Continuing a photographic look at the non-Nazi use of swastikas . . .
The Krit Motor Car Company (1909-1916), the name probably coming from the name of Kenneth Crittenden, a financial backer and designer of the cars, used the swastika as its emblem.
Note the similarity between the Krit emblem and the Nazi depiction of the swastika as regards the above designs. The fact that Krit vehicles were exported to overseas countries (including Australia), with large numbers in Europe, has led to speculation by some writers that the Krit design may also have influenced Hitler's adoption of it.
Swastika in Buddhist temple, China
Buddhist temple floor, Tibet
Swastika
motif around Manchester Central Library, UK. Built 1930-4.
Balinese
temple
An
embossed and airbrushed American postcard of the 1905 - 1910 era, bearing the
legend "To Darling Baby," accompanied by a lavender swastika and a
bunch of Lily-of-the-Valley flowers.
Swastikas have been found in ancient
Jewish synagogues alongside the Star of David.
Excavations of a group of 3 synagogues, the Mooz Haim Synagogue, dating
back to 400-600AD and discovered in 1974, at the Golan Heights have revealed
floors paved with small stones of about 70 different hues depicting Itzhak's
sacrifice, the Ark of the Covenant, inscriptions in Hebrew and Aramaic,
traditional Jewish symbols, such as the menorah, customary national ornaments,
and many different swastikas.
Swastika on Ein Gedi synagogue mosaic floor.
Discovered 1965.
Google Earth’s east access to aerial views has revealed buildings shaped like swastikas, resulting in demands that those buildings be modified. Many of those demands have come from activist Jewish groups and individuals:
The four unconnected buildings pictured
above forming a swastika are part of the Coronado Naval Amphibious Base at San
Diego and were built in 1967. The Navy has stated that it did notice the shape during construction, but
decided that no-one would ever see it from above so there was no point in
wasting the money starting again with a new design. The advent of Google Earth has changed that
and now the US Navy
will spend $600,000 in landscaping and new structures to break up the pattern
in order to eliminate complaints over it.
It has been suggested that the two buildings to the left of the swastika building symbolically represent bombers on their way to destroy the swastika (see first photo).
Avrahaum Segol, an Israeli-American
researcher, claims the swastika shape is homage to German scientists who
designed the V2 rockets launched against Allied targets in World War II. The scientists were brought to nearby
Huntsville after the war to work on the NASA spaceships which would eventually
put man on the moon. He says that the
Alabama retirement home is a "sister building" to the swastika-shaped
barracks at Naval Base Coronado and says they were both part of a government-funded
conspiracy to honour Nazis.
In 2002, Christmas crackers containing plastic toy pandas sporting swastikas were
pulled from shelves after complaints from consumers in Canada. The
manufacturer, based in China, explained the symbol was presented in a
traditional sense and not as a reference to the Nazis, and apologised to the
customers for the cross-cultural mixup. (But is that a medal that the panda is wearing on its chest?)
In 2007, Spanish fashion chain Zara
withdrew a handbag from its stores after a customer in Britain complained
swastikas were embroidered on it. The bags were made by a supplier in India and
inspired by commonly used Hindu symbols, which include the swastika.