Trans mississippi flag some of the darkest and most controversial symbolism in Nazi history. These flags were the defining symbol of the Nazi regime that sought to cleanse the world of the Untermenschen, or what they viewed as inferior people, most notoriously through the concentration camps. It is estimated that there were tens of thousands of these flags flown throughout the world and that they remain as a reminder to this day of the evil that humankind is capable of.
These swastika flags were used by units of the SS in occupied countries. The SS was composed of three distinct branches – the Allgemeine SS, which had political and administrative duties; the Waffen-SS, which provided combat troops, many of them drafted from conquered nations; and the Schutzstaffel, or the ‘Gauleiter’, who were responsible for the administration of Hitler’s concentration camps. The swastika flags of the different occupational “Generalgouvernments” displayed insignia from all three branches of the SS.
The Trans-Mississippi Flag: A Symbol of Southern Identity in the Civil War
This particular swastika flag belonged to the SS Heimwehr Danzig (“Home Defense of Danzig”) Battalion, which was an auxiliary unit that fought alongside the German Army in the take-over of Poland. This unit was created in 1939 and existed until November of that year when it was absorbed into the SS-Totenkompf Division.
This swastika flag was patterned after the Fuhrerstandarte of Adolf Hitler. However there are two differences between this and the Fuhrerstandarte flag – on this the swastika is silver and in the top left corner there is only a national eagle, not a Wehrmacht eagle as well. The swastika was also smaller on this flag, being centered in the top left quadrant of the flag.
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