State war flag of the Third Reich. Fascist banners to the mausoleum

Blutfahne is translated from German as “bloody flag”. This paraphernalia of the Third Reich was indeed associated with blood from its very inception. It became a real shrine of the Nazis.

The National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), which appeared in Germany in 1920, created a banner with a design of a black swastika in a white circle on a red background. In the summer of 1921, Adolf Hitler, who became the head of this party, ordered all party cells to use this flag at all party meetings, rallies and demonstrations.

How did the banner become “bloody”?
In 1923, National Socialist stormtroopers organized the so-called “Beer Hall Putsch.” It was named so because on November 8, the Nazis tried to carry out a coup in Munich, seizing Prime Minister Gustav von Kahr and several other senior government officials in the Burgerbraukeller beer hall.

Hitler stood with a beer mug at the door of the hall. He told the three thousand people who came to listen to the prime minister that the Bavarian government had been overthrown and the hall was surrounded by 600 NSDAP stormtroopers. The captured government members were released under honestly. Once in safe place, they retracted their statements, which were made under threat of murder. The National Socialists were outlawed.

The next day the Nazis went to the cabinet. The column moved under flags with swastikas. Police units initially let them through. Hitler offered to surrender to the police, but was refused, after which shooting began. And then small disagreements begin in the legend. According to one version, Heinrich Trambauer, carrying a banner with a swastika, was wounded in the stomach, so he dropped the standard to the ground. standing in front German merchant Andreas Bauriedl received mortal wound and fell on the flag. The red Nazi banner was covered in blood and was picked up by one of the stormtroopers, hidden under his shirt and later handed over.

Another version claims that Trumbauer himself pressed the flag to the wound, hid it with his friend Zellinger, and returned a few days later and took it away. Karl Eggers found it and handed it over to his Munich friend Grf. He kept it for several months, then it somehow got to the widow Victoria Edrich and only after that it returned to Eggers.

Be that as it may, the fact remains that Hitler was arrested, and when he came out of prison, Eggers handed him a banner. They claim that there was a hole left on the panel from a bullet.

Artist Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an artist, so he understood that an ordinary piece of material with a pattern applied to it would not evoke awe - this requires appropriate design. The head of the party made the flagpole and top with his own hands. Under the pommel, he placed a silver ball with the names of fellow party members who died in the putsch engraved on it.

Hitler was also a master at creating rituals. He knew how important it was to instill respect for symbols in party members, so at all party congresses he held a ceremony to dedicate new banners, starting in 1926, when the first eight banners were “blessed.” Driving in a car past rows of stormtroopers, he clutched a “bloody banner” in his left hand, as if passing on a piece of blood. Since 1933, the ritual has been accompanied by fireworks.

The relic was kept in Munich, at the headquarters of the NSDAP, protected by a guard of honor. Trumbauer and Grimminger became the official standard bearers, but the former received a skull injury in a street fight, which damaged his psyche. Thus, the flag remained with one standard bearer.

It is believed that since Adolf hated mentally ill people, it was he who edited the version with blood on the banner - in fact, the shrine cannot be stained with the blood of a mentally ill person.

The mystery of the disappearance of Blutfahne
Public appearance of the “blood flag” in public in last time happened in 1944. He was carried out at the funeral of Adolf Wagner, the Gauleiter of Munich, loyal to Nazi ideology.

It is unknown where the banner disappeared after this event. Grimminger always answered reporters that he had no idea where Hitler’s bloody attribute of power was located.

Some believe that the “bloody banner” burned in 1945 in a Munich building located at Brienner Strasse 45, in the so-called “brown house”, the headquarters of the Nazis, which was badly damaged by bombing.

Other researchers believe that the flag is kept in one of the private collections. Here too, opinions differ. From time to time, photographs of people against the background of the banner, taken in the USA, Germany and other countries, pop up. But still, there is no real evidence that these banners are the same Blutfahne.

Everyone knows about the Victory Parade that took place on June 24, 1945. Everyone also remembers the famous newsreels and numerous photographs of 200 German flags and standards captured as trophies Soviet troops, were thrown to the foot of Lenin's mausoleum. But few people know about the further fate of these trophies. There are many legends about this. Some say that the flags were burned along with the platform on which they were thrown, others claim that they personally saw photographs of this. Still others know for sure where these flags were kept, while others saw them with their own eyes in our time. To shed light on this little-known fact, this short article was born.

According to the memoirs of the former Chief of the General Staff, General Shtemenko, the idea of German flags belonged, naturally, to Stalin. Allegedly, at the end of May 1945, he gave instructions to the generals: “Hitler’s banners must be brought to the parade and thrown in shame at the feet of the victors. Think about how to do it." The parade scriptwriters had to urgently do historical research. As a result, our soldiers, carrying fascist banners, had to perform complex formations that were used by the legionnaires of Ancient Rome. And the idea of “public execution” of enemy banners was borrowed from the great commander Alexander Suvorov, in whose troops there was a ritual of “disregard not for the enemy, but for his defeated military distinctions.”

For the battalion's parade box it was necessary to have 200 military banners and standards. However, the military did not have such a number of captured flags at its disposal. It should be noted that in the Third Reich, banners were awarded from 1936 to 1939, one per battalion, squadron or battery. Units formed during the war no longer received banners. The exception was the Fuhrer's guard battalion, which received a banner (standard) on September 30, 1939. Moreover, on August 28, 1944, Hitler ordered the removal of all banners and military flags from front-line zones to Wehrmacht museums. Thus, the Red Army did not have the opportunity to capture the enemy’s battle flags, even in the event of encirclement and defeat of enemy military units.

