Will this symbol forever be associated with the evils of Nazi Germany or will it one day be restored to its pure religious meaning?
It’s been over 70 years now since the fall of Nazi Germany and I’d like to propose that we begin the process of removing the taboo from the swastika symbol. It historically wasn’t an evil symbol. It is symbolic for the procession of the sun and even Hitler intended in that sense but only he meant it in the sense of the procession of the black sun.
Now I know that a lot of neo-nazi’s still use it, but there are also a lot of buddhists and neo-pagans who wish to use it in a peaceful manner.
I think that if we restored it to the culture in its original meaning then it would actually diffuse the intensity of the association that Hitler created between that symbol and evil.
I think realistically the only thing that’s going to change the reputation (or at least, have more people see it with a peaceful interpretation than now) is time. Give it enough centuries for the Nazis to become a fact of history rather than something that’s still felt, and it could change.
I think there are active campaigns out there already. I can’t think of any off the top of my head, but I’m sure I’ve heard of something like that at some point - not that useful, I know! If nothing else, there’s certainly plenty of religious groups who still use it in the sense and with the intent that they’ve held going back into history.
But no, I don’t think so. The problem with an active campaign is that the purpose is retained. If there was a foundation, for example, there to reclaim the symbol, the existence of the foundation itself would be a reminder that it has this other meaning, too.
So I’m not convinced it would help much. I think time, and the gradual distance between current people and the increasingly historical Nazis, will be the big decider.
That’s a good point, there isn’t a major institution that uses it as its primary symbol.
This is one of the most organized campaign I can find and it doesn’t look like the type of thing that is going to make the Nightly News anytime soon http://reclaimtheswastika.com
No, but it is somewhat prominent in Latvia. When I was there I saw it on the backs of chairs and such, which really threw me. I asked my traveling partner and she said it’s a traditional symbol. I would say if a country like Latvia can continue to use it, even after the Nazis occupied and tried to destroy the place, then other people/places should be able to as well.
I get what Germany’s trying to do, but I don’t think they should be forcing their will on another country’s symbols.
I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not experiencing a sense of having too few symbols to use for my purposes that I need to dip into Nazi symbols to fill a void. The symbol was never a significant part of US culture, so we don’t need it. Other cultures can make up their own minds. One sees swastikas all over Japan, for instance, where they mark religious shrines.
Try Japan. Japanese maps use the manji symbol 卍 to indicate Buddhist temples, and people don’t think it’s evil or associate it with the Nazis. You often see the manji featured in the exterior or interior decoration of the temple.
Since I was ninja’d (heh!) I will counter with a small nitpick - shrines (Shinto) are normally indicated with the symbol of a torii gate; it is temples (Buddhist) that are marked with a swastika.
There are Buddhists shrines, too. In fact, I usually saw then marking very small shrines-- not anything that would called a temple. I’m talking on a wall right at the shrine, not on a map.
The problem is that any campaign to rehabilitate the symbol is going to draw support from those who want to rehabilitate the reputation of Nazism. There’s no way to get around that.
The areas of the world where the swastika is used prominently in public are areas with traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism.
The swastika will eventually again be used for a myriad of other things than Nazism. Already is, as a matter of fact. When I was in India it was everywhere.
Perhaps the Germans will be the last to normalize the swastika, but they’ll come around too. WW-II was just a war like any other and will eventually be forgotten and the Germans will start to revere their Nazi forefathers (& even Hitler) like the Mongols stand in awe of Djengis Khan, the Nordics celebrate the murdering Vikings (which incidentally used the swastika to mean Thor’s Hammer), Mexicans the Aztecs, Italians the Romans, etc.
In fact, I usually saw then marking very small shrines-- not anything that would called a temple. I’m talking on a wall right at the shrine, not on a map.