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# Swastikas in Finland

##

Last modified: 2026-08-21 by christopher oehler
Keywords: finland | swastika | cross of freedom |
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(11:19) image by Željko Heimer
(Source: Album des pavillons (2000))

- The "Finnish" Swastika
- Cross of Freedom
- President's Flag
- Use by the Finnish Air Force
- Finnish Scouts

See also:

- Air Force Squadron flag
- President of Finland – Flag and Ensign
- Historical Finnish Flags (Previous Presidential Flags)
- Finland: Lotta Svärd organisation (1918–1944)
- Finland
- The Swastika Symbol
- The Honourable Finnish Swastika (by Aarne Ellilä, 2003/2006)

## The "Finnish" Swastika

In Finnish history the swastika appears as a part of "tursaansydän", an ancient symbol of luck and protection.

Source: Wikipedia: Tursaansydän
Jussi Hattara, 21 August 2007

## Cross of Freedom

The Cross of Libery, a Finnish order, was founded in 1918. A renowned artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela1 was commissioned by General C.G. Mannerheim to design the Order's insignia. The insignia is a Cross pattée overlayed by a short armed swastika.
Source: Wikipedia: Order of the Cross of Liberty
Jussi Hattara, 21 August 2007

1 Known to vexillologists for its role in the design of the first Karelian flags – António Martins-Tuválkin, 21 August 2007.

The Cross of Freedom is the oldest order in Finland and the President is its Grand Master. The cross can be described as a yellow swastika on blue cross pattée, in the center a yellow heraldic rose.

> The basic design of the Cross of Liberty, the George Cross (croix pattée aux bords rectilignes) seems to have been a natural choice. Its beautiful, symbolical plain shape, connected well to ancient Finnish symbols, and the same type of cross was also used in the two other Finnish Orders for Merit, the Finnish White Rose (1919) and the Finnish Lion (1942).

> The final shape of the Cross of Liberty came to consist of two crosses, one superimposed on the other, the lower cross symbolising victory, and above it the straight swastika symbolising sun's rays.

Source: Vapaudenristin ritarikunta – Isänmaan puolesta (The Order of the Cross of Liberty – For Fatherland, published by the Order, printed in Porvoo, Finland 1997) – from chapter "English summary" on page 248

Ossi Raivio, 24/26 October 1998

## President's Flag

Carr, in Flags of the World, 1961 [car61], p. 266, writes about the President's Flag:

> The President's Flag is like the naval ensign, but bears in the first quarter what is best described as an heraldic "cross-pattée", in blue, charged with a yellow "fylfot" or swastika-shaped cross, The Cross of Freedom – Finland's most distinguished order.

Jarig Bakker, 18 August 2007

## Use by the Finnish Air Force

The swastika of the Finnish Airforce was adopted when Swedish Count Eric von Rosen donated the first aeroplane to the Finnish government, adorned with his personal good luck symbol blue swastika.
Source: Wikipedia: Eric von Rosen
Jussi Hattara, 21 August 2007

The Finnish Air Force squadron flag was approved on November 8, 1957, more than a decade after the end of World War II.
Miles Li, 17 August 2007

The design appears in pre-World War II flag books and roundel charts, so the 1957 adoption restored the old design that pre-dated Hitler's rise to power. It took a decade for resentment to die, I suspect, before they could go back to their traditional emblem.
Bill Dunning, 17 April 2007

A BBC News article from 2020 about the historical roots of the Swastika on Finnish air force flags, planes and the Presidential Flag; and how the Air Force is dropping it by and by.
See also this article about the worldwide popularity of the Swastika before the rise of National Socialism.
Martin Karner, 11 December 2024

The Finnish Air Force used a swastika in 1918, years before the political party in Germany started using it. Swastikas had also been used in Finnish iconography long before this, e.g. in works by Finnish artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela. During the Finnish civil war of 1918, Gallen-Kallela served as a lieutenant and an adjutant to General Gustaf Mannerheim who was the commander of the 'White' forces and Gallen-Kallela designed much of the symbols of the newly independent country. The connection between Eric von Rosen and his relative by marriage Herman Göring is also not very clear. If anything, von Rosen might have given Göring the idea to use the swastika rather than the other way around. Finland did not adopt the swastika because Finland and Germany were on the same side in the Continuation War of 1941–1944; Finland also used it in the Winter War of 1939–1940, when the Germans helped the Soviet Union trying to conquer Finland. The bottom line is, the Finnish Air Force did not use the swastika because of any connection to Nazism.
More news reports: nbcnews.com, yle.fi, euronews.com [retrieved]
Elias Granqvist, 1 September 2025

Perhaps the Finnish Air Force did not intend to express the connection to Nazism, but some indirect connections do exist: Eric von Rosen, who introduced the swastika to Finland, was a Nazi himself and took part in the founding of National Socialist Bloc, a pre-WW2 Nazi party in Sweden. He might have been the creator of their flag as well, although that is not confirmed yet. Consequently, getting rid of swastika is nothing but good for Finland.
Tomislav Todorovic, 1 September 2025

The Swastika was very deeply rooted in European culture, the earliest artifacts date from 15'000 years ago (see article). But as deeply rooted and cherished it was, as big was the general disgust against it after the Nazi era. This is completely understandable, and rightly so – it will forever be linked with the horrors of Nazism (and should therefore not be trivialized in the political discourse against opponents).
Even if we don't know how much of a Nazi Eric von Rosen was in 1918, the example of Finland shows the parallelism of both meanings, the symbol of luck, and the symbol of rising Nazism. People like him could hide behind the positive meaning, while at the same time propagate Nazism without risk.
Martin Karner, 1 September 2025

## Finnish Scouts

During the International Congress of Vexillology meeting in Stockholm two Finnish members appeared in scout's uniform, which prominently featured a swastika. There was a squabble, during which the Finns said that they were not "Nazis", but were unable to explain the significance of the swastikas. Mr. Laurli died some years ago. He was a respected vexillologist, who took the wisest course by removing the swastika. We owe it to him to explain in full what this matter is about: ignorance. I mean: we respect swastikas on houseflags (Iceland, USA, India), after establishing that it had nothing to do with the Nazis, while we fail to fully explore the significance of the swastika in the Finnish context.
Jarig Bakker, 18 August 2007

In the dispute referred to by Jarig the decoration was a scout medal, again the highest ranking one in Finland, if I understand correctly, which one of the three bore.
Jan Oskar Engine, 20 August 2007