The History of the Swastika
Today, the swastika is typically identified with racism, hate, violence, death, and antisemitism due to the Nazis, however, its history shows that it was primitively a symbol for many other things, including life, the sun, power, good luck, and well-being. The word swastika comes from the Sanskrit svastika, which means “good fortune” or “well-being”. The swastika has been around for thousands of years, and some even say it is the oldest known symbol. It is thought to have first been used in Neolithic Eurasia, perchance depicting the movement of the sun through the sky. The symbol became sacred to the religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and is a common sight to see in places like India and Indonesia.
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That is mainly thanks to the Nazis and the German race as a whole. During the time of Adolf Hitler’s rule, and even sometime before then, the Germans viewed themselves as the “superior race”. Soon the idea that they needed to keep the race “pure” was brought about, and anti-Semitism followed (Black). The Thule Society, which was an anti-Semitic organization supporting the superiority of the German race, was founded at the end of World War I and used a swastika as its symbol (Black). Hitler thought that an efficacious symbol would get people’s attention and inspirit masses to support his racist cause (Black). A pennant was created, with a black swastika, or “hooked cross” as they called it, on a white circle against a red background (Black). In Hitler’s book Mein Kampf, he took full credit for the design and tried to give a meaning to it: “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.” (Black). The swastika became the visual identity of the Nazi movement (Black). When they took control in 1933, the use of the symbol insinuated every feature of German life (Black). The pennant became the official flag of the country in 1935, and can still be seen in some places, including on the mosaic ceiling tiles at Hitler’s Haus der Kunst in Munich
What I want to know about the swastika is why many people think negatively about the swastika. I also want to know why Adolf Hitler used the swastika symbol in his Nazi Party, and what
The Holocaust has become the worst event in human history but why did it happen? Mein Kampf was written by who many would consider one of the evilest men to walk the earth; a man whose ideas committed one of the worst crimes in all of the man kinds history on this earth. Adolf Hitler with only his voice took the lives of millions of homosexuals, gypsies, blacks, disabled people and most of all Jewish people just for not being a part of what he viewed as the perfect race. Mein Kampf was used as an outline for the Holocaust and used against the already hurting Germany to effectively execute on of the vilest acts in history.
The swastika, or twisted cross, is an ancient symbol that architects have found on pottery and coins dating back as far as 1000 BC (Rosenberg). Cultures used the swastika to represent life, sun, power, strength, and good luck (Rosenberg). The swastika was used by many cultures around the world, but th...
The Nazi Party, controlled by Adolf Hitler, ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945. In 1933, Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany and the Nazi government began to take over. Hitler became a very influential speaker and attracted new members to his party by blaming Jews for Germany’s problems and developed a concept of a “master race.” The Nazis believed that Germans were “racially superior” and that the Jewish people were a threat to the German racial community and also targeted other groups because of their “perceived racial inferiority” such as Gypsies, disabled persons, Polish people and Russians as well as many others. In 1938, Jewish people were banned from public places in Germany and many were sent to concentration camps where they were either murdered or forced to work. Many individuals and groups attempted to resist Nazism in Germany, but were unsuccessful. The White Rose, The Red Orchestra and the Kreisau Circle all advocated non-violent resistance to oppose the Nazi regime and even with the high risk of getting caught and potentially killed, the courageous members of these groups went after what they believed was right despite the serious consequences.
The films The Searchers and Avatar both make use of the master narratives of regulating social order and disorder. One is used as a way to reinforce this narrative, while the latter is shaped more towards critiquing the overall of ideal of the American social order. The struggle presented by an external threats in both films give the opportunity of interpreting and contrasting the master narrative and the effects that can come from imbalances in social orders.
The Confederate flag was a battle flag and it has many varied meanings of what it represents throughout history. People think that it represents racism and slavery, because it was flown in Southern states, which during the time Southern states promoted slavery in the Civil war. Today’s society would see the Confederate flag being flown in Texas as an act of racism not as Texas history and freedom of states. People would retaliate and try to take down the flag, if it were to be flown in Texas as they do not know the true meaning of the Confederate flag. The Confederate meaning is a group of states coming together that have gained independence and freedom. The Confederate flag should not be flown in Texas, while it has so much history in the
“I'm a romantic; a sentimental person thinks things will last, a romantic person hopes against hope that they won't.” F. Scott Fitzgerald said this and it is very apparent that he feels this way in The Great Gatsby. In this novel filled with the experiences of a group of supercilious, rich, white people, Fitzgerald shows this with the many symbols he uses throughout the novel. Among the most arresting are the Green Light at the end of the Buchanan’s dock, which Gatsby envies for, the color white, which deceives readers with Daisy’s deceitful beauty, and the Eyes of T.J. Eckleburg, which sees all wrong done by the characters.
