Hitler salute

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Hitler salute by the Reichstag members in the Kroll Opera House in Berlin, 1941
Resident of Eger in October 1938 when the German military entered
German Christians at the National Synod in Wittenberg, September 1933
Hail Hitler! as the final formula of an official, typewritten letter from ADERSt , Merano branch , from 1942

The Hitler salute , officially and in National Socialist parlance also known as the German salute , was the usual form of greeting during the Nazi era . It was an expression of the National Socialist personality cult around Adolf Hitler . Initially, it was about the greeting of the NSDAP members, which after the seizure of power in 1933 became the official greeting of all “ national comrades ”.

During the Hitler salute, the right arm was stretched diagonally upwards with a flat hand at eye level. The words "Heil Hitler" or "Sieg Heil" were usually spoken for this purpose. When the greeting was given to Adolf Hitler personally, the greeting was “Heil mein Führer ”, based on the salutation “Mein Führer”. In writing, for example, the words "Heil Hitler" were placed under a letter.

Origins

From around 1925, the Hitler salute was the usual form of greeting in the National Socialist circles of the German Reich . The earliest evidence is a Munich police report from April 28, 1926, in which the clenching of the fist is erroneously described as part of the gesture. Hitler had copied it from Benito Mussolini , who in turn traced his greeting back to the Saluto romano (Roman greeting). At the same time, the identical Bellamy greeting was practiced in the United States from the end of the 19th century . In 1926 the Nazi salute was officially ordered. Hitler's secretary Rudolf Hess justified this in June 1928 in the magazine Der SA-Mann : It was by no means a takeover from Italian fascism . Rather, it had been common in the NSDAP since 1921. And even if it were a takeover, that was not a problem, since Bolshevism and Freemasonry also had their symbols and identifying marks.

Hitler had also brought the greeting with him from his Austrian homeland, where " Heil " was used as a greeting among friends - and is still used today in the western parts of the country - as was the case with " Servus " in Bavaria . However, the “Heil” cry and its designation “German greeting” had been widespread early on in the DAP as well as in many other “ethnic” groups. In addition, it should be avoided that henchmen who are not trained in this do not correctly perform the military salute (hand with angled arm on the temple). Hitler was also an avid supporter of Richard Wagner , in whose opera Lohengrin the first appearance of the title hero begins with the following words:

“Hail, King Heinrich! May
God stand by your sword with blessings!
Glorious and great, your name should
never fade from this earth! "

Hitler knew the libretto of Lohengrin by heart and he knew both this opera and the Rienzi , the “opera full of calls for salvation”, from his youth in Linz.

Rudolf von Sebottendorf complained that the “Sieg Heil!” Stems from “Heil und Sieg!”. This saying was coined by members of the Thule Society in the 1920s and, in his opinion, adopted by Hitler in a shortened form.

For Hitler and the Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler it was allegedly not insignificant that the greeting could be traced back to “old Germanic” preforms: Hitler is said to have said that he viewed it as a demonstration of the lack of weapons, while Himmler viewed it as a variant of the oath gesture with a raised spear have.

time of the nationalsocialism

In the time of National Socialism from 1933 to 1945, the Hitler salute as a German greeting was widespread throughout the German Reich . Due to the frequent use, the greeting was sometimes polished to a short "Hitler" as well as "Heiliger".

Info letter from 1935

During this time the National Socialist battle salute ("Heil Hitler", "Sieg Heil" or just "Heil!") Was mandatory and was expected in daily public life by every "national comrade" as an active commitment to National Socialism that was repeated every day. This made the orientation of the German Reich as a leader state clear. Failure to respond to the Hitler salute could lead to considerable anger and was even punished in the last years of National Socialist rule. Conclusions about the mood and attitude of the population were drawn from the use or non-use of this greeting. So wrote z. B. Victor Klemperer in his diary on June 9, 1941: “The mood is very bad. The workers turn away. They used to say 'Heil Hitler', now they say 'Guten Tag'. ”And on September 2, 1941:“ You count how many people in the shops say 'Heil Hitler' and how many say 'Guten Tag'. The 'hello' should increase. "

During the carnival days , the use of the Hitler salute should be avoided as far as possible in order to protect it from "degradation". According to the former Bavarian National Socialist Interior Minister Hermann Esser , the right hand should be given to the heart instead.

