Origins of the Swastika Flag (Third Reich, Germany)

Hakenkreuzflagge

Last modified: 2005-09-10 by santiago dotor
Keywords: third reich | nationalsocialist | nsdap | swastika | hakenkreuz | disc (white) | cross: swastika (black) | order of the new templars | templar | cross: swastika (red) | fleurs-de-lis: 4 (red) |
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by António Martins and Mark Sensen

• Origins of the Swastika Flag
• Origins of the Colours
• Swastika Symbolism
• Left-handed Swastika Legend
• Order of the New Templars 1907

See also:

• National Socialist German Worker's Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei / NSDAP / Nazi Party)
• Third Reich 1933-1945
• Germany
• Other flags displaying swastikas

Other sites:

• The Swastika at the Symbols.com Encyclopedia

Excerpted from Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler, 1923:

The organization of our monitor troop clarified a very important question. Up till then the movement had no party insignia and no party flag. The absence of such symbols not only had momentary disadvantages, but was intolerable for the future (...) party comrades lacked any outward sign of their common bond (...) [Hitler then writes about how he attended a mass Marxist demonstration:] a sea of red flags, red scarves, and red flowers (...)

I have, in our movement, always upheld the standpoint that it is a true good fortune for the German nation to have lost the old flag (...) from the bottom of our hearts we should thank Fate for having been gracious enough to preserve the most glorious war flag of all time from being used as a bedsheet for the most shameful prostitution. The present-day Reich, which sells itself and its citizens, must never be permitted to fly the black, white and red flag of honour and heroes...

The question of the new flag —that is, its appearance— occupied us intensely in those days. From all sides came suggestions (...) the new flag had to be equally a symbol of our own struggle, since on the other hand it was expected also to be highly effective as a poster (...) an effective insignia can in hundreds of thousands of cases give the first impetus towards interest in a movement. For this reason we had to reject all suggestions of identifying our movement through a white flag with the old state (...) white is not a stirring colour. It is suitable for chaste virgins' clubs, but not for world-changing movement