
SS runes () is a generic name given to a collection of
pseudo-runes used by the ''
Schutzstaffel
The ''Schutzstaffel'' (; ; SS; also stylised with SS runes as ''ᛋᛋ'') was a major paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II.
It beg ...
'' (''SS''), from the 1920s to 1945, for
Nazi occultism-purposes; featured on flags, uniforms and other items as symbols of various aspects of
Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
ideology and
Germanic mysticism. They also represented virtues seen as desirable in SS members, and were based on
''völkisch'' mystic Guido von List
Guido Karl Anton List (5 October 1848 – 17 May 1919), better known as Guido von List, was an Austrian occultist, journalist, playwright, and novelist. He expounded a modern Pagan new religious movement known as Wotanism, which he claimed w ...
's pseudo-runic
Armanen runes, which he loosely based on the historical
runic alphabets
Runes are the Letter (alphabet), letters in a set of related alphabets, known as runic rows, runic alphabets or futharks (also, see ''#Futharks, futhark'' vs ''#Runic alphabets, runic alphabet''), native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were ...
, but the SS-runes also included other esoteric symbols not borrowed from the Armanen runes. Post World War II, these insignias continue to be used by
neo-Nazi
Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...
individuals and groups.
SS runes
Further reading
* https://www.arild-hauge.com/PDF/Nazi-Tyskland-SS_Regalia.pdf
See also
*
Nazi symbolism
The 20th-century German Nazi Party made extensive use of graphic symbols, especially the swastika, notably in the form of the swastika flag, which became the co-national flag of Nazi Germany in 1933, and the sole national flag in 1935. A very ...
*
Nazism and occultism
References
Sources
*
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{{Uniforms, insignia and ranks of Nazi Germany
Military insignia
Nazi SS
Runes in Germanic mysticism
Nazi symbolism
Fascist symbols