Swastika

The swastika was a religious symbol which represented peace. However, it gained another, darker significance in popular consciousness after it was adopted by Nazi Germany.

Uses
The swastika was used by followers of Buddhism to represent peace. (PROSE: Utopia)

In the study of vampirology, relativists argued that Vampires were not repelled by exclusively-Christian objects but by faith, meaning a Star of David or a religious swastika would be just as effective at repelling them as a Christian cross or the Bible. (PROSE: Predating the Predators)

The Nazis
The swastika was adopted as the emblem of the National Socialist German Workers Party, later known as the Nazi Party. The black swastika sat in a white circle in the middle of a red flag. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus)

Adolf Hitler's private army, the Sturmabteilung, wore swastika armbands. In November 1932, Susan Foreman was disgusted by the sight of the symbol, knowing what it would go on to represent. (AUDIO: The Alchemists)

In 1936, Joachim von Ribbentrop's Mercedes-Benz had a swastika flag on the bonnet while Ribbentrop worked as the German Ambassador to the United Kingdom. (PROSE: Players)

In 1938, the swastika draped the walls of several establishments in Berlin, including Hitler's office in the Reichschancellery and a nearby restaurant. It also adorned Nazi officer uniforms as part of the party eagle. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler)

In 1938 or 1939, the Nazis sent an expedition to Antarctica and planted swastika flags around their territory. They also built a secret base under the ground in the shape of a swastika. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass)

The interior of Drachensberg, one of Heinrich Himmler's private castles, was decorated with swastikas and other Nazi symbols. The Black Coven's dagger used for ritual sacrifices in the castle also bore the swastika. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus)

After the fall of France in 1940, the Nazis hung swastikas from the top of the Eiffel Tower. (TV: Spyfall, AUDIO: Scorched Earth)

On 30 July 1940, the Nazis raised the swastika on every flagpole around Guernsey after they invaded the Channel Islands during World War II. (PROSE: Just War)

In 1941, Nazi officers in Vichy French Casablanca wore red swastika armbands. (COMIC: As Time Goes By)

In January 1942, SS Kapitan Ernst Wolfgang Spiegal and his men wore swastika armbands in occupied France. In the Berlin office of their superior, General Von Werstberg, a huge swastika banner hung on the wall behind his desk. Letters sent by the general were signed with the swastika-bearing eagle. (COMIC: Timebenders) Members of the Gestapo in France also wore Nazi armbands and their HQ hung Nazi banners by the entrance. (COMIC: Who is the Stranger)

Wing Commander Alec Whistler of the Royal Air Force retrieved a swastika pin from a German and kept it as a souvenir in his Spitfire. (PROSE: Last of the Gaderene)

In early 1944, swastikas were emblazoned on the sides of Die Glocke. (PROSE: The Crawling Terror)

The tail of the Messerschmitt 109 had a swastika painted on the side of its tail wing. The camp of the Special Service Division in northern Italy waved a swastika flag on the lookout tower. (COMIC: Treasure Trail)

In December 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, the Germans hung up a swastika flag outside Café Scholzen after capturing American-held territory along Losheim road. (PROSE: Autumn Mist)

Elizabeth Volkenrath of the SS Gefolger still wore a swastika armband in April 1945 as the war in Europe reached its end. (AUDIO: Daleks Among Us)

In 1988, Hans de Flores kept a swastika ornament on his desk in South America. (TV: Silver Nemesis)

The symbol became deeply associated with the Nazis, to the point where it entered popular culture. In one of his occult thriller novels, Douglas Quilter used the phrase "the armies of the swastika" to refer to the Nazis. (AUDIO: Operation: Hellfire)

Despite this association, Buddhists continued to use the swastika as a symbol of peace as originally intended even after the war. (PROSE: Utopia)

On other planets
Falkus decorated part of the Dalek laboratory on Azimuth with Nazi swastikas to make Hauptsturmführer Kurt Schalk feel at home. (AUDIO: Daleks Among Us)

A swastika was seen being worn by a Gallifreyan child just prior to the end of the Last Great Time War on Gallifrey. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

Alternate timelines
In an alternate timeline in which the Nazis won World War II and occupied Britain, many buildings bore swastika flags and banners. It sat in front of the Union Flag on the emblem of the Britischer Freikorps. In the Nazi-organised Festival of Britain in 1951, a swastika was placed on the Skylon.

While present in this timeline, Ace had a dream in which she was terrorised by a Nazi Dalek bearing the swastika. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus)

Parallel universes
Across the Known Worlds of Germania where the Nazis won World War II, the swastika was displayed all over the worlds of the Greater German Reich, until the Nazis were overthrown by the Empire of Empires.

On Germania V, Otto Begus's SS paratroopers raised the swastika on Buckingham Palace during their raid in the Battle for London.

On Germania LXVIII, Hitler was a communist. When Nazi forces from the Greater Reich deposed him, his followers were crucified on swastika crosses. A different Hitler took charge, displayed in images across Dresden next to the swastika.

On another Germania, swastika flags and other banners were hung around the captured Buckingham Palace. In der Windsorschloss, Hitler examined a map of Southern England with purple blocks over some areas, denoting resistance cells, and swastika blocks over others, denoting German-controlled areas.

On Germania I, Berlin was full of blood-red swastika banners with gold trim. A swastika flag was planted on the Moon on 7 October 1957. Banknotes bore the face the swastika on one side. August Hitler's face was printed on the other side after he became Führer. (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia)

Behind the scenes

 * The Nazi swastika first appeared in TV Action #6-13, Timebenders, the first ever Doctor Who story to be set during the Second World War.
 * The Nazi swastika appears on the title panel of Who is the Stranger, as well as the covers of the novelisation of Silver Nemesis, the novelisation of The Curse of Fenric, Timewyrm: Exodus, Just War and its audio adaptation, The Turing Test, Secret Origins, Warlords of Utopia, Daleks Among Us, The Dying Room and The HAVOC Files 2: Special Edition.


 * In DWM 335, Martin Geraghty's preview of the Big Finish audio story Davros features Davros saluting a symbol heavily reminiscent of a rounded swastika, emphasising the influence of the Nazis on the Daleks.
 * In numerous comics such as Timebenders, Who is the Stranger, Treasure Trail, Me and My Shadow and As Time Goes By, the Nazi swastika is logically present in many panels depicting the Nazi party eagle. However, these are usually illustrated too small for them to be properly seen.