Death Images and Symbols in the Historical and Contemporary German Far Right Wing

In this paper, the author examines how both the National Socialist Party and contemporary right-wing extremist groups and commercial entities have appropriated symbols representing or evoking death or dying from the historical and mythical past, such as symbols from the Christian crusades, images of Viking warfare and mythical battles, as well as coded symbols and references to legends, myths, or historical episodes such as crusades or pogroms against Jews or Muslims. The author examines how and in which kinds of contexts such death symbols are deployed and explores theoretical and empirical explanations for their popularity in the far right.