Sejarah Logo Swastika

In the wake of widespread popular usage, the Nazi Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) formally adopted the swastika (in German: Hakenkreuz (hook-cross)) in 1920. This was used on the party's flag (right), badge, and armband. It had also been used unofficially by its predecessor, the German Workers Party, Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (DAP).[citation needed]In his 1925 work Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler wrote that:I myself, meanwhile, after innumerable attempts, had laid down a final form; a flag with a red background, a white disk, and a black swastika in the middle. After long trials I also found a definite proportion between the size of the flag and the size of the white disk, as well as the shape and thickness of the swastika.When Hitler created a flag for the Nazi Party, he sought to incorporate both the swastika and "those revered colors expressive of our homage to the glorious past and which once brought so much honor to the German nation." (Red, white, and black were the colors of the flag of the old German Empire.) He also stated: "As National Socialists, we see our program in our flag. 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, and, by the same token, the victory of the idea of creative work."[46]The swastika was also understood as "the symbol of the creating, acting life" (das Symbol des schaffenden, wirkenden Lebens) and as "race emblem of Germanism" (Rasseabzeichen des Germanentums) [47].The use of the swastika was associated by Nazi theorists with their conjecture of Aryan cultural descent of the German people. Following the Nordicist version of the Aryan invasion theory, the Nazis claimed that the early Aryans of India, from whose Vedic tradition the swastika sprang, were the prototypical white invaders. It was also widely believed that the Indian caste system had originated as a means to avoid racial mixing.[citation needed] The concept of racial purity was an ideology central to Nazism, though it is now considered unscientific. For Rosenberg, the Aryans of India were both a model to be imitated and a warning of the dangers of the spiritual and racial "confusion" that, he believed, arose from the close proximity of races. Thus, they saw fit to co-opt the sign as a symbol of the Aryan master race. The use of the swastika as a symbol of the Aryan race dates back to writings of Emile Burnouf. Following many other writers, the German nationalist poet Guido von List believed it to be a uniquely Aryan symbol.

Swastika merupakan salah satu simbol yang paling disucikan dalam tradisi Hindu, merupakan contoh nyata tentang sebuah simbol religius yang memiliki latar belakang sejarah dan budaya yang kompleks sehingga hampir mustahil untuk dinyatakan sebagai kreasi atau milik sebuah bangsa atau kepercayaan tertentu.Diyakini sebagai salah satu simbol tertua di dunia, telah ada sekitar 4000 tahun lalu (berdasarkan temuan pada makam di Aladja-hoyuk, Turki), berbagai variasi Swastika dapat ditemukan pada tinggalan-tinggalan arkeologis ( koin, keramik, senjata, perhiasan atau pun altar keagamaan) yang tersebar pada wilayah geografis yang amat luas.

Simbol ini, yang dikenal dengan berbagai nama seperti misalnya Tetragammadion di Yunani atau Fylfot di Inggris, menempati posisi penting dalam kepercayaan maupun kebudayaan bangsa-bangsa kuno, seperti bangsa Troya, Hittite, Celtic serta Teutonic. Simbol ini dapat ditemukan pada kuil-kuil Hindu, Jaina dan Buddha maupun gereja-gereja Kristen (Gereja St. Sophia di Kiev, Ukrainia, Basilika St. Ambrose, Milan, serta Katedral Amiens, Prancis), mesjid-mesjid Islam ( di Ishafan, Iran dan Mesjid Taynal, Lebanon) serta sinagog Yahudi Ein Gedi di Yudea.Swastika pernah (dan masih) mewakili hal-hal yang bersifat luhur dan sakral, terutama bagi pemeluk Hindu, Jaina, Buddha, pemeluk kepercayaan Gallic-Roman (yang altar utamanya berhiaskan petir, swastika dan roda), pemeluk kepercayaan Celtic kuna (swastika melambangkan Dewi Api Brigit), pemeluk kepercayaan Slavia kuno (swastika melambangkan Dewa Matahari Svarog) maupun bagi orang-orang Indian suku Hopi serta Navajo (yang menggunakan simbol itu dalam ritual penyembuhan). Jubah Athena serta tubuh Apollo, dewa dan dewi Yunani, juga kerap dihiasi dengan simbol tersebut.Di pihak yang lain, Swastika juga menempati posisi sekuler sebagai semata-mata motif hiasan arsitektur maupun lambing entitas bisnis, mulai dari perusahaan bir hingga laundry.Bahkan, swastika juga pernah menjadi simbol dari sebuah kekejaman tak terperi saat Hitler menggunakannya sebagai perwakilan dari superioritas bangsa Arya. Jutaan orang Yahudi tewas di tangan para prajurit yang dengan bangga mengenakan lambang swastika (Swastika yang “sinistrovere”: miring ke kiri sekitar 45 derajat) di lengannya.