"Which Way Am I Spinning?" --
Debunking
the Nazi "Backwards Swastika" Myth
By http://www.jrbooksonline.com JR's Rare Books and
Commentary August 2001
The 20th Century subjected us to tons of
nonsense, shibboleth, hypocrisy, half-truths and downright lies on so many
things, but most sharing one overriding theme: the bringing-down of traditional
White culture and the dissolution of White sensibilities. This attack assumed a myriad of forms. Since
All of this was news to generations of objective
scholars of European history, but such scholars didn't control the mass media,
which had the power to lie as it pleased.
A few unprincipled academics could always be counted on to spice the
stew by giving an air of authenticity.
Even A.J.P. Taylor started out this way, but later changed his tune in
the face of unimpeachable evidence.
One little Big Lie making the rounds in recent
decades is the idea that Hitler and the National Socialists of Germany meanly exploited
the ancient swastika symbol by "turning it backwards" to produce some
sort of magical effect. The assertion
goes something like this:
The swastika was originally
a wonderful, holy symbol for people all around the world. The swastika was usually turned to the right,
sun-wise, to symbolize good luck. Then
the Nazis came and exploited it, turning it backwards to symbolize hate
and destruction as a magical means to world conquest. Ever since, the swastika has meant evil to
people all around the world, regardless of direction, so now we have to get
back at the Nazis by writing endless articles in New Age journals and websites,
exposing them for what they really were.
Note the use of the old fly-blown "Germans are
trying to take over the world" ruse, which got a good start in WW I, and
really went into full gear for the Second War to Kill White People. Further note the use of "Nazi" to
mean any White person with a sense of hegemony and self-purpose for his
race. The claim is that the Nazi way is
anti-sun-wise and evil, and that the Nazis (esp. Hitler) knew this,
implementing it to make themselves as nasty as possible. The problem is not whether sun-wise indicates
good or bad luck, (it is definitely good) but rather which swastika
direction is to be considered sun-wise.
Read past that part too quickly, and you miss it. They make it sound so self-evident: "everybody knows that..." Their usually extensive historical footnotes
tend to thin out markedly right around this point.
These
ideas are often accompanied by clever graphics such as the following, which I
pinched from one such site:
[All such images are used here per Fair Use, 17
U.S.C. §107, for the purpose of criticism, comment and scholarly research]
deasil withershins
sun-wise anti-sun-wise
toward God away
from God
lucky unlucky
good evil
right-hand (path) left-hand
(path)
On the left image, I've filled in some other common
terms. Notice all those impressive,
polysyllabic words. Who could question
that? Words only an "expert" could
use. The right image is a mnemonic
device meant to show how the direction should be ascertained. {NOTE 1}
But what do pre-WW II academic books say about the
subject of swastikas and which way they're "turning"? I took just one quick look at the first book
I plucked from my library, and I found a story quite different from that being
pushed by the current batch of Culture Destroyers.
I found The Phœnician
Origin of Britons, Scots & Anglo-Saxons by L. A. Waddell, 1924. It has numerous pictures of archeological
objects that have swastikas on them – all before a Nazi ever existed. I looked into what this old English professor
thought of the "direction" of the swastika, and its probable meaning. I found and counted every single instance of
the swastika in the book. I was not
"selective", in some pejorative sense. The criteria was that it had to be
unambiguously a swastika, wheel-shaped with legs indicating direction (they
varied from 2 to 8 legs). The legs could
be long, short, straight or curved. This
includes the so-called Scottish Swastika (Z lying down) and Sun-wheels. I did not include spirals in the count,
though Waddell also used spirals to determine the significance of direction
relative to mythical figures to establish context. He found them consistent with the swastikas
as to direction.
Just for completeness, I will show images to
establish what the Nazi direction was.
Of course, no one contests this; it is included here to facilitate
immediate visual comparison. Although early
DAP and NSDAP swastikas could go either way, it was decided by Hitler about
1920 as shown and never wavered thereafter.
