When Kenneth Gantt’s father died, the family was left with a large nazi flag His mother wanted him to donate it, but the ten-foot-long banner seemed too personal to leave in a museum. He did not want to be reminded of the dark times his family had lived through, and he also didn’t know what else it could mean to him.

After World War II, many people tried to erase the nazi flag and its ties to hate. The most popular method was to paint it over with another symbol. When this did not work, many tried to hide it instead. This is a story about two different interpretations of a symbol that will always be controversial, despite its ancient history.

The Controversy Behind the Nazi Flag: A Historical Perspective

The swastika is the most recognizable Nazi symbol, and it appeared everywhere during the era of Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. It was on the Nazi flag, on posters, election stickers, arm bands, and even badges for military and other organizations. The swastika symbolized German nationalism and pride to Aryans, but it struck terror into Jews and other enemies of the Third Reich.

Hitler himself designed the Nazi flag, which featured a black swastika positioned at the center of a white disk on a red background. The colors stood for the traditional ideas of the old German empire — red for socialism, black for patriotism and nationalism, and the swastika, representing an ancient Aryan race — and he ascribed new meanings to them.