A way out of the situation was found by SMERSH employees, who kept records and control of both army regalia and museum valuables taken as “reparations”. 900 banners were “borrowed” from museums in Berlin and Dresden, as well as from trophies collected by SMERSH units. They were brought and stored in the gym of the Lefortovo barracks. From these, a special commission selected 200 banners and standards for the parade. They were selected according to their shape and “beauty”. As a result, about 20 banners of military units from other historical periods ended up on Red Square, including two Prussian cavalry standards from 1860 and 1890, as well as a banner of the people’s militia from the 1860s. Many standards were not related to the Wehrmacht, but belonged to various divisions of the Nazi party, public organizations or simply were the state flags of the Third Reich. However, they had a colorful appearance and a suitable size. So the flags of the National Socialist German Workers' Party, the German Labor Front, the Imperial Labor Service, and the Hitler Youth were included in the parade. Since at that time there were simply no specialists who understood the intricacies of Nazi symbols, therefore it is pointless to present any claims to them today. SMERSH compiled lists of the selected banners for the parade, which have survived to this day, and indicate that a number of banners were attributed to military units that never existed in nature. There is an opinion that the list was compiled based on the inscriptions on the banner brackets, and not on the flags. At least, only 20 banners participating in the parade can be reliably identified, thanks to photographs of the first rank of the parade battalion.

During the “public execution” of enemy flags, another symbolic action was used, which is still “savored” by journalists, memorialists and writers on military topics. Allegedly, the front-line soldiers, some of whom were among the standard bearers, flatly refused to pick up the banners of the “lepers,” and in order to find a consensus with them, the entire battalion was given gloves. Yes, not simple ones, but leather ones, brown in color according to the regulations. But leather of this color was not found in the entire Union; it had to be urgently imported by plane from abroad. Whether this is true or not, in the photographs all the standard bearers are wearing gloves. Leather or not, you can’t tell.

According to the parade scenario, Nazi flags were to be thrown into designated places to the left and right of the mausoleum onto the bare asphalt. Today there is a version (you can easily find it on the Internet) that they threw the banners onto a special wooden platform so as not to desecrate the asphalt, and then they burned the flags along with it. True, the photographs clearly show that there is no platform. Eyewitnesses and participants also do not remember him. And the account they burned is already obvious nonsense. If they were burning, they would have taken photographs, otherwise, why organize an action if not for PR. But there is not a single photograph. And secondly, some of the allegedly burned flags still exist today.

There were also “eyewitnesses” who saw how the battalion of standard bearers took off their gloves and threw them into special boxes, which were then burned outside the city. There is, of course, no evidence to the contrary, but it is hard to believe that in a post-war country, where trousers were in short supply, soldiers would burn such foreign goods. If they themselves were disdainful of wearing it, they could easily exchange it for something substantial. There was no time for “fat” at that time.

After the parade,” recalls Elena Anisimova, senior researcher at the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (CMAF), “about 500 captured banners, according to the inventory, were transferred to the Central Museum of the Red Army. “These were not only the banners of the Wehrmacht, but also the state and party flags of Nazi Germany. In the 50-60s, by decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, they were transferred to representatives of the GDR (more than 100 banners), to the museums of the Bulgarian People's Army and the Polish Army. And in the early 90s - to US museums (about 10 units),” the curator concludes her story.

According to some reports, some of the Nazi flags and standards ended up in the Theater Soviet Army. Subsequently, they, too, were allegedly transferred to the Central Military District, but no documentary evidence of this was found.

Today, 200 flags and standards of the Third Reich are part of Znamenny Fund TsMVS, most of which is stored in storerooms. Which part of them is genuine and which part has been replaced with dummies and copies is unknown, since storing banners is a very troublesome business and they break down very quickly, which is why they are vacuumed once every few years. In addition, the demand for such German Nazi paraphernalia on the black market is very, very high.

Based on materials from the sites: http://www.bolshoyvopros.ru; https://www.crimea.kp.ru; https://kv-bear.livejournal.com; http://www.naslednick.ru; http://inosmi.ru.

Swastika

The swastika is the most famous symbol of German National Socialism. This is one of the oldest and most widespread symbols in human history, which has been used in many cultures, at different times and in different parts Sveta. Its origins are controversial.

The most ancient archaeological finds with the image of a swastika are rock paintings on ceramic shards found in southeastern Europe, their age is more than 7 thousand years. The swastika is found there as part of the "alphabet" that was used in the Indus Valley during the Bronze Age, that is, 2600-1900 BC. Similar finds from the Bronze and Early Iron Ages were also discovered during excavations in the Caucasus.

Archaeologists have found swastikas not only in Europe, but also on objects found in Africa, South and North America. Most likely, this symbol was used completely independently in different regions.

The meaning of the swastika can vary depending on the culture. IN Ancient China For example, the swastika denoted the number 10,000 and then infinity. In Indian Jainism, it denotes the four levels of existence. In Hinduism, the swastika, in particular, symbolized the fire god Agni and the sky god Diaus.

Its names are also numerous. In Europe, the symbol was called “four-legged”, or cross gammadion, or even simply gammadion. The word “swastika” itself comes from Sanskrit and can be translated as “something that brings happiness.”

