There’s something shocking and extremely disturbing about a Swastika – the indisputable memory of fascism, racism, World War II, and the Holocaust.The to eye of many people, a Swastika is reminiscent of Hitler’s death machine – which was responsible for the death of millions and millions of people. Torture, Auschwitz, the “showers” and concentration camps. Eugenics, Aryan supremacism, anti-homosexuality, the extermination of the Jewish race… Yep, that’s what used to come to mind when I saw a Swastika.
Thus you can imagine my surprise when I first step foot in South Korea last year - where flags of Swastikas are all over the country. On tourist maps, you can find several swastikas as well. And, get this; Buddhists proudly display Swastikas on their pamphlet, books and temples.
Really? Those little monks who shave their head and seek harmony between men and nature?
The explanation was quite simple: Korea is not nazi. Nor is India, China or any other country where the Swastika is proudly displayed.
The Nazis appropriated themselves with what they believed to prove their theory of a supremacist Aryan race. Even long before Hitler, German volkisch nationalist movements were using the Swastika.
The Swastika has been a religious sign of life and good luck for thousands of years – in Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism and even Native American traditions. It is originally the counter-clockwise version. 
The Nazi Swastika, on the other hand, is the clockwise one, slightly inclined to the left. Its meaning is the complete opposite – that is, one of death and hate.
