Eagle by Janine Rogers

Author:Janine Rogers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Reaktion Books

The eagle is a common fascist symbol. This bird gazed over the Berlin barracks housing Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, the Führer’s elite bodyguard.

The association of eagles with totalitarian regimes like the Nazis is apt to make any eagle lover queasy, but it must be acknowledged. Eagles were prominently used in Italy during the fascist period; the Fascist eagle was an Aquila with fasces – a bundle of sticks and an axe-head that represented the power of the state, another Roman symbol. On the Spanish flag during Franco’s dictatorship a black eagle representing St John the Evangelist figured prominently. And in Iraq, Saddam Hussein made ample use of the Eagle of Saladin. It must be noted that most of the eagle symbols appropriated by dictators and fascists originated in cultural heritages that are not synonymous with oppressive politics. Still, the eagle as a symbol carries with it an inherent sense of menace that seems to adapt all too easily to tyranny and oppression. As unsavoury as this aspect of eagle lore is, it is important to acknowledge this historical aspect of eagle symbolism. It shows just how quickly our interpretations of eagles can shift from positive to negative, a reality we have seen repeatedly in this study.

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