Subscribe

IDEAS

Hitler Never Used Swastika: Evangelical Defamation

Of Hindu Symbol  

by True Indology - Aug 1, 2018 11:20 PM

8K
SHARES

Adolf Hitler with Nazi party officials (1885-1946), circa 1937. (Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Snapshot
The English evangelists affiliated the hooked cross to swastika to hide the fact that
Nazism originated in Christian Socialism.

Introduction

In a Hindu household, a new car, irrespective of the model, sports this symbol of
prosperity with pride.

New houses, apartments, places of residence are anointed with this symbol of
prosperity and abundance.

Any auspicious ritual of Hindus, across the world, does not begin without
drawing this symbol.

So how has such a benedictory symbol as Swastika come to be associated with

Hitler, Nazis and genocide?
If no one else, this question must have at least bothered millions of Hindus who
would have definitely, at one point of time or another, had to defensively, almost
apologetically, clarify the difference between their beloved Swastika and Hitler’s
symbol.

Nobody seems to have questioned as to how could Hinduism, that accepts

myriad ways of worship and spiritual goals, that emphasises connectedness to
the extent of proclaiming that the entire world is our family, be even associated
with such a Nazi symbol. Not only did anybody question it, but it is apparent that
the world has been all too eager to promote this blatant ignorance.

In a recent instance, a News agency removed a picture of U.N. Ambassador Nikki

Haley with a Swastika seen behind her at a Hindu temple in Delhi because, in
their very words, ‘it was also used as a symbol by Nazi Germany’.

This post is an attempt to make people realise how such an incorrect and/ or
motivated interpretation of the past can be a bane for billions in the present.

We begin with few questions that need to be answered at the very outset.

Why is Swastika considered a racist and detestable symbol in today’s western

world?

It is because many people mistakenly think that Nazis used this symbol.

What was so bad about Nazis?

Nazis were anti-Semites who conducted genocide of 6 million Jews.

Where are the origins of Nazi antisemitism?

Of course, in the Bible!

Has anyone ever told you that? Read on.

Roots of Nazi Antisemitism: The Bible

Jews as God Killers

The New Testament, as we know it, is composed of 4 canonical Gospels: Mark,

Matthew, Luke and John.
According to the Gospel of Mark, which is the oldest Gospel, Jesus Christ was
crucified by Roman Governor Pontius Pilate at the instigation of a group of High-
Priests who are called Sanhedrin [1].

But nowhere within the gospel of Mark are “all jews” seen as an outside group.

Nowhere in the gospel of Mark are Jews held responsible as a group for the
“murder” of Christ.

In fact, it becomes clear in the earliest gospel that Christians were not yet
differentiated from Jews as a group/religion. We can still see the entire episode
as an intra Jewish struggle.

Now, let us see what later gospels have to say about “deicide” or murder of God.

In the Gospel of John, the word “Jews” as a group occurs in 63 instances [2]. In 38
of them, the connation is negative and derogatory[3]. In one instance, the Jewish
scripture was referred to as “your Torah”’(John 8.17).

This clearly indicates that by the time of the Gospel of John, the separation
between Christianity and Judaism has been complete(at least in the region where
the author lived).

In the Gospel of John, the Jews are referred to as Children of Devil (John 8.44) and
are collectively held responsible for deicide or “Murder of God”.

In the Gospel of Matthew (27.25), the Jews collectively say “his blood be upon us
and our children”.

We can safely mark these passages as the origin of antisemitism.

This was the scriptural warrant for denunciation of Jews for centuries as “God
killers”. This had far reaching consequences for centuries. Already in the fourth
century, Gregory of Nyssa denounced Jews as “Murderers of God and
...Confederates of Devil”.

Pope Saint Gregory I famously referred to Jews as “A Sanhedrin of Satans,

criminals, enemies of God and of all that is decent and beautiful[4].

Violent Church antisemitism: Proto-Nazism in medieval Christendom

Hitler was not the first self-proclaimed Christian(*) who violently persecuted
Jews. It was no surprise that the antisemitism assumed violent forms in the
medieval age. Institutional persecution of Jews was the norm in Christian
countries. The Medieval saint St. Louis encouraged Christians to thrust a good
sword into the Jewish belly as far as the sword will go[5]. Although this was
applicable to Jews who ridiculed Christian beliefs, it was put into practice
indiscriminately

Here are a few instances to illustrate this phenomenon.

