Swastika Floor Tiles Adorn Brooklyn Apartment Complex
Tiles with swastikas on them are found throughout a Greenwood Heights apartment complex, Brooklyn Paper reported Thursday.
Other tiles in the Brooklyn Garden Apartments are emblazoned with crowns, crosses and interlocking circles.
The complex was build in 1928, according to city records, and the architect’s name is illegible.
Vance Koehler, a tile historian, told Brooklyn Paper that the building’s tiles come from Mueller Mosaic Company, a former tile manufacturer based in Trenton, NJ. He said at the time the apartment was built, the swastika was nothing more than a common decorative symbol.
“You’re going to find that swastika symbol in many tile manufacturers of the early 20th century,” Koehler said. “The symbol is very old, and until the Nazis came along, it was a positive symbol.”
The building’s landlord, Isaac Kurtz, said he has no plans to get rid of the swastikas.
“It is just an emblem engraved on the floor,” he said.
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
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.