Swastika as an Aryan symbol

Swastika transformation from ancient symbol sun and good luck to one of the most hated signs in the Western world began with the excavations of the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann. In the 70s of the 19th century, Schliemann began excavating the ruins of ancient Troy near Hisarlik in the north of modern Turkey. On many of the finds, the archaeologist discovered a swastika, a symbol familiar to him from ancient pottery found during excavations at Köningswalde in Germany. Therefore, Schliemann decided that he had found the missing link connecting the Germanic ancestors, Greece of the Homeric era and the mythical India glorified in the Mahabharata and Ramayana.

Schliemann consulted with the orientalist and racial theorist Emil Burnauf, who argued that the swastika is a stylized image (viewed from above) of the burning altar of the ancient Aryans. Since the Aryans worshiped fire, the swastika was their most important religious symbol, Burnauf concluded.

The discovery caused a sensation in Europe, especially in the recently united Germany, where the ideas of Burnauf and Schliemann met with a warm response. Gradually, the swastika lost its original meaning and began to be considered an exclusively Aryan symbol. Its distribution was considered a geographical indication of where exactly the ancient “supermen” were located in one or another historical period. More sober scientists resisted such a simplification and pointed to cases where the swastika was discovered outside the region of distribution of Indo-European languages.

Gradually, the swastika began to be given an increasingly anti-Semitic meaning. Burnauf argued that Jews did not accept the swastika. Polish writer Mikael Zmigrodski published in 1889 book Die Mutter bei den Völkern des arischen Stammes, which portrayed the Aryans as a pure race that did not allow mixing with Jews. That same year, at the World's Fair in Paris, Zmigrodski organized an exhibition of archaeological finds with swastikas. Two years later, German scientist Ernst Ludwig Krause wrote the book Tuisko-Land, der arischen Stämme und Götter Urheimat, in which the swastika appeared as an obviously anti-Semitic symbol of popular nationalism.

Hitler and the swastika flag

The National Socialist Party of Germany (NSDAP) formally adopted the swastika as its party symbol in 1920. Hitler was not yet the chairman of the party, but was responsible for propaganda issues in it. He understood that the party needed something that would distinguish it from competing groups and at the same time attract the masses.

After making several sketches of the banner, Hitler chose the following: a black swastika in a white circle on a red background. The colors were borrowed from the old imperial banner, but expressed the dogmas of National Socialism. In his autobiography, Mein Kampf, Hitler then explained: “Red is social thought in motion, white represents nationalism, and the swastika is the symbol of the Aryan struggle and their victory, which is therefore the victory of the idea of creative work, which in itself has always been anti-Semitic and will always be anti-Semitic.”

Swastika as a national symbol

In May 1933, just a few months after Hitler came to power, a law was passed to protect “national symbols.” According to this law, the swastika should not be depicted on foreign objects and it was also prohibited commercial use sign.

In July 1935, the German merchant ship Bremen entered the port of New York. A Nazi flag with a swastika fluttered next to national flag Germany. Hundreds of trade union and American Communist Party members gathered on the pier for an anti-Nazi rally. The demonstration turned into riots; agitated workers climbed aboard the Bremen, tore off the swastika flag and threw it into the water. The incident led to four days later German Ambassador in Washington demanded from American government official apology. The Americans refused to apologize, citing the fact that disrespect was not shown to the national flag, but only to the flag of the Nazi party.

The Nazis managed to use this incident to their own advantage. Hitler called it "a humiliation of the German people." And to prevent this from happening in the future, the status of the swastika was raised to the level of a national symbol.

On September 15, 1935, the first of the so-called Nuremberg Laws came into force. It legitimized the colors of the German state: red, white and black, and the flag with the swastika became the state flag of Germany. In November of the same year, this banner was introduced into the army. During World War II it spread to all Nazi-occupied countries.

Swastika cult

However, in the Third Reich the swastika was not a symbol state power, and above all an expression of the worldview of National Socialism. During their reign, the Nazis created a cult of the swastika that resembled a religion rather than the usual political use of symbols. The huge mass gatherings organized by the Nazis were like religious ceremonies, with Hitler playing the role of high priest. During party days in Nuremberg, for example, Hitler exclaimed from the stage “Heil!” - and hundreds of thousands of Nazis answered in unison: “Heil, my Fuhrer”! With bated breath, the huge crowd watched as huge swastika banners slowly unfurled to the solemn drumbeat.

This cult also included special veneration of the banner, preserved since the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich in 1923, when several Nazis were shot dead by the police. The legend claimed that a few drops of blood fell on the cloth. Ten years later, after coming to power, Hitler ordered the delivery of this flag from the archives of the Bavarian police. And since then, each new army standard or flag with a swastika went through a special ceremony, during which the new banner touched this banner, sprinkled with blood, which became a Nazi relic.

The cult of the swastika as a symbol of the Aryan race was supposed to eventually replace Christianity. Since Nazi ideology presented the world as a struggle between races and peoples, Christianity with its Jewish roots was in their eyes further proof that previously Aryan regions had been “conquered” by Jews. Towards the end of World War II, the Nazis developed far-reaching plans to transform the German church into a "national" church. All Christian symbols were to be replaced by Nazi ones. Party ideologist Alfred Rosenberg wrote that all crosses, Bibles and images of saints should be removed from churches. Instead of the Bible, there should be Mein Kampf on the altar, and to the left of the altar there should be a sword. Crosses in all churches should be replaced by "the only invincible symbol - the swastika."

