78 Results

Imperial German Flag

Hate Symbol

ALTERNATE NAMES: Imperial War Ensign, ReichskriegsflaggeBecause Germany has banned use of the swastika and other Nazi imagery, some German neo-Nazis use an older flag, taken from Imperial Germany, as a substitute for the Nazi flag. The imperial flag never originally had any racist or anti-Semitic meaning. Although most common in Germany, this usage of the imperial flag can also be found elsewhere in Europe and in the United States. Additional Images:

ALTERNATE NAMES: Imperial War Ensign, Reichskriegsflagge

Iron Cross

Hate Symbol

Learn how white supremacists adopted the neo-Nazi Iron Cross, and the new meanings (both positive and negative) that came from the new adaptation.

Ku Klux Klan Robes

Hate Symbol

The hood and robes of Ku Klux Klan members are the most visible Klan symbol of all. Read about the history and current meanings behind the Klan’s robes.

Life Rune

Hate Symbol

ALTERNATE NAMES: Elhaz Rune, Algis RuneNazi Germany appropriated many pre-Roman European symbols, such as runic symbols, in an attempt to glorify an idealized "Aryan/Norse" heritage. One of these was the so-called "life rune" (from the German Lebensrune), also known as the Elhaz or Algis rune. Elhaz means "elk" and in early Europe this symbol had meanings related to stags or hunting, as well as honor, nobility, or protection. The Nazis used the symbol in various contexts, including the SS's…

ALTERNATE NAMES: Elhaz Rune, Algis Rune

Love Your Race

Hate Symbol

"Love Your Race" is a white supremacist slogan originally popularized by the neo-Nazi National Alliance. In white supremacist literature and fliers, the phrase is often accompanied by an idealized image of a beautiful and/or maternal white woman. It is often used as an indirect means of promoting the so-called "Fourteen Words" slogan: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children." Additional Images:

No Race Mixing

Hate Symbol

White supremacists fear and hate the concept of multiracial couples, relationships or families, believing that such relationships "pollute" the "pure" white race. As a result, a fairly common white supremacist symbol depicts a multiracial couple or family, with a red circle/bar superimposed over the depiction, indicating that such relationships ought to be prohibited. Additional Images:

Noose

Hate Symbol

The hangman's noose has come to be one of the most powerful visual symbols directed against African-Americans, comparable in the emotions that it evokes to that of the swastika for Jews. Its origins are connected to the history of lynching in America, particularly in the South after the Civil War, when violence or threat of violence replaced slavery as one of the main forms of social control that whites used on African-Americans. The noose quickly became associated with the Ku Klux Klan. …

Northwest American Republic

Hate Symbol

The "Northwest American Republic" is a fictional construct created by Harold Covington, a long-time fringe figure in the neo-Nazi movement. It is based on the so-called "Northwest Imperative," a longstanding call by some white supremacists for White people to move to the Pacific Northwest and establish their own country.

Othala Rune

Hate Symbol

ALTERNATE NAMES: Othal Rune, Othila Rune, Odal Rune, Norse RuneThe othala rune is part of the runic alphabet system, a system of writing used (with many variations) across pre-Roman Europe. In the 20th century, Nazis in Germany adopted the othal rune, among many other similar symbols, as part of their attempt to reconstruct a mythic "Aryan" past. Nazi uses of the symbol included the divisional insignia of two Waffen SS divisions during World War II. Following World War II, white supremacists…

ALTERNATE NAMES: Othal Rune, Othila Rune, Odal Rune, Norse Rune

Peckerwood

Hate Symbol

ALTERNATE NAMES: Wood, Woodpile, PWThe word "peckerwood" originated as an African-American slang term for "woodpecker" in the 1800s, but by the early 1900s began to be applied as a racial epithet against whites, with a meaning similar to the term "white trash." In the second half of the 20th century, in prison environments in Texas, California, and possibly elsewhere, the word peckerwood, originally used to refer to white prisoners generally, began to develop a more specific association with…

ALTERNATE NAMES: Wood, Woodpile, PW

Pepe the Frog

Hate Symbol

Pepe the Frog is a popular internet meme used in a variety of contexts. In recent years it has also been appropriated by white supremacists, particularly those from the "alt right," who use in racist, antisemitic or other hateful contexts.

