[runes] relate to either Germanic characters or Finnish poems

[Ken Blake]

Within a few days most of the French and even some international newspapers
joined in, and walls and road surfaces in the area were daubed with
swastikas, SS runes, and Peiper's name.
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/lt-col-joachim-peiper-grisly-death-after-battle-of-the-bulge/

Apparently "runes" relate to either Germanic characters or Finnish poems.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/runes
: any of the characters of any of several alphabets used by the Germanic peoples from about the 3rd to the 13th centuries
: MYSTERY, MAGIC
[Finnish runo, of Germanic origin; akin to Old Norse run]
: a Finnish or Old Norse poem

But what does that have to do with Nazi swastikas?
https://www.google.com/search?q=runes+nazi+swastica

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_symbolism
Letters of the Armanen runes invented by Guido von List
were used by the SS, particularly the Doppel Siegrune,
based on the historical sowilo rune reinterpreted by List
to signify 'victory' instead of the sun.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sowil%C5%8D_(rune)
Sowilo, meaning "sun", is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic
language name of the s-rune.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rune
A rune is a letter in a set of related alphabets known
as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples.

Runes were used to write Germanic languages before they adopted the
Latin alphabet, and for specialised purposes thereafter. In addition
to representing a sound value (a phoneme), runes can be used to
represent the concepts after which they are named (ideographs).

[Peter Moylan]

Post by Ken Blake
Apparently "runes" relate to either Germanic characters or Finnish poems.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/runes
: any of the characters of any of several alphabets used by the Germanic peoples from about the 3rd to the 13th centuries
: MYSTERY, MAGIC
[Finnish runo, of Germanic origin; akin to Old Norse run]
: a Finnish or Old Norse poem
But what does that have to do with Nazi swastikas?

The swastika is an ancient symbol, used in many cultures before the
Nazis adopted it.

I've been told that the special feature of the Nazi swastika is that it
is back-to-front compared with the traditional swastika. Other sources,
though, contradict this, saying that both directions can be found in
various cultures.

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Post by Peter Moylan

Post by Ken Blake
Apparently "runes" relate to either Germanic characters or Finnish poems.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/runes
: any of the characters of any of several alphabets used by the
Germanic peoples from about the 3rd to the 13th centuries
: MYSTERY, MAGIC
[Finnish runo, of Germanic origin; akin to Old Norse run]
: a Finnish or Old Norse poem
But what does that have to do with Nazi swastikas?

The swastika is an ancient symbol, used in many cultures before the
Nazis adopted it.
I've been told that the special feature of the Nazi swastika is that it
is back-to-front compared with the traditional swastika. Other sources,
though, contradict this, saying that both directions can be found in
various cultures.

To judge from a programme about Nazi Germany that we saw recently, both
directions occurred in Nazi usage (but I may not have been looking
clsely enough).

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden
To judge from a programme about Nazi Germany that we saw recently, both
directions occurred in Nazi usage (but I may not have been looking
clsely enough).

Of course. A flag has two sides.

[J. J. Lodder]

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden

Post by Peter Moylan

Post by Ken Blake
Apparently "runes" relate to either Germanic characters or Finnish poems.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/runes
: any of the characters of any of several alphabets used by the
Germanic peoples from about the 3rd to the 13th centuries
: MYSTERY, MAGIC
[Finnish runo, of Germanic origin; akin to Old Norse run]
: a Finnish or Old Norse poem
But what does that have to do with Nazi swastikas?

The swastika is an ancient symbol, used in many cultures before the
Nazis adopted it.
I've been told that the special feature of the Nazi swastika is that it
is back-to-front compared with the traditional swastika. Other sources,
though, contradict this, saying that both directions can be found in
various cultures.

To judge from a programme about Nazi Germany that we saw recently, both
directions occurred in Nazi usage (but I may not have been looking
clsely enough).

The standard nazi flag has a counter-clockwise rotation.
It is said to have been designed by Hitler himself.
(using the red, white and black of the imperial flag)

The clock-wise one is just a mistake, in this context.
The much older Indian ones usually rotate the other way,
(good, according to them)

Jan

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

Post by Ken Blake
Within a few days most of the French and even some international newspapers
joined in, and walls and road surfaces in the area were daubed with
swastikas, SS runes, and Peiper's name.
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/lt-col-joachim-peiper-grisly-death-after-battle-of-the-bulge/
Apparently "runes" relate to either Germanic characters or Finnish poems.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/runes
: any of the characters of any of several alphabets used by the Germanic peoples from about the 3rd to the 13th centuries
: MYSTERY, MAGIC
[Finnish runo, of Germanic origin; akin to Old Norse run]
: a Finnish or Old Norse poem
But what does that have to do with Nazi swastikas?
https://www.google.com/search?q=runes+nazi+swastica

Runes and the swastika are all symbols from ancient Germanic times, and
that time was ideal to the nazis.

I associate runes with Scandinavia where they can be found on stones
(runesten).

PS. Carlsberg used the swastika as a symbol, but they stopped in 1940.
There were bottles around afterwards with the symbol.

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