The runic insignia of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (known in German as the ''SS-Runen'') were used from the 1920s to 1945 on ''

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe ...

'' (SS) flags, uniforms and other items as symbols of various aspects of

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

ideology and Germanic mysticism. They also represented virtues seen as desirable in SS members, and were based on ''völkisch'' mystic Guido von List's

Armanen runes Armanen runes (or ''Armanen Futharkh'') are 18 pseudo-runes, inspired by the historic Younger Futhark runes, invented by Austrian mysticist and Germanic revivalist Guido von List during a state of temporary blindness in 1902, and described in h ...

, which he loosely based on the historical

runic alphabet Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised ...

s. SS runes are commonly used by neo-Nazis.

Runes used by the SS

Other esoteric symbols used by the SS

As well as List's Armanen runes, the SS used a number of other esoteric symbols. These included:

References

{{Uniforms, insignia and ranks of Nazi Germany Military insignia Nazi SS Runes in Germanic mysticism Nazi symbolism Fascist symbols

Runes used by the SS

Other esoteric symbols used by the SS

See also

References