During the Crusades, beginning in the 11th century, when Christian religious zeal
reached epic levels, thousands of Jews on the Rhine and the Danube were
massacred. Jews were accused of Kidnapping Christian Children (blood libel) and
lynched by Christian mobs. In 1349, Jews in Strasbourg were accused of
poisoning wells and 2000 Jews were burnt to death. Jews were often forcibly
expelled from their countries by pious Christian rulers.

Here is a Christian painting depicting the burning of Jews.

The Vatican Church was again the pioneer of Proto-Nazism. Pope innocent III of
Vatican convoked the Fourth Council of the Lateran. He ordered Jews to wear
circular badges and distinctive clothing[6]. This was re-enacted in the Nazi holocaust
of Jews.

Violent Protestant antisemitism

A good example of Christian antisemitism can be seen in the works of Martin

Luther who is the founder of Protestant Christianity. He wrote a 65,000 word
treatise named “on the Jews and their Lies”[7]

In his treatise, he wrote that

1) Jews are a base, whoring, miserable and accursed people

2) Jewish temple is an incorrigible whore and an evil slut

3) Jews are a heavy burden, a plague, a

Pestilence, a sheer misfortune for our country

4) They are Murderers of God

5) Jews have been blood thirsty bloodhounds and murderers of all Christendom

6) Devil brought Jews to Europe from Jerusalem

And so on

He advocated the following measures against Jews

Burn down Jewish synagogues and schools and warn people against them;

Refuse to let Jews own houses among Christians;

Jewish religious writings to be taken away;

Rabbis to be forbidden to preach;

Offer no protection to Jews on highways;

As the conclusion of his treatise, he advocated for genocide of Jews. He wrote-

“We are at fault for not slaying them”[8]

Luther quoted John 4.45 to support his claim that Jews were children of Devil.
The influence of Luther on Nazi antisemitism can be seen from the fact that
Hitler considered himself “second Luther” [9].

Luther was perhaps the most influential person of the entire medieval world. In
his own lifetime, protestant kingdoms were formed in his native German country
which followed his instructions. Luther spoke a dialect of German which had
minor importance. He translated Bible from Latin into his native dialect. Owing to
his influence, this dialect has today become Standard German. In Nazi Germany
of 1933, 65% of Germans followed Lutheran Protestant Christianity. 95% were
Christians [10].
What was the influence of Luther’s antisemitism on Nazis? On Luther’s birthday
(10th November 1938), Nazis went on a killing spree. They demolished 267
synagogues across Germany and Austria. The pogrom against Jews left 91 people
killed and 30,000 men incarcerated in concentration camps. These attacks are
seen by modern historians as the beginning of Holocaust.

Martin Sasse, a Nazi Party member and bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church, leading member of the Nazi German Christians, applauded the burnings
of Jews and published a compendium of Martin Luther's aforementioned treatise
on Jews after this incident.

Most Nazis identified their mission with that of Martin Luther. Erich Koch was a
Gauleiter (second highest Nazi Paramilitary rank). He was also the elected
president of Provincial Protestant Synod. He claimed that Nazis fought with the
spirit of Luther. Koch later played a leading role in the murder of thousands of
Jews in deportation camps.

In his excellent research citing many such examples of leading Nazis, Professor
Richard Steigmann of Kent State unity proves that Nazism originated in a
Christian frame of reference and understood their movement as a Christian
movement. As he shows, Church Historians retrospectively tried to portray
Nazism as a non-Christian moment and undermined the Christian roots of its
antisemitism.

In the words of leading Historian Jacob Katz “"Modern anti-Semitism turned out
to be a continuation of the premodern rejection of Judaism by Christianity”

It is thus clear that antisemitism had its origins in the canonical gospels and was
put into practice by Christian priests, rulers and lay followers across centuries
from Apostle John to the Nazis.

Thus far, we have looked into origins of antisemitism.

What was Hitler’s party symbol and where did he find it?

