Swastikas still visible on Munich buildings

After WWII much of the Nazi symbolism was removed from Munich's architecture. Some of it survived, however, and can still be seen if you know where to look.

For example, this one which is to be seen at Klugstrasse 166 in Gern. The original photos are to be found on flickr.com / laliste

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Here are some more which were posted previously to another topic (The Eagle's Nest) by InflatableWoman:

Taken on the side of the Luftkommando building opposite the Haus der Kunst...

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And from the Haus der Kunst...

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And a de-Nazified eagle on the Finanzamt...

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Topic crosslink: Third Reich tours of Munich

Also the Hofbräuhaus ceiling as well. (Sorry, I dont have pics)

...and i think the front door of the Luftkommando is a mesh of them

The Luftwaffe HQ (which didn't get flattened by bombing) still has concrete storm trooper helmets above the windows. Looks quite cool actually.

Also at Odeonsplatz where the Putsch Memorial used to stand, the swastika is still visible (even though plaque was removed) on the concrete.

on the Musikhochschule (opposite the TU on Arcisstrasse) the hooks where the swastika used to be are still visible. used to be the Hauptkommando (?)

Here's the (so cunningly disguised) Hofbräuhaus ceiling swastika's.

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I saw a swastika on the bomber jacket of a skinhead who got on my tube at Brüdermuhlstr.

I thought all swastika - on buildings or clothing - were banned here?

yep, but some of the building ones sort of got left, and like a mole on someones face nobody sort of draws attention to it. but clothing and vidoe games etc. should not have a swastika on them.

Did anyone with an acceptable German (mine is not) thought to write to the Munich Rathaus? (funny when you read "Rathaus" in English). If nothing helps - then I guess writing to the media could help a bit more...

I must say, the most disturbing one for me is the one on the Hofbräuhaus ceiling...
I find it hard to believe that the paint is original since WW2... and people are there all the time...

Daniel34, as disgusting as that period in Germany's history is, it is still part of the history, no amount of destroying or covering up will change that. I think having remenants of that era present are good to serve to remind all what has happened and what can still happen to a modern society. Not to mention it attracts people from all over the world, there is a great tourist industry in Hitler and the Third Reich €€€.

And the castles of Edward I should be destoryed in Wales as they symbolise the oppression of a nation?

If you go to the Rathaus and the read the inscription on the entrance way, it says that Germany was LIBERATED in 1945 and not conquered. The new Germany began then, the old Reich is long gone.

I have 2 cupboards with swastikas stamped on the back of them:

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Hard to see from the pic but it has 1939 stamped above, an eagle with a swastika in its feet underneath and H.U. stamped under that. Anyone have any ideas what the H.U. might stand for?

Heres a close up of the eagle.

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Kza, those some stylin cupboards...you own them?

Yep got given them a few years back. They arent that stylin to look at though, very simple cheap cupboards...

wow - that's really interesting. Am gonna have to find out if there's anything like that in Augsburg now.

I keep having a look at work (EADS, Augsburg) because it's the old Messerschmitt factory.

There are swastika railings on the ground-floor windows of Landshuter Allee 46 (so near my flat - I don't have a digicam though).

Oops, is this an up-to-date picture? I thought that the ceiling had been repainted in the 50ies.

Nope, still there.

ps. Did you find this post informative?

There is a website that shows a lot of buildings in Germany with explanations of what they were and when. There is quite a few in Munich when you start looking.

http://www.thirdreichruins.com/

Crosslink by admin: Munich during WWII

Well, yes, informative and irritating, as well. I remember that about half a year ago a good friend of mine (we wasted our late youh in the student's dorms in the Adelheidstrasse) who grew up in Las Vegas and went back there 10 years ago - well, he asked me about that topic after a visit to the local branch of the Hofbräuhaus in Las Vegas (a neighbor on the table told this Swastika story). I then metasearched about 10 minutes and found a reference to this being an urban legend - so my knowledge is seriously lacking here and I should take a look for myself.
You know, visiting the Hofbrauhaus as a local resident is kind of a hardcore experience. You bump into either tourists or retro bavarian traditionalists. But, hey, this is worth some investigation
If I manage to find my search results in my mail outbox, I might post the link here. There were lots of references to the swastikas, as well.

Right then,

Something has been driving me nuts the last few weeks before I move out from Gern.

According to this there exists a Swastika on a building in the street near to me. This was originally documented by a photographer in Munich as part of what I think is a photography project. EB noted it and I have been cycling to the bakery many weekends looking for it. Today I found it.

Also on this building are some what I can only describe as Communist style symbols and at the end at No. 166 Klugstrasse, Gern (reminds me of 666) this symbol.

It sent a chill through me when I saw it.

Has anyone else recently found any symbols from the dark past?

Any other traces of this era still here?

I ask this not as any shape or form of supporter of course but simply out of interest in history. When I see anything from that era it gives me the shits.

