Switzerland votes to ban swastika: How Hitler corrupted the symbol and made it a sign of hate

If all goes as planned, the use of the swastika will soon be banned in the land of the Alps. On Wednesday, lawmakers in Switzerland voted overwhelmingly in favour of banning the public use of racist, violence-promoting and extremist symbols, such as Nazi symbols, including the swastika.

Switzerland’s ban follows other countries such as Germany, Poland and even parts of Australia, which have criminalised the display of the swastika.

While the symbol in most Western nations is seen upon as a symbol of Nazism, it has a long history. It is, in fact, a millennia-old sacred symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism that represents peace and good fortune.

So, how did the symbol go from being a peace-loving sign to one being synonymous with hate.

What’s the history behind the swastika?

The word swastika comes from the Sanskrit word ‘svastika,’ meaning something like “blessing” or “good fortune”. And even today, it is how it’s best known in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist communities.

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The symbol, however, has a long, complex history. The emblem, which is an equilateral cross with legs bent at right angles, was found everywhere, from the tombs of early Christians to the catacombs of Rome and the Lalibela Rock Churches, to the Cathedral of Cordoba.

According to the Holocaust Encyclopaedia, “The motif appears to have first been used in Eurasia, as early as 7,000 years ago, perhaps representing the movement of the sun through the sky… as a symbol of wellbeing in ancient societies.”

In Hinduism, the swastika has been used in the prayers of the Rig Veda. In fact, Hindu philosophy theorises that it represents various things that come in four — the four aims of life, the four stages of life, the four vedas.

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For the Buddhist, the symbol is known as manji, it signifies Buddha’s footsteps. For Jains it means a spiritual teacher. In the Zoroastrian faith, it represents the four elements – water, fire, air and earth.

In India, one will often see the swastika being drawn at entrances of houses or shop doors as a welcome sign. It is also displayed at weddings and other festive events, such as a housewarming or opening new ventures.

It is said that when early Western travellers came to India, they were inspired by the swastika and its positive vibes and even started using it back home. At the start of the 20th Century, the swastika became the sign of good luck across the world.

US graphic design writer Steven Heller told BBC that the symbol was enthusiastically adopted by the West. “Coca-Cola used it. Carlsberg used it on their beer bottles. The Boy Scouts adopted it and the Girls’ Club of America called their magazine Swastika. They would even send out swastika badges to their young readers as a prize for selling copies of the magazine,” he said.

Moreover, it was used by American troops during World War I and was also seen on Royal Air Force planes until 1939.

How did it become Hitler’s sign?

However, all of it changed when Hitler adopted the sign and it became synonymous with Nazism.

Historians note that Adolf Hitler adopted the symbol in 1920 as a symbol for his party, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi Party), by rotating it to the right and omitting the four dots. In his autobiography, Mein Kampf, Hitler outlines how and why he chose the modified symbol for his party. He said that the symbol not only harked back to an idealised imperial past, but laid out the ideology of National Socialism and its hope for the future.

He wrote, “The red expressed the social thought underlying the movement. White the national thought. And the swastika signified the mission allotted to us — the struggle for the victory of Aryan mankind…”

There are also suggestions that Hitler’s choice of the symbol comes from the belief that Indians and Germans come from the same “pure” Aryan ancestry and lineage.

In fact, some believe that the German appropriation of the swastika can be traced back to German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, who in 1871 excavated more than 1,800 variations of swastika-like symbols on pottery fragments at the site of ancient Troy in Turkey. Similar designs had been found on pottery in Germany, which led Schliemann to conclude that the swastika was a “significant religious symbol of our remote ancestors”, the cultural historian Malcolm Quinn wrote in his 1994 book, The Swastika: Constructing the Symbol.

And in 1933, Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s minister of propaganda, passed a law that prevented unauthorised commercial use of the symbol.

Soon, the symbol was linked to the atrocities that the Nazis perpetrated against the Jews. It became the most recognisable icon of Nazi propaganda, appearing everywhere — from armbands to flags and even military badges.

As Holocaust survivor Freddie Knoller told the BBC, “For the Jewish people, the swastika is a symbol of fear, of suppression, and of extermination. It’s a symbol that we will never ever be able to change. If they put the swastika on gravestones or synagogues, it puts a fear into us.”

This same feeling is echoed by Shelley Rood Wernick, managing director of the Jewish Federations of North America’s Center on Holocaust Survivor Care. In an AP report, she’s quoted as saying, “The swastika was a representation of the concept that stood for the annihilation of an entire people. I recognise the swastika as a symbol of hate.”

What’s behind Switzerland’s move?

On Wednesday (17 April), Swiss lawmakers in the lower house of Parliament approved a motion to ban Nazi symbols, including the swastika, as part of a crackdown on extremist symbols in the neutral country.

In a 133-38 vote, the lawmakers voted to prohibit the symbol following concerns about rising anti-Semitism. “Racially discriminatory, violent, extremist and especially National Socialist symbols have no place in our society and should not be used in public,” Justice Minister Beat Jans told parliament.

Lawmaker Raphael Mahaim also said, “We don’t want a swastika or a Hitler salute in our country, ever!”

“Today, in Switzerland, it is possible, it is even permitted, to display a flag with a swastika on your balcony. It is possible to put a flag bearing the image of the SS on the windshield of your car. It is possible to give the Hitler salute in public spaces. “This situation is intolerable.”

And with this, Switzerland has joined several countries banning the use of the swastika, including Germany, France, Austria, and Lithuania. In Australia, New South Wales and Victoria have criminalise the display of the swastika in 2022.

However, many argue against such bans, with some even stating that the swastika differs from the ‘hakenkreuz’ used by Hitler in Germany. Others argue that it can’t be called a symbol of evil because it was polluted by Hitler. “You cannot call it a symbol of evil or (deny) other facts that have existed for hundreds of years, just because of Hitler,” said Reverend TK Nakagaki, a New York-based Buddhist priest.

Sheetal Deo, a resident of Queenstown who was asked to bring down her Diwali decoration in 2022, concurs. She was quoted as telling the AP that she and people of other faiths should not have to sacrifice or apologise for a sacred symbol simply because it is often conflated with its tainted version .

But as Mark Pitcavage, senior research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, told the AP: “In the case of the swastika, Hitler polluted a symbol that was used innocuously in a variety of contexts. Because that meaning has become so entrenched in the West, while I believe it is possible to create some awareness, I don’t think that its association with the Nazis can be completely eliminated.”

With inputs from agencies