How The Swastika's Symbolism Was Ruined

On a 15,000-year-old ivory figure of a bird carved from mammoth tusk, the earliest recorded application of the swastika symbol—an equilateral cross with arms bent to the right at 90° angles—was found. The ancient engraving's design is comparable to one seen naturally on the mammoth, an animal that has long been revered as a symbol of fertility, and it is speculated that it was utilized for reproductive and health purposes. The emblem is thought to have been uplifting and life-encouraging from the very beginning. 

 

The current term for the icon is swastika, which means "conducive to well-being" in Sanskrit. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism have all used it as a symbol, Christianity has used it as a stylized cross, ancient Asian cultures have used it as a pattern in their art, Greek coinage, Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture, and Iron Age artefacts have all used it. 

 

Although the emblem has a long history of having a good connotation, its application in one particular cultural context—Nazi Germany—damaged it irreparably. The Nazi Party, also known as the National Socialist Party, which came to power in Germany the following decade, adopted the swastika as a symbol of Germany in 1920. It also served as the primary component of the Nazi Party's party flag. Associated with World War II, military brutality, fascism, and genocide by 1945 as a result of Nazi Germany's desire to conquer all of Europe under a totalitarian regime. 

 

The party selected the image to stand for its intention of racial purging across Europe. Hitler and his Nazi Party thought that the Aryan race—a term used to characterize Indo-European, Germanic, and Nordic peoples—had pure Germanic origins and that other, inferior races should be expelled from Europe. The swastika was frequently found on ancient Indian items originally possessed by Aryan nomads, and the symbol was appropriated from its murky historical context in the area to exert the dominance of so-called Aryan heritage. 

 

The swastika has come to be associated with racism and hatred since World War II. White supremacy organizations and contemporary incarnations of the Nazi Party commonly employ it. The usage of the insignia, along with other symbolism used by the party, has been made illegal in Germany.

 

Engineer and scientist Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American who made significant contributions to the field of electric power. Despite being regarded as a genius and holding multiple patents, he had an eccentric side that many people found challenging. One of Tesla's oddities was his love of pigeons. When he was a resident of New York, he used to spend hours every week feeding pigeons in the park and regularly brought any injured one’s home so he could treat them. 

 

He frequently left the windows open in the hotel suite where he resided so that pigeons could come and go as they pleased, creating a terrible mess. Even once, he requested that a hotel chef make a special seed mixture for his bird pals. Since Tesla was a well-known germaphobe, his friends puzzled over his fondness for pigeons.

 

Tesla never got married, but he acknowledged having a particular relationship with a white pigeon that came to see him frequently. He allegedly said, "She loved me, and I loved that bird like a man loves a woman. I had a reason to live as long as I had her. Tesla's bachelor existence was perhaps a result of his conviction that intimacy would obstruct his scientific investigations. He once remarked, "I don't think you can name many amazing ideas that have been developed by married men. 

 

Tesla claimed that the white pigeon visited him in his room in 1922 to inform him that she was passing away. He claimed that before the bird flew by, a white light emanated from her eyes that was brighter than any he had ever produced using his electrical apparatus. Tesla was devastated by her passing and admitted to friends that he felt his life's work had come to an end at that point.

 

One of Tesla's numerous eccentricities was pigeons. He had a number 3 obsession and had a variety of obsessive habits related to it. He would frequently walk around a building three times before entering, for instance, and wash his hands three times in succession. Tesla detested pearls as well and avoided speaking with ladies who wore them. Though some think these are symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder, the motivation behind these actions is still a mystery.