It is a common misconception that Hitler used the Swastika symbol. But Hitler
himself never used the word "Swastika" to refer to his symbol. He called it
“Hooked Cross”(“Haken Kreuz”).

Hitler first saw the Hooked Cross symbol in a Christian monastery (Lambach
Abbey) which he attended as a boy[11]. He later adopted it as an emblem for his
party. There is no evidence that he ever heard of the word “Swastika”. Hooked
Cross had been a sacred symbol of Christianity since its inception in ancient days
and it is very natural to find Hooked Cross symbol in old churches and chapels.
 Swastika in Lambach Abbey Christian monastery

The hooked cross was seen as a Christian symbol in Nazi Germany.

From 1933 onwards, Catholic schoolchildren in Catholic schools of Nazi Germany

were taught in their religious instruction about “the close affinity between Cross
and Hooked Cross”.

Nazi SA (Sturmabteilung) members, often with the approval of their Protestant

ministers, marched to worship in churches draped with the Hooked Cross[12].

Here is the image of the union of Cross and the Hooked Cross used by the
Churches in the Nazi era.
Hooked cross had nothing to do either with Hinduism or Swastika. It existed as
an important symbol of Christendom since its very existence. It was found on
early Christian Graves of Rome in 2rd century CE.
 Fresco from Via Latina Catacomb (2nd Century CE)

This fresco from Christian catacomb of Via Latina depicts Biblical prophet Moses
crossing the red sea. Notice the Hooked cross symbol on the tunic of Moses.
 Cross and hooked cross carved in walls of Lalibela Church

Unfortunately, the hooked cross symbol was identified with Swastika and the
antisemitism associated with the hooked cross has been falsely attributed to the
name and symbol of swastika.

What led to the false association of the Christian Hooked Cross with the
Hindu Swastika?

If you were to go through the English translations of Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”
an autobiography of Hitler”), you would find the mention of Swastika. Mein
Kampf was translated into English by James Murphy, an English Christian Priest.

The English evangelists were opponents of Nazis and they tried to portray Hitler
as a Pagan. The word Hooked Cross was conveniently translated as Swastika.
When Hitler became extremely unpopular, the Evangelist lobby associated the
Hooked Cross with Swastika to hide the fact that Nazism originated in Christian
Socialism[13].
Yet, it can be easily seen that Hooked Cross is NOT swastika. The Nazi hooked-
cross was generally tilted 45 degrees from the horizontal and always oriented in
the "S" letter direction for their "socialism" whereas Swastika sits flat to the base.

On the left, in the picture above, you can see the symbol that all Indic people,
irrespective of faiths, recognise as Swastika. A symbol that stands for the Sanskrit
words Su Astu or let there be good, both literally and figuratively.

It is to be noted that Swastika has never been associated with violence and
antisemitism.

On the contrary, swastika stands for peace and prosperity.

Swastika, in India, is also a symbol of extremely non-violent sects like Jainism

whose core principles enjoin their followers not to hurt a fly.

Jews do not have a history of antisemitism experienced at the hands of Hindus.

This substantiates that the Swastika does not have the history of violence and
antisemitism of hooked cross.

We hope you can see what has been done through a misleading sleight of hand.
The Hakenkreuz or the Hooked Cross has been cunningly translated into
Swastika and Hindus have been left to bear the cross of this distortion, both
figuratively and literally.

Today, when you use Google translate to find out the English translation of the
German word Hakenreuz, it gives Swastika instead of the Hooked Cross.

And if you were to search for Swastika, it gives Hakenkreuz.

An online miracle in translation has been performed that has made all trace of
the Hooked Cross disappear from the Hakenreuz!

We cannot immediately undo the years of bigotry that has come our way
through such dishonest tactics, but we can definitely ensure that the translation
is corrected. A Twitter user @AbhinavAgarwal has suggested a way to get the
translation right. Hope people take few minutes of their time and contribute
towards correcting the translation. This is a good time to show what a billion
united Indians can achieve.

All you need to do is go to https://translate.google.com/.

