The swastika came to be the symbol of the Finnish air force thanks to a Swedish nobleman called Count Eric von Rosen, who gifted the newly independent state with its first air force its plane, emblazoned with a blue swastika on a white background – a symbol he had adopted as a ‘personal good-luck charm’.
Although many Finns defend the use of the symbol – pointing out that it was adopted before the Nazis rise to power – Teivo Teivainen, a professor of political science at Helsinki University who recently wrote a book on the subject called History of the Swastika, pushes back against this argument.
“In order to assess whether the symbol has ‘nothing to do with Nazis’, it may be useful to take into account that von Rosen did become a key figure in Swedish Nazi politics. Also his sister-in-law married Hermann Göring,” he says.
"This fits in the more general story that swastika became a symbol used by various racist nationalist groups in that epoch. It is surely a complicated story, but these things should be considered before jumping into easy conclusions.”
Left, the former emblem of Finnish Air Craft Command; Right, their updated logo (Image: Finnish Ministry of Defence)[Missing Credit]
Finland has been phasing out the use of the swastika in its air force insignia for some time, with the Finnish government previously saying it wanted to “update the symbolism and emblems of the flags to better reflect the current identity of the air force”, noting it was “embarrassing… in international contexts”.
The swastika was, in fact, removed from their planes in 1945, but its use had lingered on the insignia of various air force units, including the Finnish Air Force Academy where it is still used today.
In 2017 Finland’s Air Force Command replaced their old emblem – a swastika between a pair of golden wings – with a new design featuring a golden eagle on a blue background. There was a further push to end the use of the symbol in 2023, when the country joined NATO. “There’s now a need to get more integrated with the forces of countries like Germany, the Netherlands, and France – countries where the swastika is clearly a negative symbol”, said Teivainen.
Unknown to many outside the country, the Finns have a long and interesting history with the swastika; it appeared in a painting by Finnish artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela as early as 1889, and according to Teivainen, it was a popular decorative touch on buildings in the 1920s.
"In Finland there's this idea that it's a random decorative sign – which to some extent it is," he said.
