In the 2000s, white supremacists created a handsign intended to memorialize the Schutzstaffeln or SS of Nazi Germany, Hitler's secret police, political army, and concentration camp guards. The handsign utilizes both hands to make a lightning bolt symbol, as a pair of lightning bolts was the main symbol of the SS. Additional Images:

White supremacy and the SS Bolts. Find out the history of the neo-Nazi SS Bolts, and the current usage of one of the most powerful hate symbols in history.

During World War II, Nazi Germany fielded nearly 40 divisions of the so-called Waffen (or armed) SS, creating a private army for SS leader Heinrich Himmler.  These divisions fought on every front of the war in Europe, often committing war crimes and atrocities.  After the war, the Nuremburg Tribunal declared the SS a criminal organization.  However, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists glorified the Waffen SS and eventually began to use the various divisional insignia of these…

The Sturmabteilung (or SA) symbol is the emblem of Hitler's brownshirted stormtroopers (Sturmabteilung or "storm units" in German).  The Sturmabteilung were paramilitary formations used by Hitler to intimidate political opponents and Jews before and after his rise to power in Germany.  It declined after 1934 when its leaders were murdered at Hitler's orders and was largely supplanted by the SS.  After World War II, some neo-Nazis, especially in Europe, turned to the…

The swastika is an ancient symbol used in many cultures that was adopted by Adolf Hitler and turned into a symbol of hatred. Since then, the swastika has become perhaps the most notorious hate symbol in Western culture.

ALTERNATE NAMES: Death's Head"Totenkopf" is German for "death's head" or skull and typically refers to a skull-and-crossbones image.  During the Nazi era, Hitler's Schutzstaffel (SS) adopted one particular Totenkopf image as a symbol.  Among other uses, it became the symbol of the SS-Totenkopfverbande (one of the original three branches of the SS, along with the Algemeine SS and the Waffen SS), whose purpose was to guard the concentration camps.  Many original members of this…

Members of the white supremacist group Volksfront have used several handsigns to represent their gang. A common one-handed sign features the fingers of the right hand divided into a "V" shape, often held over the chest. A two-handed sign uses one hand to make a "V" shape (using two or four fingers) and the other hand to make the shape of the letter "F."

Volksfront is a hybrid racist skinhead gang/neo-Nazi group that started in the Pacific Northwest in the 1990s.

ALTERNATE NAMES: Wolf's Hook, DopplehakenThe Wolfsangel is an ancient runic symbol that was believed to be able to ward off wolves. Historically, it appeared in Germany in many places, ranging from guidestones on the sides of roads to heraldic use in the coats of arms of various towns; there is even a German city called Wolfsangel. Along with many other runic symbols, Nazi Germany appropriated the Wolfsangel. It appeared as part of the divisional insignia of several Waffen-SS units, including…

Zyklon B was the name of the sodium-cyanide-based gas used to kill over a million victims, most of them Jews, in the death camps constructed by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. Because of its association with killing Jews, Zyklon B has been adopted as a symbol by modern-day white supremacists, who often use it to make sick jokes about killing Jews. Additional Images:

ALTERNATE NAMES: Nazi FlagThe flag of Nazi Germany has become one of the most potent hate symbols worldwide. It consists of a black swastika in a white circle over a red background (the colors are the same as the Imperial German flag). Originally developed as the flag of the Nazi Party in 1920, it also became the flag of Germany itself after the Nazis took power in 1933. Various elements of the Nazi government and Nazi Party developed many variations and forms of the basic Nazi flag. Since…