All the symbols depicted in the hate symbols database must be evaluated in the context in which they appear. Few symbols represent just one idea or are used exclusively by one group. For example, 100% is often used as an amount or an expression and it is also used by some white supremacists as shorthand for "100% white." Similarly, other symbols in this database may be significant to people who are not extreme or racist. The descriptions here point out significant multiple meanings but may not be able to relay every possible meaning of a particular symbol.
The swastika is an ancient symbol that emerged independently among many cultures on several continents. Before the 20th century, its use (including in the United States) was almost always benign. Even today, the swastika is a common religious and secular symbol across Asia, used by adherents of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, as well as other people, where it is often associated with its Sanskrit meaning of good fortune.
However, in the early 20th century, various right-wing adherents of the so-called “völkisch” movement in Germany, a nationalist movement in large part dedicated to uncovering a romanticized and largely mythical German/Aryan past, adopted the swastika (“hakenkreuz” in German) as one of their symbols. The use of the swastika in this context subsequently influenced Adolf Hitler to adopt the swastika as the primary symbol for the Nazi Party in 1920. The murderous legacy of the Nazi regime and its mass killings, especially the Holocaust, permanently converted the swastika into a symbol of hate, antisemitism and infamy.
Since 1945, the swastika has served as the most significant and notorious of hate symbols, antisemitism and white supremacy for most of the world outside of Asia. Its display is prohibited in Germany and some other countries, leading some right-wing extremists to devise variants or alternatives to the swastika that would evoke a similar effect. In the United States, the swastika is overwhelmingly viewed as a hate symbol.
The swastika as adopted by the Nazis has “arms” that hook to the right; later white supremacists maintained this tradition. However, people not actually that familiar with white supremacist iconography will sometimes—as when spray-painting graffiti—forget what a swastika is supposed to look like and render it backwards or otherwise incorrectly. The swastika, along with the letters “KKK” and the numbers “666,” is one of the most common forms of “shock” graffiti in the United States, typically spray-painted by juveniles who are not actually white supremacists but primarily want to use the image to shock and alarm people. Swastika graffiti or imagery is also sometimes used to label or portray others as Nazis, rather than indicating sympathy towards Nazism or hate on the part of the perpetrator.
Among white supremacists, the swastika is a very common symbol, rendered in different variations and often combined with other hate symbols. The most common swastika variant is a round or curved swastika. Since the release of “American History X,” a favorite movie of white supremacists, some male white supremacists have gotten swastika tattoos on their left breast in imitation of the main character in that movie. One trend seen most often in California among members of white power or “peckerwood” gangs is the popularity of large outline swastika tattoos on backs or torsos.
Though the dominant context for the swastika in the United States in the 21st century is as a hate symbol, care must be taken not to construe a hateful intent from swastikas that appear in other contexts, such as historical, cultural or religious contexts. Prior to the rise of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, swastikas were fairly common symbols in the U.S., used in building design and decorating, fabric patterns and even in advertising. Moreover, even today, Hindu, Buddhist or Jain temples in the U.S. may feature swastikas in one form or another; such appearances are innocuous and without any hateful meaning.
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