Civil police in Brazil were stunned recently when they spotted a giant swastika emblazoned on the bottom of a swimming pool as they flew overhead during an unrelated anti-kidnapping operation.
According to the Telegraph , the swastika was spotted in the town of Pomerode in the state of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil. Police sighted it from a helicopter, and after investigating, determined that the Nazi symbol had been at the bottom of the pool for 13 years. Officials are unable to file any charges against the homeowner, as the swastika and pool are on private property. The owner, who has not been publicly identified, related to police that he is not using the swastika to promote Nazi views.
As CNN notes, the swastika was once an ancient and sacred symbol for many cultures. Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party appropriated it in 1920, making the swastika an integral part of their iconology and defining its recent history.
Giant SWASTIKA spotted in swimming pool of luxury mansion http://t.co/LnElVYwnEu pic.twitter.com/n6bErJcJSs
— Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) December 5, 2014
Though the owner of the house has not been accused of Nazism, South America has long been a haven for Nazis that escaped Europe after World War II. Members of the Nazi party, in some cases very high ranking individuals, fled to Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia and Chile.
The Santa Catarina region, in particular, has a history of immigration from Europe. In Pomerode, where the swastika was discovered, the vast majority of the population of 25,000, fully 90 percent, is of German descent. Many residents in the area still speak German fluently.
Recently, gift wrap carried by Walgreens stores was recalled, after a customer noted a swastika in a blue block line pattern on the paper. As the Inquisitr previously reported, the swastika was first noticed by Cheryl Shapiro at a store in Northridge, California. Shapiro, who is Jewish, reached out to her rabbi and also the store’s manager, in an attempt to make sure the swastika gift wrap was not only recalled from that store, but also nationally.
Walgreens pulls “swastika” wrapping paper because… swastikas http://t.co/dN92bx1MGx pic.twitter.com/PqFcSuLiXf
— Emily Cohn (@emily_cohn) December 9, 2014
Last month, a set of Christmas decorations emblazoned with swastikas was offered for sale on a Czech auction site. The red and white bulbs each featured a large circle displaying a swastika, and the seller claimed that they were original decorations used by S.S. members over 70 years ago. Though he stated in his auction that the sale was for purposes of collection only, the decorations were no less shocking to observers than the swastika found at the bottom of the Brazilian pool.
[Image via the Daily Mail ]
