Western use of the swastika in the early 20th century
Following his discovery of objects bearing the swastika square in the ruins of Troy, Heinrich Schliemann consulted two leading Sanskrit scholars of the day, Emile Burnouf and Max Müller.
He connected it with similar shapes found on ancient pots in Germany, and theorised that the swastika square was a "significant religious symbol of our remote ancestors", linking Germanic, Greek and Indo-Iranian cultures.
The Danish brewery company Carlsberg Group used the swastika as a logo[11] from the 19th century until the middle of the 1930s, when it was discontinued because of association with the Nazi Party in neighbouring Germany.
In December 2007, a silver replica of the World War II -period Finnish air defence's relief ring decorated with a swastika became available as a part of a charity campaign.
In his Irisches Tagebuch (Irish Journal), the future Nobel Laureate, Heinrich Böll writes about a year spent living in the west of Ireland in the 1950s.
During the Russian Civil War, the Red Army's Kalmyk units wore distinct armbands featuring the swastika with "РСФСР" (Roman:"RSFSR") inscriptions on them.
[citation needed] The Anglo-Indian author Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936), who was strongly influenced by Indian culture, used a swastika as his personal emblem on the covers and flyleaves of many editions of his books, along with the elephant, signifying his affinity with India.
The Passamaquoddy Nation, whose homeland within Dawnland extends across the Canada–United States border between Maine and New Brunswick, used an elongated swastika on their war canoes in the American colonial period as well as later.
[68] Shortly after the beginning of World War II, several Native American tribes (the Navajo, Apache, Tohono O'odham, and Hopi) published a decree stating that they would no longer use the swastika in their artwork: Because the above ornament which has been a symbol of friendship among our forefathers for many centuries has been desecrated recently by another nation of peoples.
Therefore it is resolved that henceforth from this date on and forever more our tribes renounce the use of the emblem commonly known today as the swastika or fylfot on our blankets, baskets, art objects, sandpainting, and clothing.
[74] Among the Lafayette Escadrille members who were killed in action was Arthur Bluethenthal of Wilmington, North Carolina, who is buried in a Jewish cemetery with a grave marker that includes the squadron insignia, complete with swastika.
The Regiment fought German forces during World War II, landing on D-Day at Utah Beach, through five European campaigns and received a Presidential Unit Citation for action during the Battle of the Bulge.
[76] The Reno, Nevada Post Office features both left and right facing swastikas, along with other designs typical of "Zig Zag Moderne" style, later known as a variation of "Art Deco".
[83] Mosaic swastika tile patterns decorate the floor of the Washington County Courthouse in Marietta, Ohio, designed by Cincinnati architect Samuel Hannaford and built in 1901.
The Baháʼí Faith's House of Worship for the North American continent, located in Wilmette, Illinois, depicts religious symbols on each of its 9 outer pillars.
The "Golden Rule Window" in the Transfiguration Episcopal Church in New York City features medallion symbols depicting world religions, with Buddhism represented by the "flyflot cross" near a Jewish menorah.
[115] The St. Louis, Rocky Mountain and Pacific Railroad Company operated with cars and locomotives "emblazoned with the red swastika symbol adopted as the road's trademark."
One of the few examples of its decorative use in Post-war American popular culture can be found in the 1950 film Born Yesterday, directed by George Cukor, the son of Hungarian-Jewish immigrants.
[132] The yearbook for Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina, first published in 1927, was known as the "Swastika", after a Native American design pattern found in the original tile of a campus administration building.
[160] A Philadelphia fire station built in 1927 became controversial when local residents petitioned to remove a swastika design resembling the German Military Iron Cross.
Both right and left facing swastikas appear in disks near the top of columns on the Alexander & Baldwin building in Honolulu, Hawaii, built in 1929 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
"[169] Similar swastika designs can be seen on the lampposts outside the old San Francisco Mint, built in 1873, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976 and currently serves as a museum.
In western architecture, pre-World War II swastika tiles are typically a minor decorative element and have only become prominent when their original intent or symbolic meaning has been re-interpreted.
[188] Located near the eaves, the tiles represented the crux gammata, also known as the Gammadion, "hooked cross", with a wooden rough-hewn texture, with leaves and fruit in the background that resemble olives.
A local art enthusiast notes "People don't realise that the swastika was not always a sign of hatred and horror; it originally symbolised good lock and fortune".
[209] The University of Montana's Diversity Advisory Council voted in December 2019 to remove a mirror-image swastika-like 'aristika' design in a former women's dormatory that dates to 1927, while acknowledging "The symbols were originally meant to celebrate Native American and east Asian culture."
"[214] A local news report in April 2016 prompted Catholic Church officials to immediately remove four swastika tiles from the Rockville Centre, New York Cathedral.
[217] The Reuters News Agency reported in 1990 that the seaside community of Hull, Massachusetts voted to remove swastika tiles from their town hall floor, built in 1923, after complaints from the New England Director of the Jewish Defense League.
[229] The Moorish style Majestic Theater in East St. Louis, Illinois, built in 1928, features hundreds of coloured tiles with a variety of geometric designs including numerous swastikas with arms pointing to the right.
[249][250] In nearby Circular Quay, the Customs House also has fylfot tiles in the front entrance area dating from the same period, with a plaque to explain the symbols.
