Finland to remove swastikas from unit flags after ‘awkward situations’
The Finnish Air Force has decided to remove swastikas from it’s unit flags to avoid “awkward situations” with foreign visitors. The swastika was originally adopted as the Air Force emblem in 1918, before the symbol became associated with Nazi Germany. The symbol’s use continued even after World War II, though it has been gradually phased out in recent years.Colonel Tomi Böhm, commander of the Karelia Air Wing, explained that the decision reflects changing times rather than political pressure.The swastika’s original use by Finland traced back to a donation of a plane marked with a swastika as a good luck charm, unrelated to Nazi symbolism. Though, due to its negative connotations worldwide, especially after WWII, the Finnish Air Force began removing the symbol from insignia in 2020, with a full removal from flags expected soon.
Finland to remove swastikas from unit flags after ‘awkward situations’
The Finnish Air Force will remove swastikas from its unit flags, with a commander citing “awkward situations” as the reason.
Finland adopted the swastika as the emblem of its Air Force in 1918, two years before the German Nazi Party adopted it. Despite the symbol falling out of use since 1945 due to its association with Nazi Germany, Finland has continued to use it. Colonel Tomi Böhm, the new commander of Finland’s Karelia Air Wing, told Yle Thursday that it will finally ditch the controversial symbol.
“We could have continued with this flag, but sometimes awkward situations can arise with foreign visitors. It may be wise to live with the times,” he said.
Böhm said he was involved in the process of replacing the flags, but didn’t give a timeline for when they would be replaced.
“The world has changed, and we live according to the times. There has been no political pressure to do this,” he added.
Finland’s Air Force was created in 1918, after Swedish Count Carl Gustaf Bloomfield Eric von Rosen donated a monoplane to General Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim’s White Army for use in its civil war against the Soviet-supported communists. Von Rosen used a swastika as a good luck charm after reportedly seeing it on a runestone, hearing that it was a good luck charm for the Vikings.
The symbol quickly caught on, and in March 1918, Mannerheim ordered it to be used as the insignia of the Air Force. Notably, the swastika caught on in widespread use in popular culture before it became recognizable as the symbol of the Third Reich.
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The swastika continued to be the symbol of the Finnish Air Force in World War II, during which it allied with Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union. After Finland’s capitulation in 1944, the Allies ordered Finland to strip its aircraft of the swastika due to its connection with Nazism. After tensions cooled in the 1950s, Finland added the swastika to some Air Force emblems, unit flags, uniforms, and decorations, a Finnish Air Force spokesperson told the BBC in 2020.
Finland’s use of the swastika received renewed heat during the global cultural upheavals of the 2010s. The Air Force quietly ditched the symbol from its insignia in 2020, and the symbol’s complete purge will soon follow.
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