Just a few examples from actual NSDAP artifacts:
Since the Nazi direction is certain, now let's move
on to Waddell and compare. Please note
that I use the terms "Nazi" and "non-Nazi" as short-hand to
designate direction. I am not implying
"Nazis" were around thousands of years ago:
TABULATION FROM WADDELL'S PHOENICIAN
ORIGIN -- SWASTIKAS
|
Page |
Figure |
Nazi |
Non-Nazi
|
Comments |
|
3 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
Sun priestess carrying sacred fire |
|
15 |
5A |
1 |
0 |
Wigtownshire monument |
|
20 |
5B |
1 |
1 |
Scottish 2-leg + solar symbol |
|
29 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
Newton Stone transcript |
|
149 |
24 |
3 |
0 |
"Trojan" solar shrine |
|
238 |
31 (b, c, e, f) |
2 |
3 |
Trojan amulet whorls. (a) ambiguous. f/n for (b):
"…Note reversed swastika [non-Nazi] for resurrecting or returning Sun". |
|
239 |
32 (h) |
1 |
0 |
|
|
285 |
44 (e, h) |
0 |
2 |
Sunwheel over horse; Hawk motif |
|
294 |
46 (l2,v,w,x,J,J',N,O) |
8 |
0 |
Various symbols. (J) [Nazi] "very common" |
|
295 |
47 (T,U,X,E',H',J2, |
7 |
1 |
Various symbols. (H2) ambiguous. (X) [Nazi]
"Newton Stone and common" |
|
310 |
50 |
1 |
0 |
Phoenician Gaza coin. "Note the darts show direction
of the rotation" [i.e., clockwise, also Nazi]. |
|
311 |
51 |
0 |
1 |
Scottish 2-leg [non-Nazi], "Resurrecting
Sun" with "Serpent of Death" |
|
316 |
53 (i) |
0 |
1 |
Indara's Cross on seals |
|
317 |
54 (h, i) |
1 |
1 |
"Andrew's Cross" motifs. (h) [Nazi]
"frequent", not (i) [non-Nazi] |
|
|
TOTALS |
30 |
10 |
|
NOTE: P. iii, Plate I and p. 308, fig. 49 not counted because they are covered by p. 29, fig. 6 and p. 295, fig. 47 (K3) respectively.
>
The first fact that springs from the pages of
Waddell is that, contrary to the assertions of the New Agers,
the Nazi way is the sun-wise, right-hand way! Waddell clearly shows that the
"Nazi" direction is associated with positive themes on the
objects. This direction is also much
more common – as we would expect in a civilized society, generally speaking, as
one is apt to find many objects meant to instill a sense of well-being among
the populace (thus, "God Bless This Home"). The non-sun-wise, less common direction was reserved for
death/resurrection, and thus was seen on funerary objects in graves. The references are in the above table under
Comments, and can be found elsewhere in the text. He mentions the theme in a few other places
(pp. 282-3, 310), but one place where he directly associates the
"spin" with meaning in the same paragraph occurs here:
"This [the Swastika] is formed
from the simple 'St. George's Cross' by adding to its free ends a bent foot, pointing in the
direction of the Sun's apparent movement across the heavens, i.e., towards the right
hand and
thus forming the 'Swastika' or what I call the 'Revolving Cross.' This discloses for the first time the real
origin and meaning of the Swastika Cross and its feet, and its talismanic usage
for good luck. This swastika form
of the Sun Cross occurs on early Hittite and Sumerian seals and sculptures and is very
frequent in the ruins of Troy (see Fig. J J') – where it is very
frequent on whorls, used especially as amulets for the dead, with the feet
reversed as the Resurrecting Cross." (pp.
293, 298).
[This
is an extract (partial view) of Fig. 46.
Full graphic is in the Graphics Folio]
This description of the sun-wise cross specifically refers to the
forms as shown in Fig. 46, (J) and (J'), so there is no question that he is referring to the
direction that is, in effect, the Nazi one.
Look for yourself on the graphic above.
