Nazi Salute

[Bigbander]

Hi guys...long time follower of the TR period...NOT a skinhead...I've read about the period, have a ton of books and have cllected for many years. Was looking at a book just now with early pics of the party and it dawned on me...where did the Nazi salute originate. Anyone have any documented sources...

[Military Trader]

I might be wrong here but I believe its an upraised Roman salute by way of the Italian Fascists.

[Adrian]

I always thought it was a version of the ancient Roman salute and after quick search on Google and Wiki I found this:

Although the Italian fascists associated the salute with ancient Rome, Hitler and the SS leader Heinrich Himmler believed that it originated from ancient gatherings of Germanic peoples.
Hitler regarded the salute as a demonstration of the warlike spirit of the Germans, while Himmler regarded it as a variant of the gesture of giving an oath with a raised spear.
Such claims had some justification, since historians had long argued that similar gestures were used at the installation of ancient Germanic kings.<SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-0>[1]</SUP> Illustrations reconstructing such events, and showing the salute, date back to the mid nineteenth century.
The modern Brockhaus Encyclopedia also repeats these claims, stating that the salute derived from gestures used during the coronation of early medieval German kings along with exclamation of "Heil".<SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-1>[2]</SUP> According to the Nazis' Nordicist version of Aryan theory, the rulers of ancient Rome were themselves migrants from Northern Europe, and so, in their view, were likely to have brought the salute to Rome from Germany.

[Chris D.]

Hitlers obsession with ancient Rome.

[Chris D.]

Wow, you guys are fast!

[herrzark]

but before ancient Rome was ancient Greece...the influence for Rome.

[Michael Fay]

but before ancient Rome was ancient Greece...the influence for Rome.

Yes, and of course, the nazis had the idea that the (ancient)Greeks were Aryan too.
"The Doric invaders were Indo-European (aryan) " etc.
Any ethnic group that was seen as building up Civilization HAD to have had at it's origins, a group of Aryans.

So it was totally kosher to use the Italian salute...besides Hitler early on adored the whole Italian Fascist way of doing things...so 'Aryan' on one side and 'Italian Fascist' on the other...it must have worked for Hitler both ways.

[herrzark]

Yes, and of course, the nazis had the idea that the (ancient)Greeks were Aryan too.
"The Doric invaders were Indo-European (aryan) " etc.
Any ethnic group that was seen as building up Civilization HAD to have had at it's origins, a group of Aryans.

So it was totally kosher to use the Italian salute...besides Hitler early on adored the whole Italian Fascist way of doing things...so 'Aryan' on one side and 'Italian Fascist' on the other...it must have worked for Hitler both ways.

thats true...all worked for Hitler good, both sides ''Aryan and Italian Fascist''

[David T]

Must have come from Rome ....but the same salute was used in other countries. It was used in the U.S. during the pledge of allegiance to the flag. Likely the original intent of the salute was to signify allegiance. I just finished reading a book titled " The Devil in the White City" and it mentions the pledge of Allegiance being written some time around the 1893 Worlds Fair in Chicago by a man named Bellamy. I believe the salute may have been called the Bellamy salute in this country. There was aprevious post on this site that had a photo of U.S. school children in the 30s using the salute in class.