ALTERNATE NAMES: Sad Frog

Phineas Priesthood

Hate Symbol

ALTERNATE NAMES: Phinehas PriesthoodThe concept of the Phineas Priesthood (or Phinehas Priesthood) comes from a 1990 book by white supremacist and Christian Identity follower Richard Kelly Hoskins, Vigilantes of Christendom: The Story of the Phineas Priesthood. Christian Identity is a racist and anti-Semitic sect whose adherents believe that white people are descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel. In his book, Hoskins describes a continuous priesthood of "avengers" who, throughout the…

ALTERNATE NAMES: Phinehas Priesthood

Pit Bull

Hate Symbol

The pit bull has long been used as a skinhead symbol, presumably because of its reputation as a "fighting" dog. Many racist skinheads and other white supremacists own or even raise pit bulls. White supremacists use one specific pit bulll graphic so often that it has become a white supremacist symbol itself. One racist skinhead group, the Keystone State Skinheads (at one time known as Keystone United) even adopted it as part of their logo. Additional Images:

RAHOWA

Hate Symbol

RAHOWA is an acronym for "Racial Holy War," a term created by the Creativity Movement, a white supremacist pseudo-religion, as a rallying cry for the white supremacist cause.

ROA

Hate Symbol

ROA is an acronym for the white supremacist slogan "Race Over All," popularized by the neo-Nazi/racist skinhead gang Volksfront. Additional Images:

Rock Against Communism

Hate Symbol

ALTERNATE NAMES: RACRock Against Communism (RAC) is a euphemism used to refer to several types of white power/hate music (typically Oi! or hatecore punk). Despite its name, RAC more often than not contains no references to "Communism" at all, but focuses on racism and anti-Semitism. The term emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s, after rock music promoters in Great Britain put on a series of "Rock against Racism" concerts. In response, various white supremacist bands led by Ian Stuart and…

ALTERNATE NAMES: RAC

Runic Writing (racist)

Hate Symbol

Runic alphabets are pre-Roman alphabets used widely across Europe, easily recognizable because of their angular characters. There are many different varieties of runic alphabets, of which the most well known is the so-called Elder Futhark (the name is derived from the sounds of the first six characters). Runic alphabets are still used today in many mainstream and non-racist contexts. However, white supremacists have also appropriated the runic alphabet, in large part because Nazi Germany often…

Skrewdriver

Hate Symbol

Skrewdriver, long defunct, is the British white power music band that essentially created white power music as a genre. The band, and its deceased leader, Ian Stuart Donaldson, remain held in the highest esteem by white supremacists.

Sonnenrad

Hate Symbol

ALTERNATE NAMES: Black Sun The word “Sonnenrad” is German for “sunwheel.” Generically, sunwheels constitute a large class of longstanding symbols that can vary significantly but which generally share the basic principle of several straight or crooked lines emanating from a central point or circle (thus being abstracted suns and sunrays). Examples include sun crosses, triskeles/triskelions, kolovrats and swastikas, among others. Sunwheels of various kinds…

ALTERNATE NAMES: Black Sun

The word “Sonnenrad” is German for “sunwheel.” Generically, sunwheels constitute a large class of longstanding symbols that can vary significantly but which generally share the basic principle of several straight or crooked lines emanating from a central point or circle (thus being abstracted suns and sunrays). Examples include sun crosses, triskeles/triskelions, kolovrats and swastikas, among others. Sunwheels of various kinds appear in the traditional symbology of many countries and cultures, including Old Norse and Celtic cultures.

Most sunwheel designs are unrelated to hate or white supremacy, but some do have such associations in certain contexts, such as the swastika. One specific sunwheel design, typically referred to as a “Sonnenrad” or “Black Sun” symbol, has a very specific association with white supremacy, having been invented by the Nazis in the 1930s. It first appeared as a mosaic in a castle in Wewelsburg in Germany that was owned and remodeled by Hitler’s SS.

Following World War II, neo-Nazis in Europe and elsewhere embraced the SS’s Sonnenrad symbol, giving it a new life. In the U.S., its usage eventually spread beyond neo-Nazis to other types of white supremacists as well. This Sonnenrad or Black Sun symbol consists of two concentric circles orbiting a center solid circle, with 12 evenly spaced lightning-bolt-like rays emanating from the center point.

While the center circle of the original design was filled or solid, modern white supremacists frequently swap out the solid circle for an additional hate symbol, often a runic symbol, swastika or some other neo-Nazi symbol.

Unlike many other types of sunwheel symbols, which may have a hate-related usage only in certain contexts, or not at all, the specific Nazi-derived Sonnenrad/Black Sun symbol is almost always used as a white supremacist symbol.

South African Flag (Apartheid Era)

Hate Symbol

In 1928, a few years after unionization, South Africa adopted its first national flag, which consisted of a past version of the flag of the Netherlands combined with miniature flags representing the different colonies that came together to form South Africa. After the end of apartheid, South Africa adopted a new national flag in 1994, as the previous flag had come to symbolize the apartheid regime. Since 1994, white supremacists in South Africa and elsewhere around the world, including the…