Latvians kind of must do just that. They’ve got an archaic notation system for writing down their oldest fairy tales that are used to convey important parts of the culture to the next generation. That notation system has symbols for the about 20 most important figures of the old stories, just to help remember the whole story. There are no other symbols in the system. And it has been in use actively and continuously for several thousand years uninterrupted. And one of the very few symbols happens to be the swastika.
This Latvian-Lithuanian tradition (that had largely died in Lithuania at one point) is where Hitler stole the swastika from, that decision supported by its use as far away as India.
Latvian traditions include embroidering those symbols to mittens and such, believed to protect and support the wearer. And indeed, by far the most common of those symbols has traditionally been the swastika. That’s precisely why it caught Hitler’s eyes.
Those symbols are a very integral part of their culture and the pressure Hitler has caused for Latvians to stop their use is a way for 1930’s Nazi Germany to kill Latvian culture from beyond the grave. Since Hitler considered Latvians “Untermensch”, he would definitely be happy of that.
But yeah: good luck with that, Latvians. You have no choice, but you’ll still get trouble for that.
TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works 3 days ago
We shouldn’t let Nazis appropriate positive symbols, we should take them back.
Whostosay@sh.itjust.works 3 days ago
Good luck with that. I’d encourage you to wear a swastika in attempt at doing so.
Maybe we should just get rid of Nazis, then we can do what we please.
Tuuktuuk@sopuli.xyz 3 days ago
Latvians kind of must do just that. They’ve got an archaic notation system for writing down their oldest fairy tales that are used to convey important parts of the culture to the next generation. That notation system has symbols for the about 20 most important figures of the old stories, just to help remember the whole story. There are no other symbols in the system. And it has been in use actively and continuously for several thousand years uninterrupted. And one of the very few symbols happens to be the swastika.
This Latvian-Lithuanian tradition (that had largely died in Lithuania at one point) is where Hitler stole the swastika from, that decision supported by its use as far away as India.
Latvian traditions include embroidering those symbols to mittens and such, believed to protect and support the wearer. And indeed, by far the most common of those symbols has traditionally been the swastika. That’s precisely why it caught Hitler’s eyes.
Those symbols are a very integral part of their culture and the pressure Hitler has caused for Latvians to stop their use is a way for 1930’s Nazi Germany to kill Latvian culture from beyond the grave. Since Hitler considered Latvians “Untermensch”, he would definitely be happy of that.
But yeah: good luck with that, Latvians. You have no choice, but you’ll still get trouble for that.