Appeal of the Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel to the Hitler salute as a sign of gratitude (around 1934)

The manner of greeting could lead to suspicions. The Gestapo investigated the Protestant pastor Max Monsky, who was active in Austria, when an anonymous complaint was received against him. The senior responsible at the scene was asked by letter:

“In the way in which Pf. Monsky greeted the German greeting, did you notice his intention to mock or mock this greeting? Or have you noticed that other listeners recognized a derisive intention? "

The "Heil Hitler!" With which Cardinal Theodor Innitzer concluded his text in favor of the annexation of Austria attracted attention . It was posted all over the German Reich.

In official correspondence, no final greeting was often given. This possibility and the other two possibilities ("Heil Hitler!", Traditional closing greeting such as "Yours sincerely") came up frequently, as was shown in an examination of around 2,200 letters from and to the Academy of Sciences in Vienna . The paraphrase “With German greetings” was also rather rare.

The National Socialist film policy avoided the use of the greeting in entertainment films. An exception is the comedy Der Gasmann from 1941, when the gas cashier played by Heinz Rühmann ironically says goodbye to a lady who does not want to pay her gas bill with "Well then - Heil Hitler!"

Reichswehr and Wehrmacht

In the Reichswehr and later in the Wehrmacht , the "German greeting" was not introduced as universally mandatory for a long time, but was initially forbidden for uniformed soldiers and instead the traditional greeting was retained as a prescribed form of greeting. However, this was by no means exclusive. As early as September 19, 1933, a decree issued by the Reichswehr Ministry stipulated that soldiers should perform the "German salute" whenever the national anthem or the Horst Wessel song was played, as well as with all salutations to civilian members of the government and administration. This decree explicitly stipulated the "old military forms of greeting" for all other situations regardless of the clothing and headgear of the saluting soldier. According to the existing use of the Reichswehr, however, the only way to greet people without a headgear was to turn their heads - the “old military forms of greeting” did not allow for a hand movement. In the Wehrmacht at the latest from 1935 onwards, the distinction was established that with headgear, traditionally military by laying hands on the headgear, without headgear, however, "German" with an outstretched arm, so that the Hitler salute was already in fact mandatory in many situations at that time .

  • Funeral of fallen sailors by Admiral Graf Spee in 1939: clergymen with “German greetings” (left), captain zS Hans Langsdorff (center) greets traditionally and militarily.

  • General von Stülpnagel greets traditionally and militarily, January 1941

  • Navy officers (including Dönitz ) without headgear greet with “German greetings”, 1941

After the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944 , the Hitler salute was ordered as the only permitted salute for all parts of the Wehrmacht at any time, presumably to urgently demand their loyalty to Hitler.

Even after Hitler's death, Colonel-General Georg Lindemann , Wehrmacht commander in Denmark, demanded that the Hitler salute be maintained for his troops, albeit in vain. Finally, on May 8, 1945, Reich President Karl Dönitz prohibited the Hitler salute in the Wehrmacht .

Reichsbahn

The "German greeting" was officially introduced at the Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1935. In order to avoid confusion with the departure order for trains in railway operations, it was forbidden in the area of ​​the track systems, on all vehicles and on the platforms. The "military salute" was to be used here. Just a few weeks after the Hitler salute had been introduced, it had to be pointed out that it should also be carried out "properly" and not just carelessly.

Führer greeting

Hitler greets party comrades

A variant of the greeting, in which the arm is not stretched out, but bent backwards, made it possible to pay off the greeting even with physical ailments that make it impossible to stretch out the arm. This form of greeting was also used when tight spaces did not allow the arm to be stretched out or when the person to be greeted was directly opposite the person to be greeted.

