Theos-Talk Archives (March 2003 Message tt00116)

Dear Steve,


There is no historical base for your belief that Nazis
took the swastika from the symbol of the Theosophical
Society. If you want just to be blind and to believe
in any crazy idea, it’s up to you.

I am sending you below some historical facts about
the way that the swastika was chosen by Hitler and the
reasons. The information below are historical facts
that can’t be changed. 

It’s really seek, if not cruel try to associate nazi
Ideals with the elevated principles of Theosophy, I
would say a lack of knowledge or a premeditated
purpose to depreciate Madame Blavatsky and theosophy,
followed by personal reasons you may have that I am
not aware.

The Swastica, is considered to be one of the oldest
symbols in the world.
Is an ancient symbol of unknown origin that has been
employed for thousands of years as a religious sign
and a decorative emblem, the swastika is present in
different cultures as: China, India, Japan, Tibet,
Egypt, Ancient Crete, Ancient Troy, Scotland, Ancient
Ireland, Kickapoo Indians, Hopi Indians, Zuni Indians,
Central American Maya and Aztec (two -very- different
cultures), Buddhist (found on the soles of the
Buddha's feet, in statuary) , Pre-Hejira Arabs etc.

Now historically let’s see the way Hitler got the
Swastica symbol. 

"The swastica it was first used about 1870 by the
Austrian Pan-German followers of Schoenerer. 

Wilhelm Schwaner displayed a swastika on the title
page of his "voelkish" periodical "Der Volkserzeiher"
in 1897 CE as a symbol of the paper's "voelkish"
sentiments, and this may be the first printed usage of
it in this context.

"Voelkish" means a "German-ness," a patriotism that
transcends national boundaries and time, to include
everything that is truly "Germanic," a "cult of the
race,".

By 1912, the swastika was seen in use by many
"voelkish" groups, and the "voelkish" thought began to
take on an anti-Semitic cast. It was popular enough
that the firm of Eckloeh began producing badges, tie
pins, buckles, and other things incorporating the
swastica. 

It was also used as a national emblem by Estonia and
Finland in this period, being most familiar in photos
of the Finnish Air Force during the Winter War with
the Soviet Union. 

The "Wandervoegel" youth movement became very familiar
with the symbol, being very "voelkish" in nature, and
thus, the soldiers of Imperial Germany in WW I knew of
the swastika and associated it with "voelkish"
sentiments. 

These "voelkish" sentiments included a reverence for
the operatic works of Wagner, an interest in the Grail
Cycle of legends, the belief that the "Aryan" race is
the "Herrenvolk" or "Master Race" of humanity, and a
belief in an international Jewish conspiracy to
control the world, as outlined in the so-called
"Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion." 

One can only imagine the consternation that may have
resulted when these soldiers of Germany saw the device
being used as part of the insignia of the famous
"Lafayette Escadrille," the American pilots that
fought for the Allies before America's entry into WW I
(the "Great War.") 

After 1918, the swastika was adopted by many of the
"Freikorps" units, being seen in photographs of the
Erhardt Brigade in its liberation of Munich from the
Communists in April of 1919. Very soon after, the
Hakenkreuz was no longer a romantic "voelkish" symbol,
but an expression of right-wing opposition to the
Weimar Republic

Therefore, when Hitler chose the swastika as the
symbol of the NSDAP, he was quite probably conciously
choosing an already familiar symbol that already had
the tenets of National Socialist ideology attached to
it in the minds of the German public. This act of
adopting an already familiar badge is just one more
point of evidence that Hitler was a canny and cunning
man, and willing to steal and pervert whatever would
advance his program. 

The badge of the NSDAP was designed by Dr. Friedrich
Krohn, a dentist who had belonged to several
"voelkish" groups, including the "Germanen Order"
(membership in which, incidentally, precluded -any-
advancement in the NSDAP). As mentioned above, the
symbol was originally drawn right-handed, and 

Adolph Hitler insisted on its being reversed.
Nazi Germany took an ancient symbol and perverted it
to such a degree that it can never be used again
without bringing up all the associations of death,
destruction, hatred and vileness that the NSDAP
perpetrated. 

If the Swastika is displayed in any of the "civilized"
parts of the earth, the reactions of the viewer are
universally of rage and disgust. This perversion of
"right" may be one of the prime evils of the Nazis;
they took patriotism, honorable military service and
its associated ritual, chivalry, and the concept of
"voelkishness," among so many other good and useful
things, and perverted them into something so bad, so
evil and vile, that to call a person a "Nazi" is one
of the most terrible epithets a human can use.
The "Aryan" "Herrenvolk" (Master Race) myth is still
with us, in the mythos' of the "skinheads" and of the
(pseudo) Christian "Identity" Church/ Movement in
North America, not to mention the well-known Ku Klux
Klan and its various offshoots. (who have taken
another ancient and honorable symbol, the Scots "fiery
Cross" clan rallying sign, and perverted it to a
degraded usage.)" 



best regards,

Erica Letzerich

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