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.