Hitler himself usually greeted this way, even when the circumstances did not make it necessary. This was notably satirized by Charlie Chaplin in the 1940 movie The Great Dictator . His character Adenoid Hynkel raised his right hand in boredom and even seemed to forget why he actually had his hand up, thus illustrating the extremely one-sided affection between the “Führer” and his people. In contrast, some of the subordinates greeted them with exaggeration and greatly exaggerated.

In English the verb to heil was also formed; it was the time of language constructions such as sieg-heiling the Fuehrer .

Sporting events

Athletes and officials with their right hand raised at the award ceremony in the modern pentathlon at the 1936 Summer Olympics

On August 7, 1933, Josef Klein made the Hitler salute mandatory in German football. On June 6th, he was able to get the greeting through in the West German Football Association . But not all athletes used the Hitler salute. For example, the football player Walther Pahl refused , who was then banned from all football games by the DFB .

The similarity of the Hitler salute with the Olympic salute makes it difficult to distinguish, especially in connection with the Olympic Games in 1936 , whether the raised right hand should be used to honor the Olympic movement or National Socialism. At the opening ceremony of the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin and the 1936 Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen , for example, the French Olympic team raised their right arm as they entered the stadium in an Olympic salute, which was shown for the first time in Paris in 1924. The audience misunderstood this as a Hitler salute or "German greeting" and cheered the supposed homage .

John Heartfield

The German graphic artist John Heartfield published a photomontage in 1932 with the title The meaning of the Hitler salute or millions stand behind me . Here a little Hitler stretches his hand back to greet the Fiihrer, while a representative of big business puts money in his hand.

Humorous modifications

In the years of National Socialist rule, there were also variations of the Hitler salute. For example, the so-called swing youth used the phrase “Swing Heil” to make fun of the Nazis who were hostile to them. In parts of occupied France and also in the German Reich itself, "Heilt Hitler" was used occasionally. "Answers" to the greeting such as "Am I a doctor?", "Is he sick?" Or "Can you heal him" were used as corruption . In the German Reich such replies were punished by up to 18 months in prison from 1937 at the latest. The writer Ernst Jünger reported how one could pull oneself out of the affair with a quickly spoken “three liters!” If the official greeting would not come out of one's lips.

The Hitler salute in the cartoon

Herbert Marxen: Do you want total war? , around 1945

Herbert Marxen , a Flensburg cartoonist from the last years of the Weimar Republic and contemporary witness, made one of his well-known caricatures on the subject of total war or the Hitler salute .

After the Second World War

German-speaking area

Criminal law

After the Second World War , the Hitler salute was banned in Germany and Austria . In the Federal Republic of Germany, the use of the Hitler salute and other forms (such as "Mit Deutschem Gruße") is punishable by Section 86a of the Criminal Code ( use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations ) and Section 130 ( sedition ).

The offense in Germany is limited by the freedom of art, freedom of expression , research and teaching, documentaries, plays and obviously critical use in which the distancing from Nazi rule is clearly and clearly expressed. An example of the latter group of cases is the case that a person affected by a police check shows the Hitler salute and the circumstances clearly show that he is protesting against the police measure and accusing the officials of using Nazi methods.

In the Republic of Austria the Hitler salute is forbidden, showing it fulfills a penalty according to § 3g of the Prohibition Act .

In Switzerland, a ban on the Hitler salute as a supplement to the racism penal norm was discussed for a long time; however, these efforts failed in 2011.

The Jews - and anti-Israel protesters in the foreground, the number is on the forearm eighty-eight tattooed as a code for the Nazi salute

Neo-Nazis therefore sometimes use variants of the Hitler salute, for example the so-called Kühnen salute or the so-called “sloppy Führer salute”, in which the arm is not stretched out, but bent backwards. Furthermore, some neo-Nazis mention the number “ 88 ” as a greeting (meaning: HH for “Heil Hitler”, i.e. twice the eighth letter of the alphabet).

Bold greeting

The bold salute is a modification of the forbidden Hitler salute. The right arm is stretched and the thumb , index and middle fingers spread apart, the other fingers remain bent. The result is a "W" for "resistance". Often, however, only the thumb is spread apart.

