Idaho Falls, ID – Court Won’t Remove Pre-Nazi Swastika Tiles

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    Swastika in Bonneville County CourthouseIdaho Falls, ID – Images of red swastikas built into tiles in the early 1920s in the Bonneville County Courthouse won’t be removed during a remodel of the building, officials said.

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    The swastikas are at intersections of a much larger geometric pattern comprised of small red, white and black tiles put in place in 1921, well before the rise of the Nazi party in Germany in the 1930s.

    “When you take something out of historical context, you can argue that it was bad,” said Julie Braun, a local historian. “But it wasn’t bad at the time.”

    The courthouse is on the National Register of Historic Places, and the tiles are mentioned in the building’s entry on that list.

    The swastika was a symbol of good fortune from early Byzantine and Christian civilizations to the Mayan and Navajo people of the Americas and the Hindus and Buddhists, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

    However, the symbol is now associated with the Nazi party.

    Some say the tiles should be removed.

    “Which is stronger — the need to protect the image of the state now or to preserve the history?” said Idaho Falls attorney Reginold Reeves, who wants the tiles taken out. “Suppose a Holocaust victim walks into the court, what is she going to think?”

    The swastikas are often painted over but show through when the paint wears down.

    The building was designed by local architects Lionel Fisher and Charles Aitken and built in 1921. Braun said it’s not known who designed the floor or who installed the swastika tiles.

    Swastikas have appeared in other parts of the state where they are clearly associated with white supremacists.

    The small town of Hayden in northern Idaho was for 30 years an outpost of the white separatist group the Aryan Nations.
    Residents largely rejected the group, and a $6.3 million civil judgment against the Aryan Nations in 2000 over a violent attack forced the group’s leader, Richard Butler, to liquidate the compound.


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    22 Comments
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    Askupeh
    Askupeh
    14 years ago

    The rest of the design interestingly enough almost resembles an ancient mosaic found in Israel. I say, leave it alone.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I was at Yeshiva Bais Binyomin in Stamford many years ago and the floor of the lobby was also tiled with swastikas. That building was also built in the 1920s and the design was very popular then.

    archer
    archer
    14 years ago

    it is only in the West that the swastika is now associated with evil. In the east it is still a very popular symbol.

    if the building was built before the Nazis then the design is integral to the building and should be kept.

    those that argue for its removal are ignorant of history.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I think they shouldn’t take it out. just because a group of people used it in a bad way doesn’t mean it was a bad sign it even comes from ‘svastika’ and ‘su’ means good and ‘asti’ means to be.

    5T Resident
    5T Resident
    14 years ago

    The symbol that later gained infamy as the swastika was actually an ancient Hindu symbol for good luck well before the Nazis got their hooks into it. Mych pre-World War II architecture incorporated the symbol because of that. The Atlantic Avenue subway station in Brooklyn, opened in 1918, has them too.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Fact is this design could just have easily been integrated into the beis hamikdash well before the Nazis and H Yemach shmo utilized it. As long as it is not designated from or for a Nazi context there is no reason we should make a fuss.

    awsome
    awsome
    14 years ago

    thats not the nazi swastika the nazi swastika was on an angle the one in the picture it is not on an angle its a difrent symbol

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    if it was the confederate flag, you can be sure it would be much more of an uproar…

    bigwheeel
    bigwheeel
    14 years ago

    The BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) building in Downtown Brooklyn, off Flatbush Avenue has a pattern in the center of the side wall with a pattern full of “Swastikas” in a connected sequence. The design was probably introduced before the nazis yms”h came to power in germany! Even though it’s now a symbol of evil, but as a relic of history it should stay. Because the intention at the time was not for identification with the nazis!!!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    woudlnt it be easy to just redo that small area of tiles. i dont care if its pre 1940 or not. it has meaning that is different today and that should warrant its removal. i for oe wouldnt be too glad to see that , especiallly if i had to be in that court room. i guess idaho is behind the times.
    what problem woudl it be to make a different tile pattern.

    dov
    dov
    14 years ago

    i dont see a problem here. i understand that they are pre ww2 but its true that they have a different meaning now and can be offending to some people. its a little weird that they wont remove them

    chief doofis
    chief doofis
    14 years ago

    The Confederate States of America desired to continue the practice of slavery. It also stood for States’ Rights, low tariffs, and many other issues. The United States of America, which defeated them in 1865, did not go to war for the specific purpose of eliminating slavery Many other issues were involved. Brave boys (including Jewish ones) from both “countries” died in the Civil War. The vast majority of these boys did not care about slavery at all. The Confederate battle flag, which still flies over many Southern buildings, did not stand for any particular brand of hatred. Lynyrd Skynyrd performs in front of the Confederate flag, are they racists?

    The swastika as adopted by Germany, represented a country and government that was opposed to many forms of human rights. Nonetheless, the prewar swastika, was a harmless decorative motif. By shoving the Anti Semitism issue in people’s faces, when it doesn’t apply, we do our cause no good.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    if they are ready to paint over it, why can’t they remove it or paint over it permanently?

    yaakov321
    yaakov321
    14 years ago

    i remember that the navy had a set of buildings that resembled a swastica from the aerial view. and they were going to take steps to REDO the buildings.
    if peopel can redo buildings that noone is going to see from the air, why cant they simply get rid of the swastica on the floor that EVERYONE sees when they walk past.
    yes im sure that the navy building probably wasnt done by nazis either. but still it was fixed.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    please remember its Idaho a state that is still the wild wild west
    they will naver take it off,

    “Swastikas have appeared in other parts of the state where they are clearly associated with white supremacists”

    jewish people are not welcome in Idaho

    ken mac donald
    ken mac donald
    14 years ago

    I read with interest the article in The Portland Oregonian, about the swastika symbol in your courthouse. In 1938, I joined the Boy Scouts and,among many other choices, we had to make a beaded indian headband by stringing all sorts of beads ON the headband. One of the choices was the Indian swastika, the Indian symbol for good luck. It was from one of the Indian tribes around Montana/ Idaho. Can’t remember which.. In any event, whoever laid the tiles in your courthouse, perhaps laid the wrong pattern, ie. clockwise as opposed the counter clockwise. I’m sure the tiles in your courthouse were laid with good intent since they were laid in 1921, long before Hitler and his ilk ever thought of them. LEAVE THE TILES AS THEY ARE! Ken Mac Donald, 503 579 0796.

    Straphanger
    Straphanger
    14 years ago

    The #1 line uptown has swastikas on the walls and no one complains.

    Duct Taped Goat
    Duct Taped Goat
    14 years ago

    When I did research last, in Japanese culture a reverse swastika (which is BACKWARDS from what you see above) is a symbol of good luck and on a map it is used to show where a temple stands. The Nazi empire took this sign and reversed it intentionally. What I’m here to say is this – in modern Japanese culture it is still used, but only when the top line goes to the left. When it goes right does it represent evil, as it is displayed in that floor pattern. Of course, I do believe it should remain regardless, as it is a piece of history, but I wish that people would at least make informed judgments and do research on other ethnic cultures first instead of just going by hearsay from the uninformed populous, as I believe this is the case in this particular article.