RUNNING HEAD: Semiotics and the Swastika: A Communication Analysis

Semiotics and the Swastika: A Communication Analysis

Marisa Hinderaker
Indiana Wesleyan University
11/21/14

RUNNING HEAD: Semiotics and the Swastika: A Communication Analysis

Introduction
If you picked up a Coke bottle today with a swastika on the label, you probably
wouldnt know what to think. Could it be a tasteless prank or a misguided attempt to raise
awareness of the neo-Nazi movement? Youd be equally confused to find the symbol on
jewelry, rugs, and buildings. Yet in the early 1900s, tourists in New Mexico happily
purchased souvenir mugs adorned with swastikas. Europeans and Americans alike
considered them good luck charms, and synagogues even built swastikas into mosaics.
Many cities and towns featured them in dcor. The swastika, a symbol dating back to as
early as 3000 B.C., implied nothing but positive characteristics. Like a four-leaf clover, the
swastika was an innocent decorative symbol. (Aigner, 2000)
Today, the swastika calls to mind Hitler, the Nazi party, and the Holocaust. The
symbol that once represented peace and luck now has an irrevocable reputation for chaos.
In Western consciousness, the symbol represents death and destruction. The Navajo people
renounced the use of the emblem in 1940, saying, 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. (Indyke) Due to its widespread cultural influence,
the swastika is one of the worlds most important symbols. (Heller, 2000) The cultural and
historical significance of the swastika marks it as a valuable subject for study.
The semiotic theory can provide some insight into the process of how the swastikas
connotative and denotative meanings changed through social construction and
multilayered semiotic systems during the Second World War. Through the lens of the

RUNNING HEAD: Semiotics and the Swastika: A Communication Analysis

semiotic theory, I intend to examine the swastika as a symbol. I will assess its history, its
use by the Nazi party, and its connotation in the aftermath of World War II.
Semiotics
Humans have a deep desire to make meaning. (Marsen, 2008) Humankind has a long
history of attaching meaning to objects, relationships, and the self in its many forms. The
complexity of classification is obvious after the first attempt to organize information
meaningfully. Why does an arrow mean up, down, left, or right? Why does a doodled heart
represent a human organ that looks nothing like the illustration? These, as well as many
other questions related to meaning, are elements of semiotics.
Semiotics is officially known as the study of the social production of meaning from
sign systems. (Griffin, 2008) In other words, the meanings we make derive from creating
and interpreting signs. (Griffin, 2008) Signs, in the form of words, objects, images, sounds,
and other various ideas, have no meaning in themselves. If someone declares something
signifies something else, the thing becomes a sign. A major component of semiotics
involves studying how representation generates meanings and our understanding of those
meanings in relation to culture. (Curtin 53)
The semiotic field recognizes several founding thinkers, including linguist
Ferdinand de Saussure and logician Charles Peirce, as well as more recent articulators of
the theory, such as Roland Barthes. Each supplied essential elements of the theory of
semiotics as we know it today and helped create the disciplines major branches. Saussure
was one of the first to formally study what he called semiology, although Peirce and
philosopher John Locke re-labeled it. (Curtin 52) Barthes, meanwhile, broke away from

RUNNING HEAD: Semiotics and the Swastika: A Communication Analysis

Saussures idea that signs are arbitrary. Instead, he focused on the relationship between the
signifier and the signified. He also led semiotics toward the connotative and denotative
versions of signifieds.
There are three essential elements of semiotics: the sign, the signifier, and the
signified. The signifier is what we physically see, while the signified is the associated
meaning. (Griffin, 2008) The sign, therefore, is the combination of the signifier and the
signified. The signifier and signified are inseparable, as a signifier cannot exist in a vacuum,
and the signified must have a source.
Signs exist in intertwined systems. The first system, composed of the signifier image
and signified concept, creates a denotative sign. (Griffin, 2008) The second, or connotative,
system turns the sign of the first system into the signifier of its own. Thus, the signifier of
the first system becomes associated with the final sign. The association between signifier
and signified is called signification. (Griffin, 2008) These interconnected systems provide a
model for the flow of signs and a demonstration of how a sign can begin as one thing and
transform into another over a period of time.
In the 1950s French philosopher Roland Barthes broadened semiology by the term
myth which he described as a peculiar system, in that it is constructed from a
semiological chain which existed before it: it is a second-order semiological system. That
which is a sign in the first system, becomes a mere signifier in the second (Barthes, p. 114).
As the sign becomes associated with a concept, it becomes a signifier and produces a
second sign, which is detached from the original meaning. For Barthes, the myth is the
combination of the systems, or orders, of signification. Barthes believed myth transformed

RUNNING HEAD: Semiotics and the Swastika: A Communication Analysis

history into nature. In other words, myths make dominant cultural codes and historical
values, attitudes, and beliefs seem entirely natural, self evident, and common sense. Along
these lines, something that has existed for a long time in a specific context appears to be the
way it always has been, and therefore always should be.
The Semiotics of Swastikas
The swastika is the worlds oldest known symbol, even older than the Egyptian
Ankh. Pottery and coins from Troy in 1000 B.C. are adorned with swastikas. Countries from
around the world have swastikas in their designs, including China, Japan, India, and
Southern European nations. It was well known in the Middle Ages. In Germany, the symbol
was called the Hakenkreuz, or hooked cross. The term in India was swastika, derived from
the Sanskrit svastika. Su, or good, asti, to be, and ka, a suffix, combined to form the
term we know today. The symbol represented life, the sun, power, strength, and good luck.
Germany adopted the symbol in the 1800s. Throughout the 19th century, countries
surrounding Germany were growing, while Germany didnt become a unified nation until
1871. German nationalists in the mid-1800s were searching for something to foster
national pride and rally the people, so they chose the swastika for its ancient Indian and
Aryan origins. (Heller, 2000) A longstanding and recognizable symbol like that
communicated that Germany had much to be proud of. Germans took to the swastika
quickly. It became the emblem of the German Gymnasts League and of nationalist papers.
An anti-Semitic periodical, Ostara, adopted it as an emblem as well. (Heller, 2000)
Hitler designed the swastika-adorned flag for the Nazi party in 1920. In his work
Mein Kampf, he described the flag as a symbol of our own struggle and highly effective as

