Forest swastika
The forest swastika was a patch of larch trees covering 0.36 ha (0.89 acres) area of pine forest near Zernikow, Uckermark district, Brandenburg, in northeastern Germany, arranged with their light colors to look like a swastika.
History
[edit]Reports say the larches were planted in 1938. It is unclear how the trees came to be planted and arranged in such a fashion. It seems[how?] they were planted in commemoration of Adolf Hitler's birthday, either by local Hitler Youth members[1] or by a warden.[2]
For a few weeks every year in the autumn and in the spring, the colour of the larch leaves would change, contrasting with the deep green of the pine forest.[2] The short duration of the effect, combined with the fact that the image could only be discerned from the air and the relative scarcity of privately owned airplanes in the area, meant that the swastika went largely unnoticed after the fall of Nazi Germany. During the subsequent communist period, Soviet authorities reportedly knew of its existence but made no effort to remove it.[3] However, in 1992, the reunified German government ordered aerial surveys of all state-owned land. The photographs were examined by forestry students, who immediately noticed the design.
Removal
[edit]The Brandenburg state authorities, concerned about damage to the region's image and the possibility that the area would become a pilgrimage site for National Socialist supporters, attempted to destroy the design by removing 43 of the 100 larch trees in 1995. However, the figure remained discernible with the remaining 57 trees as well as some trees which had regrown, and in 2000 German tabloids published further aerial photographs showing the prominence of the swastika. By this time, ownership of around half the land on which the trees sat had been sold into private hands, but permission was gained to fell a further 25 trees on the government-owned area on 1 December 2000, and the image was largely obscured.
Similar incidents
[edit]In the late 1970s, American troops discovered a swastika along with the numbers "1933" planted in a similar style in Hesse.[4] Who planted the trees is unknown.
In September 2006, The New York Times reported on another (reversed) forest swastika in Eki Naryn, Kyrgyzstan, positioned at 41°26′53″N 76°23′28″E / 41.448°N 76.391°E on the edge of the Tian Shan Mountains. The mirror-image fir tree swastika is about 200 metres (660 feet) across. Myths and legends abound about how and when the swastika came to be planted in Soviet territory.[5]
A pine tree forest with the shape of the word "DVX" (Latin for duce) was planted in 1939 on Mount Giano (near Antrodoco, central Italy) to avoid landslides and is still in place.[6]
In the US state of Oregon, a smiley face was planted in 2011 using larch trees in a pine forest. It can be "spotted by drivers traveling on Oregon 18 between Grand Ronde and Willamina".[7]
See also
[edit]- Olympic oaks, arboreal relics of 1930s Germany
- List of individual trees
Notes
[edit]- ^ Cleaver, Hannah (30 November 2000). "Berlin forest swastika to go but its image may remain". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 9 March 2006.
- ^ a b Askin, Jennifer (4 December 2000). "Germany Destroys Forest Swastika". ABC News. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
- ^ "German forest loses swastika". BBC News. 4 December 2000. Retrieved 9 March 2006.
- ^ Alex Moore (9 July 2013). "Germany's insane 'Swastika Forests' are still an unsolved mystery". deathandtaxesmag.com.
- ^ C. J. Chivers (16 September 2006). "Secrets and Lies Shroud Origins of Giant Swastika". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
- ^ Roma, Redazione (6 January 2017). "Roma: neve sul monte Giano, riappare la scritta «DUX»" (in Italian). Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
- ^ Pasquini, Maria (3 November 2021). "Massive Smiley Face of Trees Appears in Oregon Every Fall — Here's How It Got There". People. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
External links
[edit]- "Swastika made of living trees cut down in German forest" CNN, 4 December 2000, retrieved 9 March 2006
- "Berlin forest swastika to go but its image may remain" from the Daily Telegraph
- (in German) "Der Hakenkreuz-Wald bei Zernikow kam unter die Säge", Berliner Zeitung from 5 December 2000. Accessed through Internet Archive.
- (in German) "Das Kreuz im Wald", Die Zeit, 12 August 2004. URL last accessed 14 March 2006.