Each and every individual country has its own ideologies, economies, and ways of governing. In the early 1900’s Italy had developed its own ideology that had a huge impact on the lives of the Italian people. This ideology was known as Fascism. Fascism was not only a way of governing, but it was also known as a social organization. Fascism became what it was in response to the movement of social theories. There is much more behind the idea of fascism such as where it came from, who the creator of Fascism was, and why it was popular among many civilians.
When we heard about fascism, Germany and Italy enter our mind on the basis of the fact that these countrie's leaders caused the worst results which affected nearly all World.Today, however, most people believe that fascism is not a threat any more and there will be no leader who may like Mussolini or Adolf Hitler but I highly consider that fascism still pose a danger and in Europe the new fascist leaders may rise like in Turkey.But what is Fascism and leaders are really playing an important role ? I think firstly we should answer these questions.Fascism may refer to general social movement of right wing revolutionary conservatism in Europe.The term ''fascist'' was first applied to a political movement which combine ultranationalism with hostility and conservatism by Mussolini in 1919.The first fascist movements occured in Italy during World War I and it united right wing positions and elements of left wing politics.Fascists seek to bring together their nation through a totalitarian state which developed the huge mobilization of the national community.
Once considered taboo, tattoos have shed the social outcast stigma once associated with getting inked. One might even say tattoos have become trendy.
After Germany lost World War I, it was in a national state of humiliation. Their economy was in the drain, and they had their hands full paying for the reparations from the war. Then a man named Adolf Hitler rose to the position of Chancellor and realized his potential to inspire people to follow. Hitler promised the people of Germany a new age; an age of prosperity with the country back as a superpower in Europe. Hitler had a vision, and this vision was that not only the country be dominant in a political sense, but that his ‘perfect race’, the ‘Aryans,’ would be dominant in a cultural sense. His steps to achieving his goal came in the form of the Holocaust. The most well known victims of the Holocaust were of course, the Jews. However, approximately 11 million people were killed in the holocaust, and of those, there were only 6 million Jews killed. The other 5 million people were the Gypsies, Pols, Political Dissidents, Handicapped, Jehovah’s witnesses, Homosexuals and even those of African-German descent. Those who were believed to be enemies of the state were sent to camps where they were worked or starved to death.
Post September 11, 2001 the life of a Muslim women living in America changed forever. Islamophobia is the prejudice against Islam or Muslims. Islamophobia is not a new concept, it has roots hundreds of years ago, however after 9/11 it became much more prevalent in America. Following 9/11 Western media used Islam and Muslim women who covered to inflict fear in American citizens. Western media framed Islam as a dangerous and hateful religion that needed to be stopped. At the same time the media became obsessed with Muslim women who veiled and wanted to save these women from their oppression. However, these articles written about the oppressed Muslim women did not feature Muslim women and their experiences veiling. They were not given a voice
Looking at the world today there are many different traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation, but one tradition that seems to get overlooked and miss interpreted is tattoos. Tattoos have been a way of life for many years and have many different meaning to different countries, races, and social groups. Tattoos have been given to many different age groups of people in many different ways such as nails, sticks, bamboo, barracuda teeth, and many of other different tools that have been passed down throughout time. Most people think that tattoos only express people’s feelings in negative ways but there are many more important meanings for most people’s tattoos and it changes from culture to culture. This paper will discuss the history behind tattoos, and the cultural significance from several different cultures. It will address the American point of view in comparison with these other cultures.
Adolf Hitler’s mind was in many ways “complicated.” He was known to have suffered many illnesses ranging from hypertension, headaches, problems with his vision, to abdominal spasms. All of these sicknesses and disabilities could have caused him to not think “clearly,” but the list of his issues goes on and it is believed by some that they are the root cause for the Holocaust and the inhumane actions of Hitler. Hitler growing up unrecognized and insignificant caused him to create a growing need for attention, recognition, and power and these needs only continued to increase with age, but with age came these physical problems and psychological problems such as sadism, anti-Semitism, and national socialism (Nazism). Hitler developed power, but used it for awful things that cannot be blamed on him hearing noises and other “illnesses” he had.
Islam is a monotheistic religion and has been world’s fastest spreading religion. The religion Islam is originated in the seventeenth century by an Arabian prophet called Muhammad in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Seventeenth century was period of slavery and cold war. Islam is an Arabic word which means submission and it basically means submission to god and realizing his power. The followers of Islam is called Muslims. The meaning of Muslim is to surrender and it basically means surrender themselves to Prophet Muhammad and by obeying his instruction they can surrender to Allah. The scared text of Islam is Quran. Major Islamic branches include Shiite Islam (Shia) and Sunni Islam. They belief that to achieve heaven they need to fulfill five pillars of Islam which include creed (shahadha), prayer (salah), almsgiving (Zakat), fasting (sawm) and pilgrimage (hajj). The various aspects of Islam can be further discussed through Muhammad life, Quran, hijrah, core beliefs of Muslim, contributions of Islam, and by discussing how it is related to western civilization.