Neo-Nazis Shed the Swastika in New Effort To Reach Mainstream
Last month, the country’s leading neo-Nazi group did away with their swastika logo. Emboldened by Donald Trump’s victory in the election, they saw this as a moment where their movement could go mainstream.
The National Socialist Movement, which has its roots in the original American Nazi Party, has replaced it’s swastika insignia for an a pre-Roman symbol known as the Othala Rune also embraced by the Nazis.
Jeff Schoep, the movement’s leader, told the New York Times that the decision to do away with the swastika was “an attempt to become more integrated and more mainstream.”
According to the Anti-Defamation League, the othala rune is part of the runic alphabet system, a system of writing used in pre-Roman Europe.
“Nazis in Germany adopted the othala rune, among many other similar symbols, as part of their attempt to reconstruct a mythic ‘Aryan’ past,” the ADL writes on their website. “Following World War II, white supremacists in Europe, North America, and elsewhere began using the othala rune. Today, it is commonly seen in tattoo form, on flags or banners, as part of group logos, and elsewhere.”
Not all uses of the rune explicitly signal Nazi ideology: modern pagans, for example, use it in religious contexts.
Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!