Dear JMG, If you've been following the events in Ukraine at all, you might have seen coverage of the increasing use of pagan rune-based symbols on the Ukrainian side. This isn't new: the extreme nationalist/neo-nazi movements in Ukraine have been using them for years, but now they seem to pop up everywhere on uniforms and even at official functions. These symbols were, of course, extensively used by the Nazi Waffen SS as unit symbols. The Wolfsangel, for example, was the symbol of the Waffen SS Division "Das Reich," which not only murdered its way around the Eastern Front, but committed brutal crimes in France in 1944 after the Landings, most notably the infamous massacre of the population of Oradour-sur-Glane. What's extraordinary is that French TV recently broadcast a sympathetic portrait of a female Ukrainian sniper whose uniform prominently displayed this patch. In answer to criticism, pro-Ukrainians have said that these runes long predate the Nazis and anyway they've been used for decades by rock groups and in popular culture generally, so they have no significance. My question is, is there anything going on here? Does the use of runes associated with the Waffen SS have any real life consequences? What could be the implications for western nations of uncritical support of forces that use these symbols? Is there a chance of some kind of magical blow-back?
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If you've been following the events in Ukraine at all, you might have seen coverage of the increasing use of pagan rune-based symbols on the Ukrainian side. This isn't new: the extreme nationalist/neo-nazi movements in Ukraine have been using them for years, but now they seem to pop up everywhere on uniforms and even at official functions.
These symbols were, of course, extensively used by the Nazi Waffen SS as unit symbols. The Wolfsangel, for example, was the symbol of the Waffen SS Division "Das Reich," which not only murdered its way around the Eastern Front, but committed brutal crimes in France in 1944 after the Landings, most notably the infamous massacre of the population of Oradour-sur-Glane. What's extraordinary is that French TV recently broadcast a sympathetic portrait of a female Ukrainian sniper whose uniform prominently displayed this patch.
In answer to criticism, pro-Ukrainians have said that these runes long predate the Nazis and anyway they've been used for decades by rock groups and in popular culture generally, so they have no significance.
My question is, is there anything going on here? Does the use of runes associated with the Waffen SS have any real life consequences? What could be the implications for western nations of uncritical support of forces that use these symbols? Is there a chance of some kind of magical blow-back?