Is it really a nazi symbol ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika
2007-10-11 19:24:08 · 9 answers · asked by Alex T 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
~Duh. Of course it was (is) a Nazi symbol. That is why they used it on their flag, on their uniforms, on their planes and tanks and on anything else that tripped their trigger.
However, the National Socialists did not design it. The swastika in one variation or another has been used by innumerable societies and cultures the world over for at least three thousand years as an artistic design, as a good luck charm, as a religious symbol. Variations have been used by christian sects as a modified cross. The boy Scouts used it. It appears in the architecture of pre-war buildings in the US. The Iroquois Confederation used it. It is still used in the Far East today. It was found in the ruins of Troy. Hindus, Buddhists and Jains have used it for centuries and still use it today. The Dalai Lama's throne always is decorated with four of them. It was used on Pre-Colombian Brazilian shields and it is used in China and Japan.
It is a pattern that occurs naturally in basket weaving and was probably adapted by the myriad of cultures who have used it from those baskets due to its simplicity of design and its eye catching appeal. In all likelihood, Hitler adopted it because of his mistaken belief that it had been developed by the Aryans in India.
2007-10-11 22:19:46 · answer #1 · answered by Oscar Himpflewitz 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
The swastika was a good luck symbol..a symbol of fertility and even a symbol for the sun in several cultures. India, Russian and many others used it until Hitler took it and used it as an icon that to this day means terror and evil.
Now...how's that for a marketing campaign? No matter what that symbol is on from ancient times (or the Tsarina of Russia used it constantly and even had it embossed on her stationary) it'll still be viewed as a product of National Socialisim.
Just like the Hammer and Sickle
2007-10-12 06:26:22 · answer #2 · answered by Quasimodo 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Swastika is a Arian - Indian Symbol (Indian coming from real India ;) ) It name comes from old Arian "Su Astù" meaning "He is Good" referring to Sun God. It was a positive symbol, symbol of life and sun. As a curiosity the first original edition of "The book of the Jungle" by Rudyard Kipling had a original Swastika on it. at the beginning of XX century many esoteric spiritual groups , often mixing the Nietzsche "Super - Man" philosophy with old Indian regions adopted this symbol. Adolf Hitler inverted the direction of the Swastika arms and used it for the newly born "NSDAP" "National Socialist Party of Workers".
2007-10-11 19:52:00 · answer #3 · answered by lugfabio 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not at all. The different swastikas are known in many cultures as a solar or star symbol. Native americans, slavs, indians used it. The Nazis borrowed it from India, couse they thouht this symbol to be Aryan, and they declared the Germans as the offsprings of the ancient Aryans.
2007-10-11 22:38:25 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It originally came from India
2007-10-12 05:32:41 · answer #5 · answered by brainstorm 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the symbol originated in the prehistoric Old European script in the 6th millenium.
2007-10-13 05:31:19 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
NO! It has its origins in the native American. You already knew that. You wanted to pose an question to prompt thought.
2007-10-11 19:27:42 · answer #7 · answered by yah_ra 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
as the lasted post states it's indian - specifically Hindu in origin
2007-10-11 20:36:03 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It was around long before the Nazis, but it has become inextricably linked with them now.
2007-10-11 19:27:12 · answer #9 · answered by Belinda 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