Swastikas and statues: Southeast Asia's fixation with Nazi iconography

Long before the Nazi, the Swastika was a symbol of good things for those that are Buddhist and Hindu. That symbol has been apart of those religions for thousands of years. Buddhism is the religion of 95% of the natives in Thailand.

Certainly, they may have a lot of misinformation about Hitler, but it is because it is something that isn't covered in their history. Many countries do not receive the full report about many things that happen in history. Even the actions and positions of many leaders are not spoken about in history. So it is not surprising they do not know the full history of Hitler.

You either have a sense of history or you don’t obviously many in SE Asia don’t.

Mao and the Khmer Rouge: both coming from leftist ideology. Hence I dounbt many young Americans know anything about them.

In their defense, SE Asians weren't victims of the Nazis. And as BigYen says, how many Westerners would catch on if H&M starting selling shirts with the flag of Democratic Kampuchea (i.e. Khmer Rouge led Cambodia) on them. Maybe b/c we come from more diverse nations, word would spread faster.

OTOH, when I first came to Japan 20 years ago, I remember being absolutely gobsmacked by how many ヤンキー I saw sporting USAF jackets, as in the guys who nuked your country twice and firebombed most major cities. I mean, I could have sported a T-shirt with Osama Bin Laden smiling benevolently after 9/11 but I opted to stay alive.

You either have a sense of history or you don’t obviously many in SE Asia don’t.

Well no, it's not obvious. They may have a very good sense of history, just a different history than yours. They likely know of dictators and aggressors who are relevant to their history, that you would have no knowledge of.

How much longer are people going to give the tired excuse, "oh, but the people over there in that country never experienced life under HItler, and have no concept of the neo-nazi swastika."

Hogwash. Excuses, excuses. Citizens around the world today have absolutely zero excuse not to be aware of what Germany did before and during World War 2. The world today is connected by the internet, and never before in our lifetime has it been so easy to do simple research on history. And the issue of swastikas in southeast asian countries has been going on for many years, how could the people there not be aware of what that symbol stands for, and how offensive it is?

Stop condoning and excusing ignorance.

And in many parts of the world, the Rising Sun flag is nothing more than a cool symbol of Japan.

Does the world really need to be so PC?

I actually prefer that such symbols actually gets overused everywhere such that it loses it's original symbolism. Just make certain of it's true intentions and act accordingly.

I actually prefer that such symbols actually gets overused everywhere such that it loses it's original symbolism.

Like when the Nazis used the swastika so much that most of the world forgot that it had roots in Eastern religious symbolism?

This is an example of morality changing over the years.

Many Western pop, rock and punk bands have flirted with Nazi chic. In the 1970s and 1980s it did not bother people the way it does now. Back then, it was not "we can't have Motorhead, the Sex Pistols, Siouxsie Sue (sp?) etc. on tv or the radio because they are Nazis".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_chic

Why should they be forced or expected to follow the same version of history that has been propagated in the west?

@oldman 13

the swastika is not nazi. It’s been apart of Buddhism and Hinduism for thousands of years. Also, we can’t expect Asians to know European and American history the same way many Americans and Europeans don’t know Asian history. Hitler was not the first leader of his kind. There were many.

How many of you know about Ho Chi Minh, Foday Sankoh, Yahya Khan, and so many more. How many of you even know what Tōjō Hideki was responsible for? I’m sure people in Thailand do. What about Mao Ze Dong? Can you tell me the average American or European person knows about any of these people?

Many American teens used to walk around with Che Guevara shirts but none of them even knew what he actually did.

kohakuebisu - most of the Punk movement of the 70's & 80's that utilized nazi props, did so as political anarchic statements, anti-social commentary and for shock value in what they perceived to be staid and lethargic societies.

Being pretty and chic, I imagine, hardly crossed Johnny Rotten or Siouxie's minds. They were well aware of the political / social fallout of their actions, words, music, lifestyle etc , and intended to be controversial.

I doubt such thinking is behind the "pop" use in Asia of nazi symbols.