Post-war time

After World War II, the swastika in the Western world was so associated with the atrocities and crimes of Nazism that it completely obscured all other interpretations. Today in the West, the swastika is associated primarily with Nazism and right-wing extremism. In Asia, the swastika sign is still considered positive, although some Buddhist temples from the mid-20th century began to decorate only left-handed swastikas, although previously signs of both directions were used.

National symbols

Just as the Italian fascists presented themselves as the modern heirs of the Roman Empire, the Nazis sought to prove their connection to ancient German history. It was not for nothing that Hitler called the state he conceived the Third Reich. The first large-scale state formation was the German-Roman Empire, which existed in one form or another for almost a thousand years, from 843 to 1806. A second attempt to create a German empire, made in 1871, when Bismarck united the North German states under Prussian leadership, failed with Germany's defeat in the First World War.

German National Socialism, like Italian fascism, was an extreme form of nationalism. This was expressed in their borrowing of signs and symbols from the early history of the Germans. These include the combination of red, white and black colors, as well as the symbols that were used by the militaristic authorities during the Prussian Empire.

Scull

The image of a skull is one of the most common symbols in human history. In different cultures it had different meaning. In the West, the skull is traditionally associated with death, with the passage of time, with the finitude of life. Drawings of the skull existed as early as ancient times, however, they became more noticeable in the 15th century: they appeared in large numbers in all cemeteries and mass graves associated with the plague epidemic. In Sweden, death was depicted in church paintings as a skeleton.

Associations associated with the skull have always been a suitable symbol for those groups that either wanted to scare people or emphasize their own contempt for death. A well-known example is the West Indian pirates of the 17th and 18th centuries, who used black flags with the image of a skull, often combining it with other symbols: a sword, hourglass or bones. For the same reasons, the skull and crossbones began to be used to indicate danger in other areas. For example, in chemistry and medicine, a skull and crossbones on a label means that the drug is poisonous and dangerous to life.

The SS men wore metal badges with skulls on their hats. The same sign was used in the Life Hussar units of the Prussian Guard back in the time of Frederick the Great, in 1741. In 1809, the "Black Corps" of the Duke of Brunswick wore a black uniform with a skull without a lower jaw.

Both of these options - a skull and crossbones or a skull without a lower jaw - existed in German army during the First World War. In elite units, these symbols meant fighting courage and contempt for death. When, in June 1916, the Engineer Regiment of the First Guard received the right to wear a white skull on the sleeve, the commander addressed the soldiers with the following speech: “I am convinced that this insignia of the new detachment will always be worn as a sign of contempt for death and fighting spirit.”

After the war, German units that refused to recognize the Treaty of Versailles chose the skull as their symbol. Some of them became part of Hitler's personal guard, which later became the SS. In 1934, the SS leadership officially approved the version of the skull that is still used by neo-Nazis today. The skull was also the symbol of the SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf". This division was originally recruited from concentration camp guards. Ring with " death's head", that is, with a skull, was also honorary award, which Himmler presented to distinguished and honored SS men.

For both the Prussian army and the soldiers of the imperial units, the skull was a symbol of blind loyalty to the commander and the willingness to follow him to death. This meaning also transferred to the SS symbol. “We wear a skull on our black caps as a warning to the enemy and as a sign of our readiness to sacrifice our lives for the sake of the Fuhrer and his ideals,” said SS man Alois Rosenwink.

Since the image of the skull was widely used in the most different areas, then in our time it turned out to be the symbol least associated with Nazi ideology. The most famous modern Nazi organization to use a skull in its symbolism is the British Combat 18.

Iron Cross

Initially, the “Iron Cross” was the name of a military order established by the Prussian king Frederick William III in March 1813. Now this is the name given to both the order itself and the image of the cross on it.

The Iron Cross of various degrees was awarded to soldiers and officers of four wars. First in Prussia's war against Napoleon in 1813, then during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, and then during the First World War. The order symbolized not only courage and honor, but was closely connected with the German cultural tradition. For example, during the Prussian-Austrian War of 1866, the “Iron Cross” was not awarded, since it was considered a war of two fraternal peoples.

With the outbreak of World War II, Hitler revived the order. A cross was added to the center and the colors of the ribbon were changed to black, red and white. However, the tradition of indicating the year of issue has been preserved. That's why Nazi versions of the Iron Cross are marked with the year 1939. During World War II, approximately 3.5 million Iron Crosses were awarded. In 1957, when West Germany The wearing of Nazi symbols was banned, war veterans were given the opportunity to surrender their orders and get back the same ones, but without the swastika.

The symbolism of the order has a long history. Christian cross, which began to be used in Ancient Rome in the 4th century BC, originally meant the salvation of humanity through martyrdom Christ on the cross and the resurrection of Christ. As Christianity became militarized during the Crusades in the 12th and 13th centuries, the symbol's meaning expanded to include the crusader virtues of courage, loyalty and honor.

One of many knightly orders that arose at that time was Teutonic Order. In 1190, during the siege of Acre in Palestine, merchants from Bremen and Lübeck founded a field hospital. Two years later, the Teutonic Order received formal status from the Pope, who endowed it with a symbol: a black cross on a white background, called a cross patté. The cross is equilateral, its crossbars are curved and widen from the center to the ends.

