I recently went to visit my Grandfather’s grave. His grave site, as well as many other WWII veterans in the cemetery, consists of a small tombstone with embossed lettering displaying name, date of birth and so on. In a small part of the top left hand corner there is a small Australian Army emblem, The Rising Sun, honouring him as being a serviceman.
The cemetery is still in use and as such sees quite a few additions between my visits.
On this particular trip, upon arriving I was horrified and literally disgusted to find a new grave, between the ex-servicemen, prominently displaying the Nazi cross.
3 feet high, 3 feet wide and polished granite.
Now I respect the rite of an individual or family to (within reason) put what they want on their tombstones, much as my family had the rite to display my grandfather’s Aust Army “Rising Sun”, however, I fell that this has gone too far and is a blatant “in your face” you proved nothing statement.
I am having trouble gauging the Gaulle of these people to display what many recognise as an evil object, between the patriotism of my Grandfather and his peer’s.
My Grandmother, who also noticed the offending item, keped rather silent about it, until pressed for an opinion later in the car on the drive home. She made it rather clear that she did not want to talk about it.
I am looking for Dopers reaction to this to gauge (from such a sensible bunch) whether I have lost the plott, or am justified.
(The cross “arms” point clock wise, not anti)
Being of German background myself, that doesn’t insult me but it does suprise me. I wouldn’t be suprised of a Maltese/Iron cross type but a Swastika… Hmmm. Tough call.
Try not to be too offended. Its not worth it. The war must have meant a lot to him and he was proud to serve his country, right or wrong. I would be curious to know who the fallen man is, I wonder if he was a high ranking officer of some sort. Can you get a name next time your through?
I am actually starting to think I have over reacted.
I really do not know that much about the meaning of the swastika, as it probably has had more uses than just what the Nazis used it for.
Although I still feel unsettled, I have decided not to pursue the matter further.
I think you should make an effort to find out who this person is and what the story is. I find it hard to believe that anyone would erect such a monument in a cemetary anywhere in this country without knowing what the significance of the symbol is. Granted the swastika is an ancient symbol, but lets face facts, in Australia it has only one accepted meaning.
There’s got to be a story here that’s worth finding out.
BTW you do know that the Australian Army badge is in fact a wall of swords defending a crown, not a rising sun.
Yeah, there’s a small organization here in the U.S. (profiled in the NY Times a few months ago) that’s trying to rehabilitate the swastika within the Western world, drop the National Socialist connotations and return it to its pre-Nazi, benevolent roots.
I thought about it when I logged in briefly last night but a) the board was really slow, and I didn’t want to crash it and b) I kinda suspected that the OP was making a factually incorrect assumption about the swastika as now seems apparant.
After doing a little more research based on the suggestions from some posts, it does seem that I have jumped the gun here, and was wrong.
I feel a little bad about this so, if I have offended any Buddhists, than I am sorry.
[sub]well, maybe no ME, per se, since I didn’t get a chance to chime in . . . but WE as the straight dope community, you see, and, well, I guess I’ll just be moving along here . . . [/sub]
My next door neighbors are Indian. A few months back their daughter got married (HUGE fancy wedding). When we got the invitation (big, fancy, formal invitation), there on the front was a big “backwards” swaktika made out of corn. When my dad asked about it they said it was basically a symbol of love. What did they call it? A swastika.