And there should be no excuse for anyone not knowing the history and implications of such symbols, especially if you are in the popular limelight. These people have managers, advisers, pr staff, agencies, tv contracts etc etc.

What - no-one in their worlds know? Sad if that's true.

The constant debate about the swastika aside, if you look at the actual pictures attached to the article, you notice that it is not the swastika alone.

What people are talking about is the full reproduction of the Nazi flag, along with Nazi paraphernalia. The books for sale in the photo at the top have NOTHING to do with any version of a swastika. The pictures of Hitler, the t-shirt of "Hitler on Holiday," etc have NOTHING to do with any debate about the swastika.

It has everything to do with a total ignorance of what the Nazis were, and what they did. And that should be rectified and addressed.

And the issue of swastikas in southeast asian countries has been going on for many years, how could the people there not be aware of what that symbol stands for, and how offensive it is?

Stop condoning and excusing ignorance.

@ old man. Stop being so dramatic. Swastika symbol (usually reverse) has been used on Buddhist temples in Asia for centuries. Japan, Thai, Myanmar, even India. Do you expect them to stop using their symbol just because Nazis stole and used the image for a few years? Sounds like culture imperialism if you expect them too.

Who is the women in the photo with that round thing on her head? And how does that relate to this article?

> Stop being so dramatic. Swastika symbol (usually reverse) has been used on Buddhist temples in Asia for centuries. Japan, Thai, Myanmar, even India. Do you expect them to stop using their symbol just because Nazis stole and used the image for a few years?

These are Swastikas. Not the symbols traditionally used in the countries you mentioned. I saw that there have been discussions about banning the Swastika in your home country after people spray painted these symbols near Bondi Beach.

I don’t agree with banning them but making people more aware of what the Swastika symbolizes is useful.

"It was a bad experience," she said. But it also presented an "opportunity" to learn, she added, citing a visit to the Holocaust memorial at the U.N. in Bangkok also attended by other band members"

It's a shame she had to learn the hard way, but I'd say all told a lot of positives have come out of her unfortunate experience, and if she goes on to educate people about the Holocaust and the Nazis, even better still. I know some Japanese who had experiences like this overseas and learned about the nation's history outside of the white-washed books here, and were shocked, but it became a positive learning experience, unless they tried to teach others back home what they had learned.

Ganbare Japan! and JJ Jetplane: Looks like you guys could also learn from history as well. The "swastika" has not been used in Asia for centuries, the Nazis took the Buddhist symbol and inverted it, and rotated it 45 degrees, and what they took is much more like the Hindu symbols of light and dark. The swastika on Buddhist temples and the like here and elsewhere in Asia are not the same thing, and while you admit it is "usually reverse", people who think they are the same symbol are as uneducated as this young lady was before her revelation.

Shouldn't the title read: The Nazis fixation with ancient Asian symbols ?

Pretty damned ignorant, but I wonder whether your average 19 year-old in the US or elsewhere in the West knows anything much about Mao or the Khmer Rouge?

You don't see Americans wearing Mao shirts though. Oh wait, I forgot about Bernie Sanders and the whole democratic socialists rise, my bad.

Who is the women in the photo with that round thing on her head? And how does that relate to this article?

"Thai teen idol Pitchayapa "Namsai" Natha caused outrage when she was filmed rehearsing wearing a t-shirt with a Nazi swastika" is the photo caption.

I like a good Hugo Boss suit , he got the contract for the Nazi uniform and you can still get a little symbol embroidered under the collar ,

@browny1 ironic that name

The Rising Sun flag is a far worse problem than the Nazi icons.

At least all Nazi icons are illegal in Europe and their public display is criminal.

In Japan, the Japanese government proudly uses the Rising Sun flag as the flag of the SDF to the dismay of its neighbors, doesn't understand the problems associated with its use.