Over time, the Teutonic Order grew in number and its importance increased. During the Crusades in Eastern Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries, the Teutonic Knights conquered significant territories in what is now Poland and Germany. In 1525, the order underwent secularization, and the lands that belonged to it became part of the Duchy of Prussia. The black and white knight's cross existed in Prussian heraldry until 1871, when a stylized version with straight bars became the symbol of the German war machine.

Thus, the iron cross, like many other symbols that were used in Hitler's Germany, is not a Nazi political symbol, but a military one. Therefore, it is not prohibited in modern Germany, unlike purely fascist symbols, and is still used in the Bundeswehr army. However, neo-Nazis began to use it during their gatherings instead of the banned swastika. And instead of the prohibited banner of the Third Reich, they use the military flag of Imperial Germany.

The Iron Cross is also common among biker groups. It is also found in popular subcultures, for example, among surfers. Variants of the Iron Cross are found in the logos of various companies.

Wolf hook

In 1910, the German writer Hermann Löns published a historical novel called Werwolf (Werewolf). The action in the book takes place in a German village during Thirty Years' War. It's about the fight peasant son Garma Wolf against the legionnaires, who, like insatiable wolves, terrorize the population. The hero of the novel makes his symbol the “wolf hook” - a crossbar with two sharp hooks at the ends. The novel became extremely popular, especially in nationalist circles, because of its romantic image of German peasants.

Lens was killed in France during the First World War. However, his popularity continued in the Third Reich. By order of Hitler in 1935, the writer's remains were transferred and buried on German soil. The novel "Werewolf" was reprinted several times, and this sign was often depicted on the cover, which was included in the number of state-sanctioned symbols.

After defeat in the First World War and the collapse of the empire, the wolf hook became a symbol of national resistance against the policies of the victors. It was used by various nationalist groups - the Jungnationalen Bundes and the Deutschen Pfadfinderbundes, and one volunteer corps even took the name of the novel “Werewolf”.

The wolf hook sign (Wolfsangel) has existed in Germany for many hundreds of years. Its origin is not entirely clear. The Nazis claim that the sign is pagan, citing its similarity to the Old Norse rune i, but there is no evidence of this. The “wolf hook” was carved on buildings by members of the medieval guild of masons who traveled around Europe and built cathedrals back in the 14th century (the Masons or “freemasons” were then formed from these artisans). Later, starting from the 17th century, the sign was included in the heraldry of many noble families and city coats of arms. According to some versions, the shape of the sign resembles a tool that was used to hang wolf carcasses after a hunt, but this theory is probably based on the name of the symbol. The word Wolfsangel itself is first mentioned in the heraldic dictionary Wapenkunst of 1714, but denotes a completely different symbol.

Different versions of the symbol were used by young “wolf cubs” from the Hitler Youth and in the military apparatus. The most famous examples of the use of this symbol: patches with a “wolf hook” were worn by the Second SS Panzer Division Das Reich, the Eighth Panzer Regiment, the Fourth SS Motorized Infantry Division, and the Dutch SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Landstorm Nederland. In Sweden, this symbol was used in the 1930s by the youth wing of Lindholm’s movement “Youth of the North” (Nordisk Ungdom).

At the end of World War II Nazi regime began to create a kind of partisan groups that were supposed to fight the enemy who had entered German soil. Influenced by Lens's novels, these groups also began to be called "Werewolf", and in 1945 their distinctive sign became the "wolf hook". Some of these groups continued to fight against the Allied forces after the surrender of Germany, for which today's neo-Nazis began to mythologize them.

The Wolfhook can also be depicted vertically, with the points pointing up and down. In this case, the symbol is called Donnerkeil - “lightning”.

Working class symbols

Before Hitler got rid of the socialist faction of the NSDAP during the Night of the Long Knives, the party also used the symbols of the labor movement - primarily in the SA assault troops. In particular, like the Italian fascist militants a decade earlier, the revolutionary black banner was seen in Germany in the early 1930s. Sometimes it was completely black, sometimes it was combined with symbols such as a swastika, a wolf hook or a skull. Nowadays black banners are found almost exclusively among anarchists.

Hammer and sword

In the Weimar Republic of the 1920s, there were political groups that tried to combine socialist ideas with the völkische ideology. This was reflected in attempts to create symbols that combined elements of these two ideologies. Most often among them there was a hammer and a sword.

The hammer was taken from the symbolism of the developing labor movement late XIX- beginning of the 20th century. The symbols that glorified workers were taken from a set of ordinary tools. The most famous were, naturally, the hammer and sickle, which in 1922 were adopted as symbols of the newly formed Soviet Union.

The sword has traditionally served as a symbol of struggle and power, and in many cultures it was also an integral part of various war gods, for example, the god Mars in Roman mythology. In National Socialism, the sword became a symbol of the struggle for the purity of a nation or race and existed in many variations.

The symbol of the sword contained the idea of the future “unity of the people,” which workers and soldiers were supposed to achieve after the revolution. For several months in 1924, left-wing radical and later nationalist Sepp Oerter published a newspaper called Hammer and Sword, whose logo used the symbol of two crossed hammers intersecting with a sword.

And in Hitler's NSDAP there were leftist movements - primarily represented by the brothers Gregor and Otto Strasser. The Strasser brothers published books at the Rhein-Ruhr and Kampf publishing houses. Both firms used the hammer and sword as their emblem. The symbol was also found in the early stages of the existence of the Hitler Youth, before Hitler dealt with all socialist elements in the Nazi movement in 1934.