Topics merged by admin

I did some student work on a project once concerning the denazification of Munich - seem to remember there were swastikas embedded in the floor of the Musik-Hochschule? Plus a few other places I have forgotten. Anyone know if they are still there?

There are a couple painted on the roof in the Hofbrauhaus. I hadn't noticed until I looked through some pictures I'd taken when friends were visiting...

Take a look at the eagles on the corners (roof) of the IMAX movie theater. There is also a balcony at Kurfürstenplatz whose iron grid I would seriously redesign.
I work right across from the former Luftschutzkommando, now Wirtschaftsministerium (why waste a building designed to last 1000 years just because of some ornamental details ...). The swastikas in the grids are still there in Oettingenstrasse, as we saw, but they were painstakingly removed in the walls facing Prinzregentenstrasse (across from the Nationalmuseum). And I see those disgusting helmets every time I look out the window. Gruesome.

My boyfriend and I stopped at a petrol station in Nordtirol and saw a shelf with all kinds of wines on it. The labels were very strange- some had Bob Marley on them- and we noticed a whole shelf at the bottom had bottles of wine with a Third Reich theme- all the labels had swastikas on them and either Hitler or Himmler as the main character. Creepy. I have a picture, but it's not digital and it's at home somewhere.

This?

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Is this allowed?

Possibly elsewhere, but not in Germany.

Are images of Hitler banned in Germany, then? There's no sign of a swastika on those bottles, but rather the German cross (no idea what the proper name is for that) - which is still used on, for example, German fighter aircraft.

The Iron Cross isn't a Nazi symbol per se, which is why it's still in use.

Well exactly - though I don't think that 'Iron Cross' is the correct name is it? Anybody know what that cross is called properly? I know it's an Iron Cross when it's worn as a medal, but only because it was made out of Iron... Actually, wasn't there a cross made out of a special kind of iron - like the iron made from melting down Hitler's first door knob or something?

National socialist symbols are not banned in Austria. The symbol used by the Bundeswehr is still called das Eiserne Kreuz (Iron Cross).

our old art teacher at school had a schwastika on the wall among other forms of "art". it had a green background as opposed to the normal red one. i seemed to be the only one who thought it was strange, anyone agree?

http://www.eiserneskreuz.de/

@Yeti
I think that Germany is one of the few countries that has banned the actual symbols...

Maltese Cross I think...

Well that's what I thought- don't the Germans have a name for it though, or is 'Iron Cross' really the only name for it? It's hardly made from Iron when it's attached to a Typhoon fighter jet...

@Schotte - Swastikas are ancient symbols that were found in Nordic mythology and I believe that of India - I think it's supposed to signify rebirth.

The maltese cross is different.

The swastika appears in India as a sunwheel symbol.

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I think we're talking about the shape which the "Iron Cross" medal was made out of - in which case I'm pretty sure that is a Maltese Cross, which comes in different forms:

http://images.google.com/images?q=maltese+...b=ii&oi=imagest

However if we're talking about a swastika, then it's certainly not a Maltese Cross.

^The forward poinitng swatsika is an ancoent fertility symbol.

Check the swastika--if it's reversed, it's likely from India or from Buddhism. The mirror image of the Nazi swastika is on pretty much all the Buddhist temples where I'm at (S. Korea).

Only jarring for the first millisecond, until I remember where I am.

As I said, Nordtirol, so Austria.

As mentioned previously, the buddhist "swastika" points the other way. It is also usually not at a 45 degree angle. I've seen it frequently in Vietnam and also in Taiwan, though not in Thailand, Laos or Cambodia. I believe these three countries have a somewhat different version of Buddhism (bit like differences between catholic and orthodox christianity)

Two examples

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I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post the nazi swastika for comparisson, but you can see it here

http://www.adl.org/hate_symbols/processed_...zi_flag_150.gif

Edit: From this site
"The swastika was adopted by Germany’s Nazi Party. Prior to the Nazis co-opting this symbol, it was known as a good luck symbol and was used by various religious groups. Hitler made the Nazi swastika unique to his party by reversing the normal direction of the symbol so that it appeared to spin clockwise."

That's the one. See it all the time.

I would have to move straight from Munich to a place where these would appear on a very regular basis, just to keep the old brain from atrophying...or even much being able to settle on a standard set of symbols...

Actually I have read that the Swastika has roots where it can be either direction. Don't give Adolph too much credit, he just copied a design. So clockwise or counterclockwise can be found throughout history

People argue that to leave these symbols and buildings, which are absolutely connected to the National Socialist regime, serves as a reminder of the past, a warning for todays and tomorrows generation.
What I have a problem with is there is no information present to tell people what they are.
We might know what they are, or what they represent, but do others? Or will people know tomorrow?
So why are they still here?!!

To a few members of the U.S. Navy, the symbol means 'home':

Navy to alter swastika-shaped barracks after aerial photos highlight snafu