ago, the Neanderthals inhabiting Siberia, due to two to three million years of adaptation, acquired the appearance of Caucasoids, as evidenced by the teeth of adolescents found in the Altai caves of Denisov, named after Okladchikov and in the village of Sibiryachikha. And these anthropological studies were carried out by the American anthropologist K. Turner.

The swastika in post-imperial Russia

In Russia, the swastika first appeared in official symbols in 1917 - it was then, on April 24, that the Provisional Government issued a decree on the issuance of new banknotes in denominations of 250 and 1000 rubles. The peculiarity of these banknotes was that they had an image of a swastika on them. Here is the description of the front side of the 1000-ruble banknote, given in paragraph No. 128 of the Senate resolution of June 6, 1917:

“The main pattern of the grid consists of two large oval guilloche rosettes - right and left ... In the center of each of the two large rosettes there is a geometric ornament formed by cross-intersecting wide stripes bent at a right angle, at one end to the right, and at the other - to the left ... The intermediate background between both large rosettes is filled with a guilloche pattern, and the center of this background is occupied by a geometric ornament of the same pattern as in both rosettes, but of a larger size.

Unlike the banknote of 1000 rubles, on the 250-ruble banknote there was only one swastika - in the center behind the eagle. From the banknotes of the Provisional Government, the swastika also migrated to the first Soviet banknotes. True, in this case this was due to industrial necessity, and not ideological considerations: it was just that the Bolsheviks, who were preoccupied with issuing their own money in 1918, simply took ready-made, created by order of the Provisional Government, clichés of new banknotes (5,000 and 10,000 rubles) that were being prepared for release in 1918. Kerensky and his comrades could not print these banknotes, due to certain circumstances, but the clichés were useful to the leadership of the RSFSR. Thus, swastikas were also present on Soviet banknotes in denominations of 5,000 and 10,000 rubles. These banknotes were in circulation until 1922.

Not without the use of the swastika in the Red Army. In November 1919, the commander of the South-Eastern Front, V.I. Shorin, issued order No. 213, which introduced a new sleeve insignia for the Kalmyk formations. The appendix to the order also included a description of the new sign: “Rhombus measuring 15x11 centimeters made of red cloth. In the upper corner there is a five-pointed star, in the center - a wreath, in the middle of which is "LYUNGTN" with the inscription "R. S. F. S. R. "The diameter of the star is 15 mm, the wreath is 6 cm, the size of the "LYUNGTN" is 27 mm, the letter is 6 mm. The sign for the command and administrative staff is embroidered in gold and silver, and for the Red Army soldiers it is screen-printed. The star, "lyungtn" and the ribbon of the wreath are embroidered with gold (for the Red Army - with yellow paint), the wreath itself and the inscription - with silver (for the Red Army - with white paint). The mysterious abbreviation (if, of course, it is an abbreviation at all) LYUNGTN just denoted the swastika.

Over the course of a number of years, the author's collection was replenished, and in 1971 a full-fledged book on vexillology was prepared, supplemented by historical reference information explaining the evolution of flags. The book was provided with an alphabetical index of country names in Russian and English. The book was designed by artists B. P. Kabashkin, I. G. Baryshev and V. V. Borodin, who painted flags especially for this edition.

Although almost two years had passed from putting it into typesetting (December 17, 1969) to signing for publication (September 15, 1971), and the text of the book was as ideologically verified as possible, a disaster struck. Upon receipt from the printing house of signal copies of the already finished circulation (75 thousand copies), it was found that the illustrations on a number of pages of the historical section contain images of flags with a swastika (pages 5-8; 79-80; 85-86 and 155-156). Emergency measures were taken to reprint these pages in an edited form, that is, without these illustrations. Then, manual (for the entire print run!) Cutting out ideologically harmful, “anti-Soviet” sheets was made and new ones pasted in the spirit of communist ideology.

The Ynglings claim that the ancient Slavs used 144 swastika symbols. Also, they offer their interpretation of the word "Swastika": "Sva" - "arch", "heaven", "C" - the direction of rotation, "Tika" - "running", "movement", which determines: "Coming from the sky" .

Swastika in India

Swastika on Buddha statue

In pre-Buddhist ancient Indian and some other cultures, the swastika is usually interpreted as a sign of auspicious destinies, a symbol of the sun. This symbol is still widely used in India and South Korea, and most weddings, holidays and festivities cannot do without it.

Swastika in Finland

Since 1918, the swastika has been part of the state symbols of Finland (now it is depicted on the presidential standard, as well as on the banners of the armed forces).

Swastika in Poland

In the Polish army, the swastika was used in the emblem on the collars of the Podhalian Riflemen (21st and 22nd Mountain Rifle Divisions

Swastika in Latvia

In Latvia, the swastika, which in the local tradition had the name "fiery cross", was the emblem of the air force from 1919 to 1940

Swastika in Germany

• Rudyard Kipling, whose collected works were always decorated with a swastika, ordered that it be removed in the latest edition in order to avoid association with Nazism.

After the Second World War, the image of the swastika was banned in a number of countries and can be criminalized.

Swastika as an emblem of Nazi and fascist organizations

Even before the Nazis entered the political arena of Germany, the swastika was used as a symbol of German nationalism by various paramilitary organizations. It was worn, in particular, by members of the detachments of G. Erhardt.

In the view of Hitler himself, she symbolized "the struggle for the triumph of the Aryan race." This choice combined both the mystical occult meaning of the swastika, and the idea of ​​the swastika as an "Aryan" symbol (due to its prevalence in India), and the already established use of the swastika in the German extreme right tradition: it was used by some Austrian anti-Semitic parties, and in March 1920 During the Kapp putsch, it was depicted on the helmets of the Erhardt brigade that entered Berlin (there may have been the influence of the Baltics here, since many fighters of the Volunteer Corps encountered swastikas in Latvia and Finland). In 1923, at the Nazi Congress, Hitler reported that the black swastika was a call for a merciless fight against communists and Jews. Already in the 1920s, the swastika became increasingly associated with Nazism; after 1933, it finally began to be perceived as a Nazi symbol par excellence, as a result of which, for example, it was excluded from the emblems of the scouting movement.

However, strictly speaking, not any swastika was a Nazi symbol, but a four-pointed one, with the ends pointing to the right side and rotated by 45 °. At the same time, it should be in a white circle, which in turn is depicted on a red rectangle. It was such a sign that was on the state banner of National Socialist Germany in 1933-1945, as well as on the emblems of the civil and military services of this country (although, of course, other options were used for decorative purposes, including by the Nazis).

In 1931-1943, the swastika was on the flag of the Russian Fascist Party, organized by Russian emigrants in Manchukuo (China).

The swastika is currently used by a number of racist organizations.

Swastika in transcripts of Soviet teenagers

Acrophonemic convention of the meaning of the Nazi swastika of the Third Reich, - common in deciphering among Soviet children and adolescents from films and stories about the Great Patriotic War(WWII), - encrypted name of state politicians, leaders and members of the Social Socialist German Workers' Party in Germany, according to the first letters of surnames known in history: Hitler ( German Adolf Hitler), Himmler ( German Heinrich Himmler), Goebbels ( German Joseph Goebbels), Goering ( German Hermann Goring).

Swastika in the USA