To what extent the use of the Kühnengruss in Germany as the use of marks of unconstitutional organizations according to Section 86a (2) sentence 2 of the Criminal Code is punishable by law, is widely regarded as controversial.

The bold salute appeared in connection with the neo-Nazi movement for the first time in the 1970s under the name "Resistance Salute". Presumably it was invented in 1970 by the " Action Resistance ". The modification was intended to circumvent the Nazi salute ban. In 1992 the Resistance Salute was renamed after Michael Kühnen , who acted as neo-Nazi leader from 1977.

In Austria, the bold salute is not punishable because it is not viewed as a symbol of National Socialism. Here he became known to a wider public in 2007 through an article in the daily newspaper Austria . There a photo showed the federal chairman of the FPÖ , Heinz-Christian Strache , who, according to the newspaper, greeted “a well-known Nazi leader” with this gesture. According to his own statement, Strache had only ordered “three beers” and initiated media proceedings .

During the Pegida’s first “walks” in Austria - in Vienna on February 2, 2015 and in Graz on March 29, 2015 - some participants showed the Hitler salute or the bold salute. A person from Graz was found by video recording and sentenced to a conditional prison sentence of 18 months.

Quenelle greeting

Quenelle greeting

In the Quenelle greeting (also: reverse Hitler salute or French Nazi gesture ) the right arm is stretched out with the palm facing down, the other hand is placed across the upper arm. This gesture is sometimes seen as a substitute for the Hitler salute and, depending on the specific context, is also punishable as racial discrimination in Switzerland.

Sports

Even in countries where the Hitler salute itself is not prosecuted, its use can e.g. B. be punished by sports courts: The football players Paolo Di Canio (Italy) and Giorgos Katidis (Greece) were punished for delivering the Hitler salute in the football stadium.

