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What does a swastika mean?

JL;DR SUMMARY Arno Rosenfeld's article delves into the complex symbolism of the swastika, exploring its association with Nazism, white supremacy, and antisemitism, as well as its controversial use in anti-Israel propaganda. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

HolocaustHate CrimesDeborah LipstadtNazismSwastikaSymbolismYeshayahu LeibowitzPolitical Messaging

Places mentioned

Draketown, Georgia, United States
"Members of the National Socialist Movement, one of the largest neo-Nazi groups in the US, hold a swastika burning after a rally on April 21, 2018 in Draketown, Georgia."
Brooklyn, New York, United States
"Vandals who sprayed swastikas on a Jewish school in Brooklyn last fall made a clear statement, as did two teens who added antisemitic slogans to the swastika drawn outside a home in suburban Detroit in April,"
Queens, New York, United States
"Heil Hitler to their graffiti on a Jewish community center in Queens earlier this month."
Seattle, Washington, United States
"Other cases are murkier. Sometimes swastikas appear without explanation scrawled in public bathrooms or bus stops. Hikers in Seattle have grown frustrated with recurrent swastika graffiti on a popular trail that in one instance was paired with an ominous, if confusing, message: Hes waching [sic]."
San Francisco, California, United States
"A man in my San Francisco neighborhood liked to wear a shirt featuring an enormous red swastika, which startled me every time I saw it, even though it also said F Nazis and featured a boot stomping on the symbol."
Dresden, Saxony, Germany
"A prohibition sign with a swastika is seen on the bonnet of a car during a demonstration near the fairground in Dresden, eastern Germany on April 10, 2021, where a congress of the far-right Alternative fuer Deutschland party was taking place."
New York, United States
"...and a similar but rather odd version of this flag purple and featuring two swastikas alongside a Jewish star atop the New York University logo flew over a building on campus last week."
Austria
"Jean Amry, a Jewish writer from Austria who survived the Holocaust, wrote about his great dismay with the European lefts turn against Israel and Zionism including Nazi comparisons... "
Israel
"The argument that Israels opponents are using the Holocaust in offensive ways to score cheap political points is weakened, somewhat, by the kneejerk insistence by many of the countrys supporters that Iran and Hamas are equivalent to the Nazis and that its Oct. 7 attack was an act of genocide."
Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
"...at a synagogue in Cologne, West Germany, in 1959 and rapidly spread across the globe stretching from Rhodesia to the United States and even Israel was revealed in the past few..."

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Cairo Item ID 82665
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2026-05-21 05:31:17 UTC
Curated 2026-05-21 08:30:35 UTC