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Notabot@lemmy.ml

Pulled a sneaky on ya (lemmy.ml)

submitted 4 days ago by its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/animememes@lemmy.ml

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[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

This reminds me of a bit of historical trivia .... namely Adolf Hitler's secret English mistress Unity Mitford

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

The daughter of an aristocratic family in England, she became a schoolgirl fan of Adolf and Nazism ... her sister Jessica she shared a room with was a fan of Communism.

The two drew a chalk line down the middle to divide the room. Jessica's side was decorated with hammer and sickles and pictures of Vladimir Lenin, while Unity's was decorated with swastikas and pictures of Adolf Hitler.

A neat additional piece of history to all this is that Unity Mitford, who went to become a significant part of Hitler's entourage was conceived of by her parents in the little old mining town of Swastika, Ontario. I know this because I'm from northern Ontario and to many people up here, it was always interesting to many people to wonder about the history of this little obscure mining town. Unity's parents were up here during the early mining goldrush years, mom got pregnant, name of the town happened to occur at around the same time, family went back to England, Unity was born and the town was forgotten until war broke out and Nazism happened in Europe. Funny enough, when war did happen, some people wanted to change the name of the town but the local people said it had nothing to do with nazism so the name stayed. There's been some speculation that the original idea of swastikas came from the family who followed the same historical ideas and influences of far right white nationalist movements in Europe at the time.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 2 points 3 days ago (2 children)

...some people wanted to change the name of the town but the local people said it had nothing to do with nazism so the name stayed.

I read that the other day, and enjoyed it. Swastikas evidently go back at least 12Kyrs, so there's some point in not letting passing ugliness spoil the historic usage / symbolism.

I mean, in theory, anyway.

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Swastikas evidently go back at least 12Kyrs, so there’s some point in not letting passing ugliness spoil the historic usage / symbolism.

i wish i could understand why people ascribe different ideas behind shared symbols like this. i presume that it was just ignorance of how the symbols was used before they decided to apply their own beliefs.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 3 points 2 days ago

Okay, now if I understand you correctly:

Ancient symbols like the swastika and many others tended to have somewhat different meanings across different time and place, so right away there's that. Some of them also arose completely independently, not unlike global myths such as 'the flood' and 'Rip Van Winkle."

Flash ahead in time, and my understanding is that various modern-day fascists appropriated the symbols for their own purposes, expressly because those symbols had historicity, a certain legitimacy, and prior meaning. For example, as opposed to such dictators trying to freshly create their own symbols, risking various peoples finding their new symbols ridiculous, risking deflating the very movement they were trying to pump up at the time.

The idea that the new usage of such symbols could in fact be a direct betrayal of the originals doesn't seem to mattered in the end, because the useful propaganda factor weighed more. For example, the very term "fascist" is direct betrayal of the original (Greek I believe) meaning, which was physically a bunch of sticks wrapped in a cord, signifying "strength in unity."

Anyway, hope that helps!

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I went to the Kirkland Lake museum a few times over the years and talked to people there about it all. To history buffs and people who like this stuff, its full of legend and intrigue .... plus its a mining town and they're famous for coming up with amazing stories that turn out to be true .... and true stories that turn out to be false.

One legend is that the parents who were wealthy aristocrats from England who travelled the world freely and had spent time in India and the far east were friends with the old time mining prospectors who founded Swastika. The legend is that the founders who were staking claims in the area needed a new name for the area they staked. They met the Mitford family and when talking to the wife, she had on a pendant that she had brought from India ... there was an image of a swastika on it. The mining prospectors asked her about it and told them and the miners decided to use the name ... Swastika.

The Nazi intrigue is that the imagery and idea of the swastika is connected to the same symbolism that early nationalist movements had followed at that time. The family and especially sisters fell into all that imagery and ideas and it's all either considered coincidental or intentional.

Another semi-official story is that the name Swastika comes from the aerial image of rivers, railways and roadways in the area on a map ... they form a crude image of a swastika (you really have to use your imagination ... lol ..)