This is consistent with the numerous references in the table where the
Nazi version is directly related to the sun-wise, clockwise aspect. Also, Fig. 54 (h, i) contrasts the two
directions, calling the Nazi one (h) "frequent", so we know that Waddell was concerned
about direction per se, not just form (shape). Fig. 31 (b) calls this non-Nazi whorl a "reversed swastika". Fig. 50 directly establishes the Nazi direction as
clockwise, and thus sun-wise. [See Graphics Folio]. This is diametrically opposed to the claims
of the post-WW II New Agers. The non-Nazi direction is only typical on
grave and funerary objects, where it is associated with death/resurrection and
the returning sun.
To address politics or secret agendas, Waddell was
anything but pro-German. Post-World War
British patriotism must have gotten the best of him, for he refers to
"round-headed non-Aryan Germanic or Hun stock of the East Coast and
So how can I trust him? Because I can see no way how these prejudices
could have influenced what he presented in the book, which was essentially a
survey listing of archeological objects in Phoenicia, Sumer, Britain and the
like, with few references to German sources, none in the Nazi era. He does not refer to Nazism at all; it is
entirely possible he may have not yet heard of it (the NSDAP began around 1919,
but was tiny through the mid-1920s).
Nowhere does he mention the swastika as part of any pan-German movement,
Nazi or not, nor does he seem concerned about representing the direction of
spin in any political context. Waddell
would certainly not have put his anti-Germanism to
work to help the Nazi cause!
One book, however comprehensive, does not make an
entire body of knowledge, so I decided to look at a few other things also handy
in the library. In The Secret of the
Runes (transl. by Stephen E. Flowers, 1988, orig.
pub. 1908), Guido von List shows various swastikas including those of the
heraldic type, almost all in the Nazi direction, and with positive aspect. He has an Armanic
rune (p. 65) for "gift" [English sense; German "gabe"] that is in the non-Nazi aspect, but he attaches
no significance at all to the direction, and assigns an ambiguous
meaning—he includes "death" along with "gift",
"god", "earth" and some others. And this from someone who was highly esoteric
from youth: "...a strong mysto-magical bent of no orthodox variety." (p. 1);
"...artistic and mystical leanings..." (p. 2) and who had written a
MS. (p. 17) entitled Armanismus und Kabbala and many other "mystery" and
"occult" works. According to
the introductory material, this book represents "virtually all of his
major themes" and "sets forth the full spectrum of his fantastic
vision of a mystical philosophy based on ancient Germanic principles";
"no other work so clearly and simply outlines his ideals on them [the
runes]". Indeed, von List is
designated "proto-Nazi" by the liberals, one who "made Hitler
possible". A disciple of von
List's, Dr. Friedrich Krohn, supposedly brought the
swastika to the attention of Hitler, who then "reversed" it.
Next, I looked at two old books with the title The
Migration of Symbols. MacKenzie covers the concept of luck being sun-wise, deasil vs. widdershins, etc. but
does not attach much importance to the direction of the swastika. However, when he does mention it (Plate I),
he clearly calls the Nazi one (II) a "right-hand swastika". The Nazi type is more common: 12 vs. 5.
D'Alviella, a Grand Master of Belgian
Freemasonry, was "now everywhere recognized as the greatest living
exponent" of symbols . . . "His classical work The Migration of
Symbols became thus one of the foundations of religious archeology"
[from intro]. D'Alviella
states up front:
"In
D'Alviella clearly linked the swastika
with solar motion, but seemed ambivalent about the meaning of the swastika
direction and its significance. At one
point he says:
"Another objection [to
the theory that the gammadion symbolizes the sun's motion] is, that a
certain number of gammadions have their branches turned towards the left,
that is to say, in the opposite direction to the apparent course of the solar
revolution. . .
. Would it not be simpler to admit that the direction of the branches is of
secondary importance in the symbolism of the gammadion? When it is desired to symbolize the progress
of the sun, namely, its faculty of translation through space, rather than the
direction in which it turns, little attention will have been paid to the
direction given to the rays." (pp. 67-68)
In any case, as with Waddell and MacKenzie,
the Nazi type predominates: 26 vs. 12 on
his Plate II. An occult significance is
not to be found.
The graphics related to MacKenzie
and d'Alviella are attached
here at the SUPPLEMENT.
