Finland’s Air Force said it will stop using the swastika on some of its flags, conceding that it was often viewed as a symbol of Nazism despite predating it.
The Air Force, which began using swastikas since its foundation in 1918, is removing them from flags flown at ceremonial events. Its commanders, who had been gradually erasing the symbol for years, said in a statement that a new flag design would better reflect the Air Force’s “current identity.”
“We could have continued with this flag, but sometimes awkward situations can arise with foreign visitors,” Colonel Tomi Bohm, an Air Force commander, told Yle, Finland’s public broadcaster. “It may be wise to live with the times,” he said.
The new emblem used on flags will feature a soaring golden eagle over a blue circle, surrounded by wings.
The swastika was a widely used and inoffensive symbol until Germany’s Nazi Party adopted it as the enduring mark of its genocidal regime.
It persists as a sign of intolerance, used by neo-Nazis and others to threaten Jews and other minority groups. Many European countries, including Germany, have banned its public display and lawmakers in Finland have considered adopting similar laws.
Finland’s Air Force has used the swastika since 1918, the year it declared independence from Russia in the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution. Its use is a legacy of a Swedish aristocrat, Erik von Rosen, who painted it on an aircraft he donated to the Finnish anti-communist forces in the civil war that followed Finland’s independence.
Mr. von Rosen used the swastika as a personal sign of good luck, though his closeness to Nazi figures in later decades has added to the controversy.
The Finnish military, aware of the scrutiny, has been phasing the swastika out. Air Force Command Finland said it removed the emblem from its insignia in 2017. Some observers noticed in 2020 that the emblem had been quietly scrubbed from uniforms and official websites.
Beyond Europe, the swastika is considered a sacred symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, among other cultures — a status that has led to confusion and revision.
In a polarizing announcement before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, a mapmaking body in Japan said it would stop using the manji, a swastika-like symbol, to mark temples, hoping to avoid situations in which visitors confuse it for a Nazi symbol.
Isabella Kwai is a Times reporter based in London, covering breaking news and other trends.
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