On the left side, choose ‘English’ and write ‘Swastika’ and on the right side
choose ‘German’ for translation. It will show ‘Hakenkeuz’.
On the bottom right , click on ‘suggest an edit’ and put the meaning as
Swastik and click on ‘contribute’.
Now on the left side choose ‘German’ and write ‘Hakenkreuz’ and on the
right side choose ‘English’ for translation. It will show ‘swastika’.
On the bottom right , click on suggest an edit and put the meaning as
Hooked Cross and click on ‘contribute’.
All of us can right this wrong of Swastika demonisation by correcting the
translation and raising awareness about Swastika’s centuries of association with
welfare and prosperity.

And for anyone who invokes the Nazi symbol for the Swastika, send them to the
Hooked Cross.

References

1. Mark 15.1-15.15
2. Reimund Bieringer and Didier Pollefeyt,Anti-Judaism and the Fourth Gospel, 
Westminster John Knox Press, 2001 pp.61-82, p.64
3. Ibid p.64
4. Michael, R, Christianity, antisemitism and Holocaust, Palgrave Macmillan US
2006, PP.15
5. Ibid PP.45
6. Britannica Encyclopedia - https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lateran-
Council-Roman-Catholicism
7. Martin Luther, on the jews and their lies
http://www.prchiz.pl/pliki/Luther_On_Jews.pdf
8. Ibid ,PP. 75
9. Michael Berenbaum, Ed A Mosaic of victims 1990
10. Richard Evans, The Third Reich In Power: Penguin, 2005
11. http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/party.htm
12. Michael, R, Christianity, antisemitism and Holocaust, Palgrave Macmillan US
2006

[13] I Am Your Negro: Adolf Hitler, by Dead Writers Club, Ian Tinny

(*) In the Mein Kampf, Hitler identifies himself as a Christian. There are some
reports that Hitler was not a fan of some aspects of Christian religion in private in
his later life (however, he again became a hard-core Christian at the end of his
life). Howsoever, that may be, it is clear that both the Hitler and the Nazis publicly
followed hard core Christianity. There is also no question that Nazis remained
overwhelmingly protestant.

Get Swarajya in your inbox everyday. Subscribe here.

Email Address

Sign Up

Tags: Jesus Christ, Christianity, Jews, Hindu, Nazi, Hitler, Bible, Swastika, 
Hooked Cross, 
 A Request...

Dear Reader,

As you are no doubt aware, Swarajya is, all in all, a reader-subscription-

backed business model and in order to make sure we build a media
platform with only the best interests of India at heart, we need your
backing.

And in challenging times like this, we need your support now more than
ever—to continue bringing you stories that are often shrugged off.

For us to invest in quality reporting and continue bringing you the right
stories, it takes a lot of time and money.

Partner with us, be a patron or a subscriber. We need your support,

throughout.

Become A Patron

Become A Subscriber

Comments

Advertisement

Latest Articles

1
 Economy Revival Leads To Covid-19 Spike: Four New Priorities For
Modi, Including Amnesty For ‘Our SOBs’

2 #FabInIndia: Why Creating Demand For Chips Is Key To Boosting

Semiconductor Manufacturing 

3 Indian Railways Invites Private Players To Run 151 Trains On 109

Routes

4 Two-Wheeler Sales Surge On Buoyant Rural Economy, Covid-19 Fears

5 For The First Time, Microplastics Have Been Found In Fresh Fruits And
Vegetables; How Does It Affect Us?

6
 Prime Minister Oli Has Reached A Dead-End, His Ouster Seems
Imminent

7 Economy Recovering To Pre-Covid Levels Won’t Be Enough, Since That

Itself Was Slowdown Time

8 Explained: China's New National Security Law Sounds Death Knell Of

Hong Kong's Freedoms Under One Country Two Systems

About Swarajya

Swarajya - a big tent for liberal right of centre discourse that reaches out, engages and caters to the new India.

editor@swarajyamag.com

Useful Links

About Us Gift Swarajya

Subscriptions Support Privacy Policy
Editorial Philosophy Terms of Use
Press Kit Code of Conduct
Fact Check Plagiarism Policy
Refund & Cancellation Policy

Participate

Contact Us
Write for us
Style Guide
Jobs

Stay Connected
Copyright: Swarajya. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by Quintype