RUNNING HEAD: Semiotics and the Swastika: A Communication Analysis

a poster. The red flag with a white circle and black swastika became a universal indication
of the Nazi party. The red stood for the social idea of the movement, the white represented
the nationalistic ideal. And the swastika signified the mission allotted to us--the struggle
for the victory of Aryan mankind and at the same time the triumph of the ideal of creative
work which is in itself and always will be anti-Semitic. (Hitler, 1971) It became associated
with a racially pure state. When the Nazis gained control of Germany, the connotations of
the swastika had permanently changed.
The theory of semiotics works well with the swastika. Following the two-system
process of semiotics, the swastika (sign) is a crooked cross (signifier) and in pre-Nazi times
symbolized luck (signified). When Hitler used it as a symbol of Nazi Germany (sign), the
swastika (signifier) became a symbol of hate, racism, evil etc. (signified)
Hitlers intended use for the swastika was, of course, propaganda. He made subtle
changes to the symbol by rotating it and thickening the lines, making it look precise and
mechanical, qualities that were praised in the 1930s and 40s. But making the swastika the
official symbol of the Nazi party was not enough to cement its cultural importance; he
needed to ensure every eye saw it and associated it with the ideals of the Nazis. It appeared
in major political statements, on posters, banners, and patches. In every instance, the
swastika was attached to ceremony and to Hitlers teachings. (Liungman, 1995)
In 1923, a coup failed in Munich. One of the swastika banners was sprayed with the
blood of a coup perpetrator, and Hitler ensured his people saved it. The object became
known as the blood banner, or die Blutfahne. Following the failed coup, every new Nazi,

RUNNING HEAD: Semiotics and the Swastika: A Communication Analysis

SS, and SA banner was touched with the blood banner at ceremonies. This was the kind of
purposeful imagery that made the swastika what it is today. (Liungman, 1995)
Evaluation
Hitlers attempts to turn the swastika into a symbol for his own purposes were
clearly successful. He transformed the sign of the swastika into a signifier of his aims, which
translated into hate, racism, and evil. The pre-Nazi history of the swastika has been wiped
out and replaced with the symbolism we identify today. In Western society, the symbol is
stigmatized and its use often leads to punishment and ill will. In Germany, Austria,
Hungary, Lithuania, and Poland, it is still illegal to publicly show the swastika except for
scholarly reasons. Meanwhile, the swastika remains an important religious symbol in
Hinduism and Buddhism. Hindus see it as a representation of Brahman in his universal
manifestation, along with the four directions of the world. (Heller, 2000)
Many groups have tried to reclaim the swastikas previous meaning and reintroduce
it into society, with the thought that a few years of evil connotations should not wipe out
thousands of years of innocuous use. By associating the swastika with the Nazis, a proswastika website argues, we only give credit to the monstrosities of this horrible regime.
Its time to rehabilitate the swastika! The same supporters of the swastika movement
celebrate the image during Pro-Swastika week with posters and signs declaring that the
symbol is harmless. (Pro-Swastika, 2014)
In modern fashion, sellers who use the symbol come under fire for insensitivity. In
October of 2014, a third-party seller posted a ring emblazoned with the swastika on the
Sears Marketplace website. The description read This gothic jewelry item in particular

RUNNING HEAD: Semiotics and the Swastika: A Communication Analysis

features a Swastika ring thats made of .925 Thai silver. Not for Neo Nazi or any Nazi
implication. These jewelry items are going to make you look beautiful at your next dinner
date. (Peterson, 2014)
The resulting outcry led to an apology from Sears and the rings quick removal from
the website. Customers were furious at the rings presence, and many insisted they would
never shop from Sears again after the incident. This type of scenario has happened several
times with various stores that have tried to sell jewelry, clothing, and other items with
swastikas and even the Star of David. It appears that he swastika cannot escape its history.
(Peterson, 2014)
Conclusion
The semiotic theory shows that the swastikas transformation from a good luck
symbol into a sign of hatred and Nazi ideology is not an unusual phenomenon. Its possible
for anything to take on an entirely new meaning after it has experienced the semiotic
systems and adopted the mythology applied to it by society and those who have the power
to intentionally change the symbols meaning. Signs are powerful. They can rally a people,
confirm beliefs, and influence a culture to adopt behaviors it would not otherwise embrace
without something to stand behind.
The symbol of the swastika has a long history, but the Nazi partys inclusion in that
history has stained it for future use in the Western world. While Hindu and Buddhist
adherents may still use the symbol, it will be very difficult to convince most people in
Europe and North America to re-adopt it. The swastika serves as a reminder of where the
world once was, and how thousands of people died as a result of a horrifying regime. To

RUNNING HEAD: Semiotics and the Swastika: A Communication Analysis

reclaim the dominant symbol of the time as a positive one would not only lessen the impact
of the Nazi regime, but begin a slow process of cultural amnesia. A symbol that once stood
for good has irrevocably turned into an evil one. Although this is not a preferable situation,
it is an educational one. It reminds us that choices as simple as which symbol to use can
have a great impact on the world.

RUNNING HEAD: Semiotics and the Swastika: A Communication Analysis

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Bibliography
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