The Swastika

Swastika//Original designer unknown//Refined by Wilhelm Deffke 1900s

The swastika was not always associated with Hitler and Nazism. But once taken over by Hitler it became a symbol of evil and will probably never be used to symbolize something good ever again. The article states that "Hitler's death and Germany's defeat in 1945, twenty-five years after the symbol was adopted, may have stopped the Nazis' crimes against humanity, but no amount of cleansing can wash the blood off the swastika. Unless the history of the Nazi era (1933-1945) is totally rewritten-- and the danger of that is ever present--the swastika will remain forever the most powerful logo of the age, the manifestation of evil and hate."


E. Phillips [U.S. card publisher]//Postcard//1907

This is one example of how the swastika was used as a good luck symbol before being adopted by the Nazis and being turned into a symbol of hatred and fear. Before becoming a symbol of evil, it was often used by merchants on packaging, and like this card shows, it was meant as good luck.


Portrait of Hitler//date unknown

Of course when you research the swastika, Hitler will always pop up. Many people forget that he was not the first people to use this symbol. He changed the way people view the symbol and their interpretation of it will never be the same because of this one man that changed the world for the worst and will forever be a part of history.