Secret Swastika Remained Hidden Until 1992
Back in 1992, Ökoland Dederow, a landscaping company intern, came across a secret swastika while looking for some irrigation lines via aerial photographs. For decades, this swastika remained a secret, mainly because it was made out of trees, hidden literally in a forest. Made out of larch trees, the swastika was located inside a pine forest in north-west Germany. some 110 kilometres away from Berlin, near the small village of Zernikow.
Another reason for why this secret swastika remained that way was because there was a ban on private planes in East Germany, and the swastika wasn’t so big as to be seen from really high up. Locals say that the swastika was planted during the 1930’s when the Nazi party was on the rise and Hitler came to power. There were other such forest swastikas in other parts of Germany, especially around Berlin. But during the Soviet occupation, they were cut down. Another series of such forest symbols was cut down in 1995 and again in 2000. But over time, they grew back.
Most of these swastikas measured some 200 by 200 feet on average, and one of them even had the year 1933 alongside it. This was the year when Hitler came to power. The reason for their creation in the first place, especially for those located in more remote areas was to attract the dictator’s favour and maybe spare some of the locals’ lives, especially those who were persecuted.
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