Gear

Most of the symbols used in the Third Reich have existed in one form or another for hundreds and sometimes thousands of years. But the gear belongs to much later symbols. It began to be used only after the industrial revolution of the 18th and 18th centuries. The symbol denoted technology in general, technical progress and mobility. Because of its direct connection with industrial development, the gear became a symbol of factory workers.

The first in Hitler's Germany to use the gear as its symbol was the Technical Department (Technische Nothilfe, TENO, TENO), founded back in 1919. This organization, which featured a hammer-shaped T and an N inside a gear, provided technical support to various right-wing extremist groups. TENO was responsible for the operation and protection of such important industries as water supply and gas. Over time, TENO joined war machine Germany and began to report directly to Himmler.

After Hitler came to power in 1933, all trade unions were banned in the country. Instead of unions, workers were united in the German Labor Front (DAF, DAF). The same gear was chosen as a symbol, but with a swastika inside, and workers were required to wear these badges on their clothes. Similar badges, a gear with an eagle, were awarded to aviation maintenance workers - the Luftwaffe.

The gear itself is not a Nazi symbol. It is used by workers' organizations in different countries - both socialist and non-socialist. Among the skinhead movement, which dates back to the British labor movement of the 1960s, it is also a common symbol.

Modern neo-Nazis use the gear when they want to emphasize their working background and oppose ourselves to the “cuff-cuffers,” that is, the clean-living employees. In order not to be confused with the left, neo-Nazis combine the gear with purely fascist, right-wing symbols.

A striking example is international organization skinheads "Hammerskins". In the center of the gear they place the numbers 88 or 14, which are used exclusively in Nazi circles.

Symbols of the ancient Germans

Many Nazi symbols were borrowed from the occult neo-pagan movement, which existed in the form of anti-Semitic sects even before the formation of the Nazi parties in Germany and Austria. In addition to the swastika, this symbolism included signs from the pre-Christian era of the history of the ancient Germans, such as “irminsul” and “hammer of the god Thor.”

Irminsul

In the pre-Christian era, many pagans had a tree or pillar in the center of the village, around which religious rites were performed. The ancient Germans called such a pillar “irminsul”. This word consists of the name of the ancient Germanic god Irmin and the word "sul", meaning pillar. In northern Europe, the name Jörmun, consonant with "Irmin", was one of the names of the god Odin, and many scholars suggest that the Germanic "irminsul" is associated with the World Tree Yggdrasil in Old Norse mythology.

In 772, the Christian Charlemagne razed the pagan cult center in the sacred grove of Externsteine in modern Saxony. In the 20s of the 20th century, at the instigation of the German Wilhelm Teudt, a theory arose that the most important Irminsul of the ancient Germans was located there. A relief carved into stone by 12th-century monks was cited as evidence. The relief shows an irminsul, bent under the image of Saint Nicodemus and a cross - a symbol of the victory of Christianity over paganism.

In 1928, Teudt founded the Society for the Study of Ancient Germanic History, whose symbol was the “straightened” irminsul from the relief in Externstein. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, the Society fell into the sphere of interests of Himmler, and in 1940 it became part of German Society for the study of ancient German history and ancestral heritage (Ahnenerbe).

The Ahnenerbe, created by Himmler in 1935, studied the history of the German tribes, but the results of research that did not fit into the National Socialist doctrine of racial purity could not be published. The irminsul became the symbol of the Ahnenerbe, and many employees of the institute wore small silver jewelry that reproduced the relief image. This sign is still used today by neo-Nazis and neo-pagans.

Runes

The Nazis considered the Third Reich to be the direct successor of ancient German culture, and it was important for them to prove the right to be called the heirs of the Aryans. In pursuit of evidence, the runes caught their attention.

Runes are the writing signs of the pre-Christian era of the peoples inhabiting the north of Europe. Just like letters Latin alphabet correspond to sounds, each runic sign corresponded to a specific sound. Runic writings of different variants, carved on stones at different times and in different regions, have been preserved. It is assumed that each rune, like each letter of the alphabet, had its own name. However, everything we know about runic writing comes not from primary sources, but from later medieval records and even later Gothic script, so it is unknown whether this information is correct.

One of the problems for Nazi research into runic signs was that there were not too many such stones in Germany itself. Research was mainly based on the study of stones with runic inscriptions found in the European North, most often in Scandinavia. Scientists supported by the Nazis found a way out: they argued that the half-timbered buildings widespread in Germany with their wooden posts and braces, which give the building a decorative and expressive appearance, repeat the way runes are written. It was understood that in this “architectural and construction method” the people supposedly preserved the secret of the runic inscriptions. This trick led to the discovery in Germany huge amount“runes”, the meaning of which could be interpreted in the most fantastic way. However, beams or logs in half-timbered structures, of course, cannot be “read” as text. The Nazis solved this problem too. Without any reason, it was announced that each individual rune had a certain hidden meaning, an “image” that only initiates could read and understand.

Serious researchers who studied runes only as writing lost their subsidies because they became “renegades”, apostates from Nazi ideology. At the same time, quasi-scientists who adhered to the theory sanctioned from above received significant funds at their disposal. As a result, almost all research work was aimed at finding evidence of the Nazi view of history and, in particular, at searching for the ritual meaning of runic signs. In 1942, runes became the official holiday symbols of the Third Reich.

Guido von Liszt

The main representative of these ideas was the Austrian Guido von List. A supporter of the occult, he devoted half his life to the revival of the “Aryan-Germanic” past and was at the beginning of the 20th century central figure among anti-Semitic societies and associations involved in astrology, theosophy and other occult activities.

