Swastik logo

Before the Nazis desecrated this ancient graphic symbol, the swastika had been a common sight throughout the world. Among other places, you could see it emblazoned on Latvian and Finnish fighter planes (certainly no relationship to the Luftwaffe), the emblem of the U.S. Army’s 45th Infantry Division, even on Coca-Cola and Carlsberg beer bottles. Public domain In the years before the Russian Revolution, the swastika could be seen on icons, clothes and dinner plates, as well as Romanov dynasty cars. In ancient times, it often popped up in cultures in the Caucasus. And In 1917, Soviet Russia became next in line to make use of the symbol. Soviet banknotes Public domain When the February Revolution of March 1917 dethroned the autocratic monarchy, one of the first decisions of the Provisional Government was to print new money. The swastika could be seen on the banknotes. However, the new regime was brought down in November of the same year as a result of the October Revolution that brought Vladimir Lenin and his Bolsheviks to power. In the chaos of the ensuing civil war, they had neither the time nor the technical capabilities to design and print new banknotes, so the Provisional Government’s money continued to be in use. And so, banknotes carrying the swastika were in circulation for almost five years, until 1922. The Red Army Public domain Sometime during the Civil War, in November 1919, Vasiliy Shorin, the commander of the South-Eastern front, issued ‘Order 213’ mandating all...