FINNISH VETS SELLING SWASTIKA RINGS
Finnish vets group selling swastika rings (JTA)
A Finnish veterans' group is selling silver rings engraved with a swastika as a fund-raiser.
The Finnish Veterans' Association said the $86 ring is being sold to raise money for 80,000 World War II veterans. It said the swastika is not intended to have any relation to the Nazi emblem.
The swastika is a symbol in Finnish culture predating World War II and was used to represent the Finnish air force between 1918 and 1945.
Finns to date have purchased 16,000 rings, according to a report in the German magazine Der Spiegel. The rings are available through Dec. 31 at R-Kioski supermarkets in Finland and online.
The ring sale recalls the 1940 "Air Defense" ring, part of a wartime campaign to raise funds for the air force that was battling the Soviet Union. The Finns traded in gold wedding bands and other valuables for a ring made of iron.
1 comment:
If people would really read more history
this wouldn't even be a news subject
abroad.. but I do understand the Germans for making a news about it since they are rather traumatized with the whole swastika deal
concerning the nazis.
we did use and still use "hookcross"
in for example airforces flight squadron flag and the "swastika"
in this context doesn't have anything to do with nazism.
as Ms Mikkonen states in the original article: "Its not a negative symbol to us".
this is true to a certain point.
the Finnish hookcross most be in proper context (military decorations, flags, standards, this ring for example) before its meaning is not negative.
-greetings from Finland.
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