The Fang is back. And what has she dug up this week? No, this wasn't taken in Germany in 1942, nor it is the Pope with his Nazi scout troup, it's actually from somewhere in the mid-West of the good old USA. There were plenty of pro-fascist "bund" groups in the U.S. before we entered the war, and plenty of folks (Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Ambassador Joseph Kennedy among them) who thought maybe we should have sided with the Narzis as Mel Brooks would call 'em, to fight communism, don't you know.Hence, there were American Nazi rallies in Madison Square Garden and youth groups like the fun lovin' bunch above who can't wait to grow up so they can wear those snazzy SS uniforms.
Speaking of snappy uniforms, check out this clip here and keep in mind the wearers of the wild head gear also posses atomic weapons. As for the above group, I gotta admit, Nazi youth groups looked a lot less creepy back before the skinhead look became fashion De rigour.
Ahhh, the good old days. Everything looks better in sepia.
ReplyDeleteOne more little nazi and you'd have a ball team.
Chances are, though, that this is from the (good old) period when the swastika was nothing but a good-luck symbol of South Asian origin. There was a taxicab fleet in NYC in the '20s that used it as its trademark, and an edition of Rudyard Kipling's collected works with a swastika on each spine. You used to see it on a lot of rugs, and somewhere I've got a postcard of the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD, with a big fat swastika on one of its silos. This photo looks like it's from the '20s, so most likely these guys aren't little bundists.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the symbol on old Navajo blankets and such - a symbol of life, seasons, the four winds...
ReplyDeleteIn North American the symbol was known as Whirling Logs. What a difference a name makes.
"Chances are, though, that this is from the (good old) period when the swastika was nothing but a good-luck symbol of South Asian origin."
ReplyDeleteAn interesting book on the subject is Steven Heller's
The Swastika: Symbol Beyond Redemption? which goes through it's long and illustrious history. BTW did you know the Cucca label out of Wisconsin was originally Swastika Records? For more on the Cucca story see
http://wisconsinmusicblog.blogspot.com
I think I first learned of the non-Nazi Swastika connotations from, of all places, the KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER episode "The Horror in the Heights" -- people thought alla these spray-painted swastikas around Brooklyn Heights were the work of some Nazi sect, but it turned out they were anti-evil talisman things by the old Indian fella hunting the Rakshasa. The shit I learned as a kid...
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I don't think this is the case with the Fang's Boys From Brazil group shot. These kids are clearly pure, chilling evil.
Yes - I have a great shot of Clara Bow in a swastika-adorned dress and cloche hat! There's a newsreel of Najavos doing a swastika "reclaiming" ceremony but ...
ReplyDeleteps. Here's the shot of Clara: http://donnalethal.tumblr.com/post/522215643/clara
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ReplyDeleteSo was Freddy Cannon really singing about German Nationalist Camps in Palisades Park? The mind reels...
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