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The Nazis' principal symbol was the swastika, which the newly established Nazi Party formally adopted in 1920. [1] The formal symbol of the party was the Parteiadler, an eagle atop a swastika. The black-white-red motif is based on the colours of the flags of the German Empire.
Many Nazi flags make use of the swastika symbol; [4] however, the swastika is not always used in connection with the Nazi Party movement or of the German Third Reich or the combined German military of 1933–1945. Outside of Nazism, use of swastikas pre-dates the German Third Reich by some 3,000 years. [5] [6]
The word swastika is derived from the Sanskrit root swasti, which is composed of su 'good, well' and asti 'is; it is; there is'. [30] The word swasti occurs frequently in the Vedas as well as in classical literature, meaning 'health, luck, success, prosperity', and it was commonly used as a greeting.
German völkisch Nationalists claimed the swastika was a symbol of the Aryan race, who they claimed were the foundation of Germanic civilization and were superior to all other races. As the Italian Fascists adapted elements of their ethnic heritage to fuel a sense of Nationalism by use of symbolism, so did Nazi Germany.
The swastika is the ancient East Asian symbol appropriated as the emblem of the Nazi Party in Germany in the 1920s that was turned into a symbol of hate and racism, referred to as the Hakenkreuz ...
Moreover, although the Nazi flag on land had the swastika on both sides "right-facing," the Nazi flag at sea displayed the swastika on the reverse side as a "through and through" or mirror image, so the flag had a "right-facing" swastika on the front (or obverse) side and a "left-facing" swastika on the back (or reverse) side.
The badge was silver in color, had a pin back and measured 20 mm. It consisted of a swastika with a German helmet in the middle; written on the arms of the swastika were the words, WIR-WOLLEN-FREI-WERDEN ("We want to be free"). It was listed as an official decoration of the Nazi Party in 1933. By the end of 1934 the authorization was removed.
The swastika is an ancient symbol that was in use in many different cultures for at least 5,000 years before Adolf Hitler made it the centerpiece of the Nazi flag, altering its symbolic meaning forever. Its present-day use by certain extremist groups promotes hate. The second sentence isn't really part of the history.