The NAZI myth is kept alive in the West beyond any other of the past's horrors, even the Great Native American Holocaust or the (actually) astounding Armenian Holocaust, with a panmedia barrage of propaganda films, coached statements, false racial outrages, and no end of other fruits of 'marketing' a political advantage aimed at the uneducated. If the media did not parade these symbols constantly, pushing them in our faces daily, our uneducated, skinheaded populations would forget them and their messages in a generation. It is the media, as here, that constantly reminds us that WE MUST HATE as those who identified with these symbols in the past hated. But ignoring and forgetting them is not allowed because too much effort has been spent already selling them as identity to the easily manipulated so that the propaganda has a foil to justify itself to prevent their natural death by time. Personally, I'm sick of seeing them and hearing the false messages which tout one atrocity over all others and I see them NOWHERE ELSE than constantly streaming across our media. The NAZIs are dead but resurrection is just a newspaper away. Why?

Quite an unfortunate incident to happen, but I guess it can't be helped, not as much as in the West at least. Schools teach history, but most times it's an optional course not a compulsory one, and how many people have interest in history that isn't relevant to them or their part of the world? There are some who are interested, but you'll find that more people aren't interested. Should schools teach about potentially offensive symbols as a compulsory subject? Probably, but that's not exactly an easy subject to cover given that symbols and gestures that are okay in some countries also happen to be offensive in others (one example off the top of my head would be the Reverse Peace gesture, fine in the US, but stick two fingers up at a Brit like that and they'll get offended. Likewise, the Swastika is offensive while the reversed version that pre-dates it is not offensive).

As BigYen and Amir Marzouk have pointed out: there are many in the west who are ignorant of dictators in the east who have caused atrocities equal to or greater than Hitler did. I doubt there's many in the west who even know who Shiro Ishii is either. Should they? Probably, if only to avoid the possibility that they might cause offense some day, but will that actually happen? I doubt it.

@Oldman_13 just because most of the world has internet access, doesn't make it any easier to learn of these things. You can't Google something if you've never heard of it to begin with. The people in Southeast Asia have heard plenty about what happened in the region during WWII, but not a lot about what happened in Europe. Why? Because it happened in Europe, not SE Asia. Because they don't know about it, they can't research it online. It doesn't help then when pop stars or celebrities adorn Nazi symbols in a gesture of defiance and rebellion, making the symbols look "cool" without bringing attention to the origin of those symbols and the offense caused by them. Instead of condemning, try understanding. Put yourself in the shoes of these people, think from their perspective rather than your own, and you'll see that it's easier for something like this to happen than you realise. Need I point out that a lot of people in America (surprisingly) still to this day wear clothing and apparel decorated with the Rising Sun flag. These were people directly affected by Kamikaze pilots and Pearl Harbour, yet even they see the Rising Sun flag as being "cool". Why aren't you ranting about them for their ignorance? Why are you only targetting SE Asians? That's not just ignorant, that's racist.

The directions of the nazi swastika and the Buddhist one used in temples in Japan are opposite ... so are not the same.

Great debate responses above... Thanks,

I saw sporting USAF jackets, as in the guys who nuked your country twice and firebombed most major cities

Actually, it was the Army Air Force that bombed Japan during WWII. The United States Air Force (USAF) didn't exist until after the war (1947).

Actually, it was the Army Air Force that bombed Japan during WWII. The United States Air Force (USAF) didn't exist until after the war (1947).

What became the USAF?

I've seen plenty of Army Air Force jackets running around Tokyo

@SmithinJapan

Your information is incorrect. The word Swastika is not a German word or English word. The word swastika is an Indian Sanskrit word that first described the symbol as early back as 500BC.

India is in Asia. So the symbol and word originated in Asia. While the symbol the Nazi use is rotated, it is still what is used to describe the shape. The same way we describe the shape of a star.

The goose-stepping Nazis of yore had a flair for style. Mass rallies, cool uniforms, armbands, monocles, riding crops, stiff-armed salutes synchronized with clicking of the boot heels, etc. music, etc. These theatrics have been artistically perpetuated in Hollywood as one of a select group of eternal bad guys. But when the younger generation encounters them today, they focus on the glitz, and not the blitz(krieg).

@SmithinJapan

Canada is not Europe