Von List was engaged in what was called “medium writing” in occult circles: with the help of meditation, he immersed himself in a trance and in this state “saw” fragments of ancient German history. Coming out of his trance, he wrote down his “visions.” Von List argued that the faith of the Germanic tribes was a kind of mystical “natural religion” - Wotanism, which was served by a special caste of priests, the “Armans”. In his opinion, these priests used runic signs as magical symbols.

Further, the “medium” described the Christianization of Northern Europe and the expulsion of the Armans, who were forced to hide their faith. However, their knowledge did not disappear, and the secrets of runic signs remained by the German people for centuries. With the help of his "supernatural" abilities, von List could find and "read" these hidden symbols everywhere: from the names of German settlements, coats of arms, Gothic architecture and even the names of different types of baked goods.

After an ophthalmic operation in 1902, von List saw nothing for eleven months. It was at this time that his most powerful visions visited him, and he created his own “alphabet” or runic series of 18 characters. This series, which had nothing in common with the scientifically accepted one, included runes from different times and localities. But, despite its anti-science, it greatly influenced the perception of runic signs not only by the Germans in general, but also by the Nazi “scientists” who studied runes in the Ahnenerbe.

The magical meaning that von List attributed to runic writing has been used by the Nazis from the time of the Third Reich to the present day.

Rune of Life

“Rune of Life” is the Nazi name of the fifteenth in the Old Norse series and the fourteenth in the series of Viking runes of the runic sign. Among the ancient Scandinavians, the sign was called “mannar” and meant a man or a person.

For the Nazis, it meant life and was always used when talking about health, family life or the birth of children. Therefore, the “rune of life” became the emblem of the women’s branch of the NSDAP and other women’s associations. In combination with a cross inscribed in a circle and an eagle, this sign was the emblem of the Union of German Families, and together with the letter A - a symbol of pharmacies. This rune replaced the Christian star in newspaper birth announcements and near the date of birth on tombstones.

The “Rune of Life” was widely used on stripes that were awarded for merit in a variety of organizations. For example, the girls of the Health Service wore this emblem in the form of an oval patch with a red rune on a white background. The same badge was issued to members of the Hitler Youth who had undergone medical training. All doctors initially used the international symbol of healing: the snake and the bowl. However, in the Nazis' desire to reform society down to the smallest detail, this sign was replaced in 1938. The “Rune of Life”, but on a black background, could also be received by SS men.

Rune of Death

This runic sign, the sixteenth in a series of Viking runes, became known among the Nazis as the "death rune". The symbol was used to glorify the killed SS men. He replaced christian cross in newspaper obituaries and death notices. They began to depict it on gravestones instead of a cross. They put it in place mass graves on the fronts of World War II.

This sign was also used by Swedish right-wing extremists in the 30s and 40s. For example, the “death rune” was printed in the announcement of the death of a certain Hans Linden, who fought on the side of the Nazis and was killed on Eastern Front in 1942.

Modern neo-Nazis naturally follow the traditions of Hitler's Germany. In 1994, an obituary on the death of the fascist Per Engdahl was published under this rune in a Swedish newspaper called “Torch of Freedom”. A year later, in the newspaper “Valhall and the Future,” which was published by the West Swedish Nazi movement NS Gothenburg, under this symbol, an obituary was published on the death of Eskil Ivarsson, who in the 30s was an active member of the Swedish fascist Lindholm Party. Nazi organization The 21st century Salem Foundation still sells patches in Stockholm with images of the “life rune”, “death rune” and a torch.

Rune Hagal

The rune, meaning the sound “x” (“h”), looked different in the ancient runic series and in the newer Scandinavian one. The Nazis used both signs. "Hagal" is an old form of the Swedish "hagel", meaning "hail".

The hagal rune was a popular symbol of the völkische movement. Guido von List put a deep symbolic meaning into this sign - the connection of man with the eternal laws of nature. In his opinion, the sign called on a person to “embrace the Universe in order to master it.” This meaning was borrowed by the Third Reich, where the hagal rune personified absolute faith in Nazi ideology. In addition, an anti-Semitic magazine called Hagal was published.

The rune was used by the SS tank division"Hohenstaufen" on flags and badges. In Scandinavian form, the rune was depicted on high award- SS ring, and also accompanied the weddings of SS men.

In modern times, the rune has been used by the Swedish party Hembygd, the right-wing extremist group Heimdal, and the small Nazi group People's Socialists.

Rune Odal

The Odal rune is the last, 24th rune of the Old Scandinavian series of runic signs. Its sound matches the pronunciation Latin letter Oh, and the shape goes back to the letter "omega" Greek alphabet. The name is derived from the name of the corresponding sign in the Gothic alphabet, which is reminiscent of the Old Norse “property, land”. This is one of the most common signs in Nazi symbols.

Nationalist romanticism of the 19th century idealized the simple and close to nature life of peasants, emphasizing love for their native village and homeland in general. The Nazis continued this romantic line, and the Odal rune received special meaning in their “blood and soil” ideology.

The Nazis believed that there was some mystical connection between the people and the land where they lived. This idea was formulated and developed in two books written by SS member Walter Darre.

