how did Germany obtain their swastika symbol?

Question

For example, where did it derive from? I heard rumors that it was an idea stolen from the peace sign and then just flipped and rotated.. but I don't know exactly.

Answer 1

Even the word "swastika" itself is Indian. Hitler and his Nazi thugs (another Indian word) simply inverted the Indian symbol for "welfare", today the same symbol (not the inverted swastika - flipped and rotated) is still used by the Buddhists.

Answer 2

It was a symbol used by the Thule society, who were a group of wealthy German nationalists that financed Hitler once he became known as an orator who could influence people.
The symbol is an ancient one and goes back thousands of years. It did not come from India or the Navajo indians in America, though doubtless there were common origins of the symbol. The earliest swastikas come from europe and date back to at least 4000BC.
During the late 19th century, but particularly after WWI, the swastika became a popular symbol as part of a pagan revival, but was also picked up by christian groups.
Some of the groups that used the symbol prior to the start of WWII were: Boy Scouts, Coca Cola, various sports teams, there's still towns in the USA called Swastika, it appeared on postcards along with horseshoes as a goodluck symbol.
As part of Germanic paganism it was an ancient symbol for the god Woden/Odin and probably has some relation to sunwheels.
Nearly every culture in europe has used the swastika at some point including the Romans, Greeks and Celts.
So this symbol, which had a long proud history and was considered a good luck symbol was chosen by Hitler to be part of the flag he was designing for the new Germany. He didn't flip it around, the way the nazis used it is the same way around I've seen in buddhist temples and hindu art.

What did get flipped was another common rune symbol that the nazis used and that was the life rune which is based on the world tree ygdrassil. Ignorant peace activists later turned the life rune upside down to create a death rune which is now considered the peace symbol.

Answer 3

The swastika was indeed, incorporated from a symbol of peace, widely used in the buddhist religion, as well as others. It is an ancient symbol. Hitler modified it by tilting the angle, and by drawing the points to left, instead of the traditional right.

Answer 4

The Iron Cross was a medal issue to German forces in WW1 and 2. The actual shape is called the Maltese Cross, after the knights of Malta. It dates back to the crusades. The symbol is often associated with nazism because it featured on their unfirorms and aircraft insignia. A bit unfair really since the symbol dates before then. On the other hand the swastika was alos used in Bhuddist and native american culture before Hitler purloined it.

Answer 5

The use of the swastika was associated by Nazi theorists with their conjecture of Aryan cultural descent of the German people. Following the Nordicist version of the Aryan invasion theory, the Nazis claimed that the early Aryans of India, from whose Vedic tradition the swastika sprang, were the prototypical white invaders. It was also widely believed that the Indian caste system had originated as a means to avoid racial mixing.[citation needed] The concept of Racial purity was an ideology central to Nazism though it is now considered unscientific. For Rosenberg, the Aryans of India were both a model to be imitated and a warning of the dangers of the spiritual and racial "confusion" that, he believed, arose from the close proximity of races.

Thus, they saw fit to co-opt the sign as a symbol of the Aryan master race. The use of the swastika as a symbol of the Aryan race dates back to writings of Emile Burnouf. Following many other writers, the German nationalist poet Guido von List believed it to be a uniquely Aryan symbol. When Hitler created a flag for the Nazi party, he sought to incorporate both the swastika and "those revered colors expressive of our homage to the glorious past and which once brought so much honor to the German nation" (red, white and black). He also stated that "the red expressed the social thought underlying the movement. White the national thought. And the swastika signified the mission allotted to us – the struggle for the victory of Aryan mankind and at the same time the triumph of the ideal of creative work which is in itself and always will be anti-Semitic." (Mein Kampf).

Answer 6

It's an old Greek symbol. If you look at it with the eye of practicality, it's like a four legged wheel. If the wheel didn't exist, then four legs and feet arranged in the same pattern would nealry accomplish the same task as the wheel. How or why do people get attached to various geometrical shapes and symbols and ornaments? Who knows. They attach some meaning to it and then worship it as a god.

Answer 7

It was a Christian symbol appropriated by Hitler's National Socialist Party. In German it is the "Hackenkreuz" or "hooked cross" and today the symbol is banned in every type of media in Germany.

White supremacy groups later adopted this symbol as their own, because they see Hitler as their hero... yeah I know, great role model.

Answer 8

It is an ancient symbol from Sumeria 3000B.C.It was also considered a a symbol of Christ. Also once considered a symbol of good luck pre WWII

Answer 9

From old inscriptions they found buried with Nords,they looked very similar,kinda like a curved swaztika,these people know nought, i just watched a program on Hitlers regime day before yesterday,its from the his Nordic ancestors, ei the Vikings,
pick me for best answer, short and to the point

Answer 10

probably Hitlers idea to flip over the peace sign