Does anyone know why the Nazi's chose the Swastika as their emblem, and who in the regime decided to use it?
It seems odd that they chose an ancient Buddhist symbol to me.

They reversed the direction of the "windmill" to make it go from meaning peace to war.

Hitler and one or two of the leaders of Germany at that time were well into the Occult and many other mystic things.

From Wikipedia:

When Hitler created a flag for the Nazi Party, he sought to incorporate both the swastika and "those revered colors expressive of our homage to the glorious past and which once brought so much honor to the German nation." (Red, white, and black were the colors of the flag of the old German Empire.)

He also stated: "As National Socialists, we see our program in our flag. In red, we see the social idea of the movement; in white, the nationalistic idea; in the swastika, the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man, and, by the same token, the victory of the idea of creative work, which as such always has been and always will be anti-Semitic." (Mein Kampf)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastik...mbol_of_Nazism

Wow, that's great and very interesting. Thanks boss.
I'm skeptical of Wikipedia usually though because people can put anything they want in there with no authorization process implemented there.
Looks credible enough though.
Thanks again.

In the book "Adolph Hitler" by John Toland it states that Adolf Hitler remembered the symbol from his days at the church school in a small town near Linz, where it was worked into the stone work over the gate. It also states that as a child, Adolph also had a great love for the pomp and pageantry of religious ceremonies.

Use of the swastika as symbol wasn't that rare before WWII.
You can still find it carved into rock, wood and marble on different old churches all over the world.
Both the Finns and at least one of the small Baltic republics had the swastika on their planes before and during the war.
But the swastikas mentioned was generally not standing on the tip as the nazi symbol did, and they're usually "rotating" in the oposite direction.

Much to the embarrassment of our local hospital management, the open fireplaces in the now demolished maternity wing had a dark brick swastika design worked into the otherwise light coloured brick firebacks.

The builder was a local of German descent Heinrich (Harry) Haese who incorporated them as a decorative religious theme, long before Adolph and the Nazi party were ever heard of.

I'm not sure but i think sweden's air force still has this symbol in a round version because the first swede to build an aircraft had it on his machine. I'm not sure if it was sweden but a friend of mine braught a picture back with him and these flags in the background- made a very odd picture- imagine a german officer with these symbols... the swedish air force insisted on the picture. But the background of the symbol was blue i think

"Small Baltic state" (ever heard of big Baltic empire in the 20th century?) was Estonia, it was a symbol of their air force.
Swastika as a solar symbol was a part of Lithuanian left-winged Nationalist Union (came to power after 1926 coup d'etat, ruled untill ocupation of 1940; established cca 191. Swastika was considered to be a solely solar symbol. Similarly, youth organization "The Young Lithuania"m had their symbol - three flames connected in such way that they somehow resemble swastika.
Swastika as a solar and Pagan symbol was in use of many radical leftist German organizations, most notably - Thule society (dagger with swastika and oak leaves), Ludwik von Sebottendorf and many others. Freikorps who fought in baltic states sometimes had swastika at their helmets. Communistic historiography claims there was a German song "Steel helmet decorated with swastika [sign]". Finally - if the author is correct - swastyika was in use in the USA as a road sign in the pre-Nazi period. It is also stated Kipl;ing used swastikas as oriental sign.
Of course, this is historical background and after 1933.

Now, one question to mods: what about swastikas on a historic pohots here, at military-quotes.com? If I post a photo of uniform or any military equipment form Nazi Germany and all Nazi symbols are clearly visible (eagle with swastika; swastika alone; SS runes etc) - is it allowed to post or may I expected to hide these signs?