The History of "That" symbol

I had always known the Swastika to be the symbol of the Nazi’s. A symbol of hatred, racism, genocide. A symbol of evil. But it turns out, the symbol was not always so.

My first bit of education that the swastika meant something else, came from watching an episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker. This was a 1970’s series featuring a wonderful Darren McGavin as a crusty reporter always on the trail of a monster of the week ( a great show, by the way). Kolchak investigating some deaths starts seeing swastikas everywhere and assumes the killer is a Nazi or related to Nazi’s. but he finds out the swastikas are being put up by a potential victim as a ward against evil. We learn that the swastika is an ancient sacred symbol used in the Hindu and other religions.

My second bit of education came not long after. I was in a Social Studies class in high school and in one of our projects, we were looking at old newspapers. The newspapers we were looking through were from 1910 to the early 1920’s. the first thing we noticed was how ridiculously inexpensive things were back then, like a pair of shoes for 50 cents. But the other interesting thing I was noticing about the ads was that there was a brand of canned food called “Swastika Brand.” And yes, the cans all featured a swastika prominently displayed on the front. This was before the Nazi’s had come to power, so no one thought anything about it. I would imagine that food company changed its name a few years later (or went out of business).

People are surprised to find the symbol on old Persian rugs. The swastika dates back at least 5000 years and was used in India, China, and Africa. It can even be found in Native American culture. Does this mean it is as old as the ice age land bridge between Asia and North America, or is it simply a coincidence of shapes? The word swastika comes from the Sanskrit word svastika which means well-being. It was treated as a good luck symbol. Imagine how you would feel if some group as evil as the Nazis, decided to take over some symbol that your culture or religion revered. You would probably be outraged.

Whatever its origins, however important it was (and still is for some), the swastika has been forever tainted.

Star Liner

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