The sonnenrad has received international attention recently, as part of a now superseded insignia of Ukraine’s Azov regiment. On the other hand, Gendron clearly wanted the branding to be seen and shared – in addition to including it in his manifesto, he also displayed the sonnenrad prominently on his chest during the shooting. This has probably contributed to its appeal for neo-Nazis in the recent past, who display it as an alternative to the swastika that can be passed off as a medieval emblem without alerting others to their extremism. It appears in a mosaic in a castle redesigned by Heinrich Himmler as a centre for the SS, but it wasn’t a prominent symbol used by the Third Reich. robin.ph / Shutterstockīut the sonnenrad is actually an invention of the Nazis, possibly based on Merovingian disks. The sonnenrad, or ‘black sun’, is a common appearance in neo-Nazi and far-right imagery. Skye was part of the Norse Kingdom of the Isles for much of the medieval period, and the Norse etymology of the word Storr means “big” or “great”. Gendron’s manifesto connects this symbol with Norse culture by overlaying it on a photo of a landscape, which appears to be the Old Man of Storr, a rock formation on the Isle of Skye. The “ QAnon shaman” had this symbol tattooed alongside other, more neutral images from Norse myth. The sonnenrad is sometimes misconstrued as an ancient symbol connected with the Vikings. The 'sonnenrad' used in shooters' manifestos: a spiritual symbol of hate Both manifestos give particular prominence to a wheel-like symbol known as the sonnenrad, or black sun. Gendron’s manifesto also borrows heavily from the iconography used by the Christchurch terrorist. They found support for their aggression in stories about a necessary war and plundered pre-Christian imagery for the iconography of the Third Reich. The architects of Nazism in the 1930s erroneously viewed Norse mythology preserved in Iceland as a repository of “Germanic” culture and values that had been forcibly erased elsewhere, including by the influence of Christianity. Norse symbolism has long appealed to the far right. Gendron probably didn’t read beyond the Christchurch terrorist’s manifesto, which makes a very similar contradictory reference to both the Christian god and Valhalla. They find what they want to find in Norse myth –- violence, ruthlessness, an existential war that will lead to the rebirth of a new world -– and they read no deeper. Neo-Nazis have never been particularly good at reading the medieval sources they are so drawn towards. According to Norse tradition, Gendron is more likely destined for Náströnd (Corpse Shore): an area of the underworld reserved for cowardly murderers to wade rivers of poison until the end of the world. There is no mention that massacring unarmed civilians earns you a seat at the table. Dying heroically, according to most Norse sources, means having fought bravely in battle. In pre-Christian Norse belief, Valhalla is the hall where those who die heroically are taken to prepare for Ragnarök, the battle at the world’s end, under the watchful eye of the god Odin. Even more recently, the shooter who attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand bookended his manifesto with references to Norse culture. Gendron ended his manifesto with the contradictory message: “God bless you all and I hope to see you in Valhalla.” This follows the lead of the terrorist who attacked a summer camp in Utøya, Norway, who named his guns after the weapons of the Norse gods. His hate-filled manifesto is full of baffling contradictions, vile stereotypes, unhinged conspiracy theories and, predictably, Norse symbolism. Payton Gendron, the suspect in the killing of ten people in a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, is the latest far-right extremist to allegedly murder defenceless people in the name of white supremacy.
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