The Nazi Flag Patch
NAZI FLAG PATCH
The Nazi flag, known informally as the nazi flag patch was the standard of Hitler and his personal staff. It was a rectangular cloth flag consisting of a gold-coloured square of red material in one of several regulated sizes with a black swastika on a white disk, with two different types of eagle emblems in each corner (the upper left and lower right were a party eagle, the center of the flag had a Wehrmacht eagle).
Like other flags, the nazi flag patch was designed to symbolize the ideals, virtues, history, and ideas that the Nazi regime wanted to propagate. The nazi flag patch was a potent symbol of hate, especially in the United States, where it was associated with Nazi-based political movements and organizations, such as the American Nazi Party and the Axis Powers.
Nazi Flag Patches: Examining Their Use and Cultural Impac
After the Nazi regime was defeated in 1945, laws were passed banning the possession of nazi flags, symbols, and images. In some countries where Nazism is still a dominant political force, however, these symbols have taken on neutral or even positive connotations to signify national unity and strength, discipline, anti-colonialism, and law and order.
Despite this, the nazi flag patch is still seen as a powerful hate symbol in many parts of the world. As such, some motorcycle gangs in the United States started wearing the nazi flag patch as a symbol of their outlaw status beginning in the 1950s and in the late 1970s, many punk rock performers and fans openly displayed the nazi flag patch on their clothing.
…
