Swastika.

The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms at right angles to either the right or left. It is traditionally oriented so that a main line is horizontal, though is occasionally found at a 45-degree angle to this, with the Hindu version typically featuring a dot in each quadrant. The history of the swastika goes back to the origins of human habitation of the Eurasian continent. The swastika is an important symbol in Buddhism and Hinduism, among others, and was also used in Native American and Jewish faiths prior to World War II. In Buddhism, this sign was used to express the four elements. What may be the first known book included a picture of Buddha with a swastika sign on his chest. By the early twentieth century it was regarded worldwide as a symbol of good luck and auspiciousness. A swastika was featured on the spine of books by Rudyard Kipling and the symbol was used by Robert Baden-Powell's Boy Scout movement.

Since the rise of the National Socialist German Workers Party, the swastika has been associated with fascism, racism, the Second World War and the Holocaust in much of the world. Prior to this, it was particularly well-recognized in Europe from the archaeological work of Heinrich Schliemann, who discovered the symbol in the site of ancient Troy and who associated it with the ancient migrations of Indo-European (Aryan) peoples. Nazi use derived from earlier German völkisch nationalist movements, for which the swastika was a symbol of "Aryan" identity, a concept that came to be equated by theorists like Alfred Rosenberg with a Nordic master race originating in northern Europe. The swastika remains a core symbol of Neo-Nazi groups.

Since the end of the Second World War, there have been failed attempts by individuals and groups to convince Westerners to look past the swastika's recent association with the Nazis to its prehistoric origins.

Wikipedia.