Content area
Full Text
Throughout much of the modern world, the swastika symbol represents Nazism and reminds us of Adolf Hitler-racism. But it was not always this way. Prior to World War II, it was a globally recognized symbol. Its meaning had nothing to do with Nazi Germany except in the few years leading up to and including the war. Before that, it was associated with good luck [1].
The symbol has a long history dating back to prehistoric times [2]. In the Americas, variations of it have been found in excavations of Mound-builder and Mississippian era sites in the mid-west, while further south, the ancient Aztecs were said to also use the symbol. By the early 1900s, several Southwestern and Plains Native tribes were using it on crafts built for their own use and for that of the commercial tourist markets.
The earliest known use of the symbol may date back as far as 10,000 BC and was found on a late Paleolithic figure of a bird carved from mammoth ivory in the Ukraine. The symbol dates to 6,000 BC in Bulgaria and 3,000 BC on the Indian Subcontinent according to archeological findings. It has been found in prehistoric sites in Africa, China and Europe as well. It seems the swastika symbol, or variations of it, were used in many parts of the world during ancient times. [2]
About 1870, German archeologist Heinrich Schliemann found objects bearing the swastika in the ruins of what was believed to be the lost city of Troy. [3] Some credit this discovery, and subsequent publications about it, as a catalyst for the resurgence in the use of the swastika in modern times. The swastika gained popularity in the West during the late 1800s and was widely used. It remained popular through the 1920s, until use of it waned in the 1930s. By then, it had increasingly become associated with Nazism. In the American west, it was...