And what about Hitler himself -- what did he ever
say about it? The only reference by Hitler
to the swastika's meaning is found in his Mein
Kampf, vol. 2, ch. vii,
where he says:
"Actually, a dentist
from Starnberg did deliver a design that was not bad
at all, and, incidentally, was quite close to my own, having only the one fault
that a swastika with curved legs was composed into a white disk.
. . . . . . . . .
"As National
Socialists, we see our program in our flag.
In red we see the social idea of the movement, in white the nationalistic idea, in
the swastika
the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man, and, by the same
token, the victory of the idea of creative work, which as such always has been
and always will be anti-Semitic." (Manheim transl. pp. 496-7)
No mention of spinning here! He didn't seem to give a hoot any more than
von List. Also, a positive aspect
is indicated. Of course, the anti-Hitlerites will interpret this simply as subterfuge on Herr
Hitler's part.
I'm sure all sorts of encyclopedias, books and
articles can be found to contradict this, but take a good look at the
publishing date – it will probably be after 1960 (certainly after WW II), and
thus thoroughly into the post-modern New Age mentality. {NOTE 2} {NOTE 3}
So, having hashed all this out, I can safely
conclude:
1. The Nazi swastika direction is identical
to the ancient sun-wise direction. (Proved by
association with positive mythical characters and context, as seen on a
preponderance of archeological artifacts).
This is directly opposite the current liberal interpretation.
2. The ancient sun-wise direction represents good luck. (Proved by frequency and association with the sun's apparent movement and positive mythical characters; linguistic analysis of Sanskrit; also, the opposite sense being less frequent and associated with negative mythical characters or death/resurrection symbols).
3. Therefore, the Nazi swastika direction represents good luck, not bad, and the New Agers are simply wrong to maintain otherwise. Obviously, all the other trappings that go along with their erroneous conclusions (use of evil for kabbalistic purposes to conquer the world, etc.), the whole house of cards, go out the door with it.
The New Agers use
neologism, anachronism, sophistry and every rhetorical and propagandistic trick
in the book to start with a pre-conceived conclusion, then work their way
backwards into history to make it fit – "The Nazis were evil
incarnate", therefore, they "must have" perverted the meaning of
an old symbol. But the evidence,
previously documented by sober scholars, says otherwise.
The burden of proof rests with the New Agers.
JR
NOTES:
1. Might this
be taken, perhaps subconsciously, from old newsreels of Nazi fireworks
displays? However, were the rockets
mounted as shown? I do not have a
picture of this. Regardless, there does
not seem to be any evidence that the Nazis gave importance to the spin
direction.
2. One
disappointing such exposition, just one of dozens that could be cited, is found
in Mythology: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1992. The article on Germany is written by
somebody called Francis King (ethnicity?) who also wrote Satan and Swastika
-- not a place to go for unbiased history.
Needless to say, it tends to be larded with contempt and withering
disdain toward its subject at certain key points. He gave a perfectly favorable write-up on Voodoo
in the same volume!
3.
In an article by Steve Sherman published in the New Hampshire Times,
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
The Phœnician Origin of
Britons, Scots & Anglo-Saxons by L. A. Waddell, LL.D. etc., 1924; facsimile
reprint by the Christian Book Club of America, Hawthorne, CA, 1983.
The Secret of the Runes, transl. and ed. by Stephen E.
Flowers, Ph.D., Destiny Books, Rochester, VT, 1988; orig. pub. as Das Geheimnis der Runen,
Guido-von-List-Bücherei No. 1, Vienna, Gross-Lichterfelde, P. Zillmann, 1908.
The Migration of Symbols [and their Relations to
Beliefs and Customs] by Donald A. MacKenzie, Alfred A. Knopf, NY,
1926.
The Migration of Symbols by the Count Goblet d'Alviella, University Books, NY, 1956; facsimile reprint
of the edition published at Westminster, 1894.
Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler, transl. by Ralph Manheim, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston,
1943, 1971; orig. pub. by Verlag Frz.
Eher Nachf, GmbH, 1925
(Vol. I) and 1927 (Vol. II).
Mythology: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, ed. by Richard Cavendish,
Little, Brown & Co., 1992.
Revs: NOTE 3 added