literature

Web links

Commons : Hitler salute  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Hitler salute  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (Ed.): Official Gazette of the Reichsbahndirektion Mainz of February 23, 1935, No. 9. Announcement No. 94, p. 35.
  2. ↑ Dispute about the Queen: Who else used the Hitler salute - WELT. Retrieved August 7, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Albrecht Tyrell (ed.): Führer befiehl ... self-testimonies from the "fighting time" of the NSDAP. Grondrom Verlag, Bindlach 1991, p. 129 f.
  4. ↑ Manfred Ach: The necrodile. How Hitler became what he was. 2010.
  5. ↑ Klaus Gotto, Hans Günter Hockerts , Konrad Repgen : National Socialist Challenge and Church Response. A balance sheet . In: Klaus Gotto, Konrad Repgen (ed.): The Catholics and the Third Reich . 3. Edition. Mainz 1990, pp. 173-190, here p. 174.
  6. ^ Victor Klemperer: Diaries 1940–1941. 2nd Edition. Structure, Berlin 1999, pp. 93, 157.
  7. ↑ Quoted from Gustav Reingrabner , Karl Schwarz (Hrsg.): Source texts on Austrian Protestant church history between 1918 and 1945. Vienna 1989 (=  Yearbook for the History of Protestantism in Austria 104/105, 1988/89), p. 387.
  8. ^ Franz Graf-Stuhlhofer : The Gau-Akt about Cardinal Theodor Innitzer. Insights into conflicts and moods during World War II. In: Austria in History and Literature 55, 2011, pp. 148–156.
  9. ^ Franz Graf-Stuhlhofer: "Heil Hitler!" At the end of letters. Observations on the correspondence of the Vienna Academy of Sciences . In: Austria in History and Literature 40, 1996, pp. 125–128.
  10. ↑ Florian Odenwald: The Nazi struggle against the 'un-German' in theater and film 1920–1945 . Herbert Utz, Munich 2006, p. 333.
  11. ^ Tilmann Allert: The German greeting. Story of an ominous gesture. Berlin 2005, p. 115, note 45.
  12. ↑ Friction redivivus . In: Der Spiegel . No. 5 , 1960 ( online ).
  13. ↑ Ian Kershaw : The End. London 2011, ISBN 978-0-141-01421-0 , p. 367. (Kershaw describes Lindemann as Commander-in-Chief in Norway.)
  14. ^ Critical online edition of the diaries of Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber (1911–1952). Diary entry from May 8, 1945 EAM, NL Faulhaber 09265, pp. 57–58. In: Faulhaber-Edition.de. Retrieved May 8, 2019 .
  15. ↑ Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (ed.): Official Gazette of the Reichsbahndirektion Mainz of February 23, 1935, No. 9. Announcement No. 94, p. 35.
  16. ↑ Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (ed.): Official Gazette of the Reichsbahndirektion Mainz of March 30, 1935, No. 14. Announcement No. 143, p. 55.
  17. ↑
    Wiktionary: Heil  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
    (English)
  18. ↑ John Heartfield: The meaning of the Hitler salute: Little man asks for great gifts. Motto: Millions stand behind me! In: metmuseum.org. September 30, 2014, accessed February 19, 2015 .
  19. ^ Tilmann Allert: The German greeting. 2005, p. 25.
  20. ^ Tilmann Allert: The German greeting. 2005, p. 64.
  21. ^ Tilmann Allert: The German greeting. 2005, p. 74.
  22. ↑ BVerfG v. November 3, 1987 - 1 BvR 1257/84, 861/85, BVerfGE 77, 240 (253-258) = NJW 1988, 325 (325 f.).
  23. ↑ Steinmetz, in: Munich Commentary on the Criminal Code , 2nd edition 2012, § 86a, Rn. 32.
  24. ↑ a b c Elbow, in: Beck'scher Online Comment StGB , 27th Edition, as of June 2, 2015, § 86a, Rn. 11.
  25. ^ Elbow, in: Beck'scher Online Comment StGB , 27th Edition, as of June 2, 2015, § 86a, Rn. 9; BGH NJW 2007, 1602.
  26. ↑ See OVG Koblenz StV 2009, 90 L, decision of January 28, 2008, Az. 1 Ss 331/07.
  27. ^ Fritz Gerber: Hitler salute soon a case for the judge. In: 20min.ch. February 22, 2010, accessed February 19, 2015 .
  28. ↑ Daniel Foppa: Nazi symbols are not banned after all. In: tagesanzeiger.ch. September 20, 2011, accessed July 12, 2019 .
  29. ↑ See also the judgment 6B_697 / 2013 of the Federal Court of April 28, 2014 (intended for publication)
  30. ↑ Steinmetz: Munich Commentary on the Criminal Code, § 86a, Rn. 20, with further references
  31. ↑ Kett-Straub: NStZ 2011, 601 (602)
  32. ^ "Substitute gesture" for the Hitler salute. (No longer available online.) In: orf.at. January 27, 2007, archived from the original on March 28, 2009 ; Retrieved February 19, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.orf.at
  33. ↑ “Kühnen Greetings” not punishable. In: oe24.at. January 24, 2008, accessed February 19, 2015 .
  34. ↑ Kühnen greeting Straches? Proceedings adjourned. In: wien.orf.at. January 24, 2008, accessed February 19, 2015 .
  35. ↑ Budget debate: Not even three beers for the FPÖ ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Salzburger Nachrichten, April 26, 2007  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / blogs.salzburg.com
  36. ↑ Der Standard : Hitler salute at Pegida demo: 18 months conditional imprisonment for Grazer , September 14, 2015
  37. ^ France's tricky noodle debate , Spiegel-Online, December 29, 2013
  38. ↑ a b "Quenelle" greeting is a criminal offense , SRF, August 3, 2017
  39. ^ Martin Mazur: Cross-examination with Paolo Di Canio. fussballmagazin 4-4-2, December 2006, p. 110 ff.
  40. ^ Giorgos Katidis, el último futbolista fascista. In: mundodeportivo.com. March 18, 2013, Retrieved February 19, 2015 (Spanish).
  41. ↑ Lothar Schröder: Important study on the Hitler salute. In: nachrichten.rp-online.de. August 19, 2010, accessed February 19, 2015 .
  42. ↑ Table of contents, Chapter 1 (PDF, reading sample)