Transcript Hitler and swastika

The Oldest known Symbol.
• The swastika is an ancient symbol
that has been used for over 3,000
years. (That even predates the
ancient Egyptian symbol, the
Ankh!) The symbol was believed
to be introduced to Southeast Asia
by the Hindu kings and remains
an integral part of Balinese
Hinduism to this day, and it is a
common sight in Indonesia.
• In antiquity, the swastika was
used extensively by the IndoAryans, Hittites, Celts and Greeks
among others.
Who were the Aryans ?
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One of the most interesting puzzles in
archaeology, and one that hasn't
been completely solved yet, concerns
the story of the supposed Aryan
invasion of the Indian subcontinent.
The story goes like this: The Aryans
were a tribe of Indo-Europeanspeaking, horse-riding nomads living
in the arid steppes of Eurasia.
Sometime around 1700 BC, the
Aryans invaded the ancient urban
civilizations of the Indus Valley, and
destroyed that culture. The Indus
Valley civilizations were far more
civilized than any horse-back nomad,
having had a written language,
farming capabilities, and led a truly
urban existence. Some 1,200 years
after the supposed invasion, the
descendants of the Aryans, so they
say, wrote the classic Indian
literature called the Vedic
manuscripts.
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http://archaeology.about.com/od/indusrivercivilizations
/a/aryans.htm
The Original Meaning
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The word swastika comes from
the Sanskrit word svastik “su” means “good”
“asti” means “to exist”
“ik” means “what is in existence,
and will continue to exist”
“a” denotes feminine gender.
Swastika means a ‘good
existence’ that is not to be
destroyed and that remains in a
good condition.
The deeper meaning is permanent
victory. In Vedic-Hindu religion,
this victory represents the victory
of “DHARMA” which is the core
of Humanity.
Swastika in Hinduism
• The right turning Indian Swastika
symbolizes the sun and positive
energy, and is most commonly
associated with the deity Ganesh,
god of prosperity and Good Luck
• The name sauwastika is
sometimes given for the
supposedly "evil", left-facing,
form of the swastika (卍). A
common belief is that the leftfacing swastika is generally
regarded as evil in Hindu
tradition.
Swastika in Buddhism
• Buddhists, outside of
India, generally use the
left-facing swastika over
the right-facing swastika
although both can be
used.
• Commonly found on the
chest and with the foot
prints of Buddha .
Swastika around the World
• During the following thousand
years, the image of the swastika
was used by many cultures around
the world, including in China,
Japan, India, and southern
Europe. By the Middle Ages, the
swastika was a well known, if not
commonly used, symbol but was
called by many different names:
• China - wan
• England - fylfot
• Germany - Hakenkreuz
• Greece - tetraskelion and
gammadion
• India - swastika
• Though it is not known for
exactly how long, Native
Americans also have long used
the symbol of the swastika.
• It has been found in excavations
of Mississippian-era sites in the
Ohio valley. It was widely used
by many southwestern tribes,
most notably the Navajo. Among
different tribes the swastika
carried various meanings. To the
Hopi it represented the wandering
Hopi clan; to the Navajo it was
one symbol for a whirling winds
(tsil no'oli'), a sacred image
representing a legend that was
used in healing rituals (after
learning of the Nazi mimic
"whirling winds" the Navajo
rejected the symbol)
Swastika in Art and Architecture
• In Greco-Roman art and
architecture, and in
Romanesque and Gothic art
in the west, isolated
swastikas are relatively rare,
and the swastika is more
commonly found as a
repeated element in a border
or tessellation. A swastika
border is one form of
meander, and the individual
swastikas in such border are
sometimes called Greek
Keys.
Swastika on a Roman Mosaic
Interlocking swastika design in pavement
of Amiens Cathedral.
Greek helmet with swastika marks on the top part (details), 350325 BCE from Taranto, found at Herculanum.
Piece of a series of terracotta architectural ornaments of
the roof of the temple of Hera in Paestum.
The elephant is one of four pillars at the Carlsberg Brewery in Copenhagen.
This one carries a swastika on its side. vikings used the swastika which
represented the sunrise.
Swastika from a Minoan piece of pottery,Crete
Swastika Stone on Ilkley Moor in West Yorkshire,
England
Iranian necklace excavated from Kaluraz, Guilan,
first millennium BC
Wooden Hand Cross from Ukraine
Low-fired pottery bowl from the Banshan Culture
Majiawan Village, China Neolithic Period (2165-1965
BCE)
medieval cross, Lalibela stone hewn
church
Swastika In the West
• In the Western world, the symbol
experienced a resurgence
following the archaeological work
in the late nineteenth century of
Heinrich Schliemann, who
discovered the symbol in the site
of ancient Troy and associated it
with the ancient migrations of
Proto-Indo-Europeans. He
connected it with similar shapes
found on ancient pots in Germany,
and theorized that the swastika
was a "significant religious
symbol of our remote ancestors,"
linking Germanic, Greek, IndoAryan and Indo-Iranian cultures .
By the early 20th century it was
widely used worldwide and was
regarded as a symbol of good luck
and auspiciousness.
Change in Meaning
• Nazism stated that the historical
Aryans were the forefathers of
modern Germans and then
proposed that, because of this, the
subjugation of the world by
Germany was desirable, and even
predestined. The swastika was
used as a conveniently
geometrical and eye-catching
symbol to emphasize the so-called
Aryan-German correspondence
and instill racial pride. Since
World War II, most Westerners
know the swastika as solely a
Nazi symbol, leading to incorrect
assumptions about its pre-Nazi
use in the West and confusion
about its sacred religious and
historical status in other cultures.
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(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika)
Hitler and swastika
• In 1920,Adolf Hitler decided that Nazi party needed its own insignia and
flag. For Hitler, the new flag had to be “ a symbol of our own struggle” as
well as “highly effective as a poster.”(Mein Kamph,pg 495)
• In Mein Kamph.Hitler described the Nazis’ flag." In red we see the social
idea of movement, in white the nationalistic idea, in the Swastika the
mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man,and,by the same
token, the victory of the idea of creative work, which as such always has
been and always will be anti-semitic.(pg 496-497)
Good Luck Charm
Swastika in Americas
Original insignia of the 45th Infantry
Division.
A Chinese Art Piece
Entrance of Met Museum, New York
A Tomb from Indonesia
A Buddhist Temple in Korea
Swastika on Flags
Flag of the President of Finland.
Nepal Communist flag
Swastika in India
Swastika in India
Swastika in Canada
Edmonton’s Women’s Hockey Team
Swastika Mine,Ontario,Canada
An interesting article
• http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/18/hitler_san_diego
• http://maps.google.com/maps?q=san+diego&ll=32.6765
05,-117.157559&spn=0.004739,0.009917&t=k&hl=en
Check this out.
References
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http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i1.treklens.com/photos/6703/_dsc0302.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.tr
eklens.com/gallery/Africa/Ethiopia/photo100071.htm&h=532&w=800&sz=145&hl=en&start=74&tbnid=vUtRFGKW
Oia37M:&tbnh=95&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dswastika%26start%3D72%26ndsp%3D18%26svnum%3D
10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:enUS:official%26sa%3DN
http://history1900s.about.com/cs/swastika/a/swastikahistory.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika
http://www.luckymojo.com/swastika.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika,_Ontario