Fascist Symbolism - Nazism (Germany)

Nazism (Germany)

The nature of German fascism, as encapsulated in Nazism was similar to Italian Fascism ideologically and borrowed symbolism from the Italian Fascists such as the use of mass rallies, the straight-armed Roman salute, and the use of pageantry. Nazism was different from Italian Fascism in that it was explicitly racist in nature. Its symbol was the swastika, at the time a commonly seen symbol in the world that had experienced a revival in use in the western world in the early 20th century. German völkisch nationalists claimed the swastika was a symbol of the Aryan Race (essentially a race of caucasians with no ties to other races) who they claimed were the foundation of the German civilization and were superior to all other races.

As the Italians Fascists adapted elements of their ethnic heritage to fuel a sense of nationalism by use of symbolism, so did Nazi Germany. Turn of the century German mystic and author Guido von List was a big influence on Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, who introduced various ancient Germanic symbols (filtered through von List's writings) most thoroughly into the Schutzstaffel, including the stylized double Sig Rune (von List's then-contemporary Armanen rune version of the ancient sowilo rune) for the organization itself.

The black-white-red tricolour of the German Empire was utilized as the colour scheme of the Nazi flag. The colour brown was the identifying colour of Nazism, due to it being the colour of the SA paramilitaries (also known as Brownshirts).

Other historical symbols that were already in use by the German Army to varying degrees prior to the Nazi Germany, such as the wolfsangel and totenkopf, were also used in a new, more industrialized manner on uniforms and insignia.

Although the swastika was a popular symbol in art prior to the regimental use by Nazi Germany and has a long heritage in many other cultures throughout history and although many of the symbols used by the Nazis were ancient or commonly used prior to the advent of Nazi Germany, because of association with Nazi use, the swastika is often considered synonymous with Nazism and some of the other symbols still carry a negative post-World War II stigma in some Western countries, to the point where some of the symbols are banned from display altogether.