Hey folks,

Can someone tell me more about this medals I saw in a museum in Cairo? Why the swastika? And when do you get this?

I know they are from the early 20’s but not more.

Would be grateful! – Tack 😊

by KollaHan

11 comments

  1. Can’t tell you about the medals but Finnish military used to use the swastika.

  2. You can read more about the fanciest one from here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_White_Rose_of_Finland

  3. The swastika symbol became a popular symbol in the Western world in the early 20th century, and was often used for ornamentation. It symbolised many things to the Europeans, with the most common symbolism being of good luck and auspiciousness.

    Also, the insignias of the Cross of Liberty, designed by Gallen-Kallela in 1918, have swastikas. The 3rd class Cross of Liberty is depicted in the upper left corner of the standard of the President of Finland, who is the grand master of the order, too.

    The swastikas of [the Collar of the White Rose](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_White_Rose_of_Finland), depicted here, were replaced by fir crosses in 1963, designed by heraldic artist Gustaf von Numers. The honour can be granted for military as well as civilian merit.

    You can find more info by looking at the latin letters in these pictures, then copying the exact same letters in same order to a web form called ”Google”.

  4. The 2nd and 3rd pics are the “order of the white rose”, which was issued to Egypt’s King Fuad in 1936. The swastika has nothing to do with nazism. It was a common heraldic symbol used extensively throughout Europe.

  5. Up to the end of WW2, the insignia of the Finnish Air Force was a white roundel with a swastika — straight, not oblique, and blue, not black. It was adopted because the Swedish Count who donated the first aircraft had it painted on the fuselage as his personal good luck charm. Nothing to do with the Nazis. The swastika still appears on the flags of some Air Force units.

  6. swastika has a long history in the world. Hitler’s use was less than 1% of its history. In Finland it happened to have been used a lot in the army.

  7. Swastika is more than 13 000 years old symbol and it symbols many things. Like luck for example.

  8. The one on the left in the first picture is the cross of tolvajärvi (translated by me). Given to participants of the battle of tolvajärvi. Always thought it loocked really slick. The symbol in the middle is runonlaulajan kädet, two hands cupping each other.

  9. Swastika was used all over europe before the nazis, for example the finnish tursaansydän in old times

  10. On the first picture you have the Tolvajärvi Cross, and The Cross Of Merit Of Lotta-Svärd. They are both wartime/early postwar pieces, so from 1939 to 1945.

    The first one was awarded as a commemorative medal to those who took part in the battle of Tolvajärvi, and the other to people who made notable achievements in the activity of the womens pre war/wartime organizaton, Lotta-Svärd.

  11. I got a lot of good information from you all, thank you for your answers. I will look into it further!

    Big up to all of you that took you time and answered. Really appreciate it!

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