After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Darre was appointed minister agriculture. Two years earlier, he headed the SS department, which in 1935 became a government department. Central Administration on questions of race and resettlement Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt (RuSHA), whose task was practical application the basic idea of Nazism racial purity. In particular, in this institution they checked the purity of the race of SS members and their future wives, here they determined which children in the occupied territories were “Aryan” enough to be kidnapped and taken to Germany, here they decided which of the “non-Aryans” should be killed after sexual relations with a German man or woman. The symbol of this department was the Odal rune.

Odal was worn on the collars by soldiers of the SS Volunteer Mountain Division, which both recruited volunteers and took by force “ethnic Germans” from the Balkan Peninsula and Romania. During World War II, this division operated in Croatia.

Rune Zig

The Nazis considered the Sieg rune a sign of strength and victory. The ancient Germanic name for the rune was sowlio, meaning "sun". The Anglo-Saxon name for the rune, sigel, also means “sun,” but Guido von List mistakenly associated this word with the German word for victory, “Sieg.” From this error arose the meaning of the rune that still exists among neo-Nazis.

The “Sig Rune,” as it is called, is one of the most famous signs in the symbolism of Nazism. First of all, because the SS men wore this double badge on their collars. In 1933, the first such patches, designed in the early 1930s by SS man Walter Heck, were sold by the textile factory of Ferdinand Hoffstatters to SS units at a price of 2.50 Reichsmarks per piece. The honor of wearing the double “zig rune” on the collars of the uniform was first awarded to part of Adolf Hitler’s personal guard.

They also wore a double “zig rune” in combination with the image of a key in the SS Panzer Division “Hitler Youth” formed in 1943, which recruited youth from the organization of the same name. The single “zig rune” was the emblem of the Jungfolk organization, which taught the basics of Nazi ideology to children from 10 to 14 years old.

Rune Tyr

The Tyr rune is another sign that was borrowed by the Nazis from the pre-Christian era. The rune is pronounced like the letter T and also denotes the name of the god Tyr.

The god Tyr was traditionally viewed as the god of war, therefore, the rune symbolized struggle, battle and victory. Graduates of the officer school wore a bandage with the image of this sign on their left arm. The symbol was also used by the Volunteer Tank Grenadier Division "30 January".

A special cult around this rune was created in the Hitler Youth, where all activities were aimed at individual and group rivalry. The Tyr rune reflected this spirit - and meetings of Hitler Youth members were decorated with Tyr runes of colossal size. In 1937, the so-called “Adolf Hitler Schools” were created, where the most capable students were prepared for important positions in the administration of the Third Reich. The students of these schools wore the double "rune of Tyr" as an emblem.

In Sweden in the 1930s, this symbol was used by the Northern Youth organization, a division of the Swedish Nazi party NSAP.

To the question, what did the symbol on Hitler's flag mean? given by the author Vlad the best answer is Is that a swastika?
Swastika 卐 (Sanskrit स्वस्तिक from Sanskrit स्वस्ति, svasti, greeting, wish of good luck) - a cross with curved ends (“rotating”), directed either clockwise (this is the movement of the earth around the sun) or counterclockwise (this is the movement of the sun around the earth, from east to west). The swastika is one of the most ancient and widespread graphic symbols. “The swastika symbol crystallizes from the diamond-meander design, which first appeared in the Upper Paleolithic, and then inherited by almost all the peoples of the world.” The oldest archaeological finds depicting a swastika date back to approximately 25-23 millennium BC (Mizyn, Ukraine; Kostenki, Russia).
The swastika was used by many peoples of the world - it was present on weapons, everyday items, clothing, banners and coats of arms, and was used in the decoration of churches and houses.
The swastika as a symbol has many meanings; among most peoples they were positive (before the era of fascism). For most ancient peoples, the swastika was a symbol of the movement of life, the Sun, light, and prosperity.
Swastika reflects main view movement in the Universe - rotational with its derivative - translational and is capable of symbolizing philosophical categories.
In the 20th century, the swastika (German: Hakenkreuz) became known as a symbol of Nazism and Hitler’s Germany, and in Western culture it is firmly associated with Hitler’s regime and ideology.

Reply from European[guru]
The swastika is a symbol of eternity...

Reply from Alexander Ivanov[newbie]
It is a rectangular panel of red color. There is a white circle in the center of the flag. It contains an image of a black swastika. Colors Nazi flag repeated the colors of the German flag of the Second Reich era. However, the interpretation of these colors was different. Thus, the color red signified the social idea of the Nazi movement, white– ideas of nationalism, swastika – energy and creative development people. The swastika may have been transferred to the flag from the emblem of the Thule Society, a radical nationalist organization that was most active in the 1920s. 1930s The society was created after World War I, then collaborated with the National Workers' Party (of which A. Hitler was a member) and subsequently merged with the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany. There is information that A. Hitler took a personal part in the development of the design of the flag. Historical interpretation The swastika is different, as are the places of its distribution - from Siberia to America. There are several hypotheses regarding the meaning of this image - a symbol of the center of the world, a solar sign, a symbol of thunder, universal fire, etc. The origin of the swastika is lost in the darkness of centuries, but it is traditionally believed that it came from India. However, the wide distribution of this symbol in different regions indicates otherwise. In the period 1933-1935. the flag with the swastika was used as a state flag along with the black-white-red tricolor of the Second Reich.

Reply from Benefit[active]
the wheel of life or eternity, but among the Nazis the symbol is turned in reverse. .

Reply from Sleep it off[guru]
4 letters "G" in Russian. Homer (from the cartoon), Hamadryas, Guantanamo, Mushrooms_from_Holland. This is a very smart four...