2008 Woodie Awards
Swastika contains complex history
The swastika was not always seen as a symbol of hate and anti-Semitism
Aaron Swenson
Issue date: 2/11/08 Section: News
The English language can be difficult to comprehend.
The small and seemingly simple word "set" has 194 different meanings in the dictionary.
A single worldly definition for swastika is also hard to decipher.
While it is one of the most recognized symbols around the globe, there are both a number of denotative and connotative meanings to the word.
It can represent the cycle of reincarnation or rebirth in the religious practices of Buddhism, Hinduism, Jinism and Sikhism. In some cultures it can signify good luck, well being, the sun and the universe.
But since it was first used some 3,000 years ago, the symbol has taken on a number of different meanings, slowly evolving to what it is today.
"The swastika historically is a sign that can be found among indigenous peoples here in America. The Hindus still use it in India, but of course, the sign has been hijacked forever by the Nazis," said director of Jewish and religious studies Joseph Edelheit. "Because of that, there is nothing about the symbol that is redeemable."
The swastika began to take on this negatively dominant meaning Jan. 30, 1933, when Nazi leader Adolf Hitler came to power.
This event would ultimately change the definition of the word as well as what it represented.
"The symbol is what you connect to it. For us in the Western world, the swastika is the symbol of pure hate, fascism, racism, prejudice, brutally exploiting and killing people. It is a symbol of the most horrific and inhuman things that you can imagine that people do to one another," Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education director Bernard Reuter said.
Behind this symbol, the Nazi party killed more than 6 million Jews and 5 million
other non-Aryan humans.
Seventy five years have passed, but since mid-November, over 20 incidents relating to hate messages and actions have been reported on campus, a majority dealing with the controversial symbol.
The small and seemingly simple word "set" has 194 different meanings in the dictionary.
A single worldly definition for swastika is also hard to decipher.
While it is one of the most recognized symbols around the globe, there are both a number of denotative and connotative meanings to the word.
It can represent the cycle of reincarnation or rebirth in the religious practices of Buddhism, Hinduism, Jinism and Sikhism. In some cultures it can signify good luck, well being, the sun and the universe.
But since it was first used some 3,000 years ago, the symbol has taken on a number of different meanings, slowly evolving to what it is today.
"The swastika historically is a sign that can be found among indigenous peoples here in America. The Hindus still use it in India, but of course, the sign has been hijacked forever by the Nazis," said director of Jewish and religious studies Joseph Edelheit. "Because of that, there is nothing about the symbol that is redeemable."
The swastika began to take on this negatively dominant meaning Jan. 30, 1933, when Nazi leader Adolf Hitler came to power.
This event would ultimately change the definition of the word as well as what it represented.
"The symbol is what you connect to it. For us in the Western world, the swastika is the symbol of pure hate, fascism, racism, prejudice, brutally exploiting and killing people. It is a symbol of the most horrific and inhuman things that you can imagine that people do to one another," Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education director Bernard Reuter said.
Behind this symbol, the Nazi party killed more than 6 million Jews and 5 million
other non-Aryan humans.
Seventy five years have passed, but since mid-November, over 20 incidents relating to hate messages and actions have been reported on campus, a majority dealing with the controversial symbol.