I stopped at Walmart today after work. I had to pick up a few things. As I was walking past the men’s clothing area, something caught my eye. I noticed something weird over at a wall of t-shirts. One of the t-shirts had a design on it that looked remarkably like something related to Nazis. Specifically, the Totenkopf or “Death’s Head.” In other words, it looked like Walmart was selling a Nazi t-shirt.
I took a picture of it with my camera phone:
The Totenkopf
The Death’s Head symbol was worn by the members of the German Nazi SS. The Totenkopf on the Walmart t-shirt looks very similar to the divisional insignia of the 3rd SS Division Totenkopf. As you can see, It’s almost an exact copy:
Neo-Nazis love the Totenkopf
Neo-Nazis sometimes use the Totenkopf image because it is not as easily identifiable as other Nazi symbols such as the swastika. You might see one of these tattooed on someone’s arm while standing in line at Burger King and think it’s just a poorly done pirate skull.
It’s not.
Did Walmart mean to sell a Nazi t-shirt?
Is Walmart purposely trying to sell clothing with Nazi symbols on it? I doubt it. They won’t even sell CDs with bad words on them. I doubt someone at Walmart’s corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas decided to sell clothing with Nazi symbols on it.
Whoever designed this shirt had to know the origin of the skull.
Well, in April of 1978 some 15,000 former members of the Nazi party came out publicly against National Socialism (Read: Thinly veiled Nazism) in a public demonstration.
That is the only thing that remotely relates. Interesting catch!
“Well, in April of 1978 some 15,000 former members of the Nazi party came out publicly against National Socialism (Read: Thinly veiled Nazism)”
Thinly veiled? I thought “National Socialist German Workers Party” (well, in German) was the full name of the original party and “Nazi Party” was its abbreviation. So by coming out publicly against National Socialism they were coming out against Naziism even unveiled, right?
You’re trying to make sense of what hate filled, ignorant people think.
Unless you become just as hate filled and ignorant, the logic of a Nazi shouldn’t and couldn’t make sense to you.
I prefer real Nazis to the fake Feminazis
Not me. Real Nazis drove Tiger tanks and flew Stukas.
About the year…I’m kinda wondering if it is a reference to the growing neo-nazi community that was going on then. Skrewdriver released their first album sometime in the late ’70s (allmusic says 1977), and I know that the neo-nazi thing was picking up steam over the course of the next several years.
I think there was some really BIG neo-nazi thing that happened in 1978 too. At any rate, I don’t think the date is just nonsense.
Regarding the significance of the year 1978 – I can almost guarantee to you that it has no meaning. I work in the apparel art industry and we are asked on a daily basis to create artwork that feels “vintage” and “distressed”. I can’t tell you how many times I have slapped a random number on a tee-shirt design to make it feel more “authentic”.
I would say there is a 1% chance that the artist actually knew what they were representing. My guess is they used Google image search to find a skull that looked different from the 57 other skulls they were asked to create that week, and then put “Since 1978” on the bottom because that’s the year they were born and thought it would be funny to make a personal reference.
in response to the comment from Heather, equating the release of the first Skrewdriver album with a growing neo-nazi community is rather off-base. ‘All Skrewed Up’ was released in 1977 and had no racist/nazi imagery. the original line-up of Skrewdriver broke up in 1979 and still were not associated with hate-rock. it wasn’t until 1982 when a different line-up sharing some members with the earlier incarnation began playing as Skrewdriver that interest in the extreme right wing played a part – and then it wasn’t until ‘hail the new dawn’ was released in 1984 that they were able to spread their racist message beyond England.
the deaths head skull has appeared on various otherwise unassuming articles of clothing in recent history, and at this point it seems likely that the designers were not aware of the nazi connection, especially seeing as how the totenkopf (just like the swastika) did not originate in nazi imagery, only that it was adopted into their uniform.
further, i hardly think there is any intentional relationship between the skull and the “since 1978” text. the shirt’s designer likely combined unrelated images and text to create a vintage look.
i dont think there’s anything wrong with examining this shirt, as im sure some may find it offensive, but i do think you’re jumping to too many conclusions when you assume that the design was intentionally offensive and that the featured text is directly correlating to a rise in nazi interests.
I saw a totenkopf necklace at a clothing store in Miami Beach, Florida. Lots of Jewish people there. Nobody except myself was offended by the trinket. Perhaps we should put a Klu Klux Klan hood next to the “totenkopf” necklace and make the display complete. Vintage? Only in America. It is offense, the entire Nazi “vintage” theme.
I think 1978 refers to the founding date for the No Boundaries clothing line…
well i like some people taste in clothing you know like every one dont have the same kind of style like i have like every thing matching almost all the time like some times i have my mom match some stuff up for me but i usley match my stuff
Actually, this pattern skull & bones is not specific to the 3rd SS Panzer Division alone, but was used by all SS units (including Allgemine & Waffen) as a badge on their cap (along with an eagle & swastika pattern that was also unique to the SS). That this skull & bones was used as their division symbol by the 3rd SS is due to the fact that this division was formed by units from the Concentration Camp Guard training battalions.
Also, even though this particular pattern skull was used by he SS, the use of the skull on German uniforms was not limited to the SS. German Army and Air Force tank units used a skull & bones ( of a different pattern) on the collars of their black panzer uniforms. This caused them considerable grief later in the war.
After the Malmedy Massacre on December 17th, 1944 (during the Battle of the Bulge) any Germans taken prisoner that were wearing black uniforms were shot out of hand by US troops. What most GI’s did not realize was that all tank crews, including those of the Army and Air Force as well as the Waffen-SS, wore black uniforms. The skulls on their collars only added to the mistaken impression that thy were members of the Waffen-SS.
See Max Hasting’s book Armegeddon: The Battle For Germany c2000 pages 109-110.
All of this is yet another example of why history matters. Clearly the “Powers that Be” as Wal-Mart slept through their high school history classes.
reemmber when target accidentally made white power clothes?
a dragon with “88” underneath?
this is just the product of goofy graphic designers playing with symbols. they are often guilty of not knowing what they’re signifying.
I totally agree with Jessica. I am another apparel industry slave and know that 9 out of 10 times the date has nothing to do with any signicant time frame…only a date pulled from thin air. Usually something that hasn’t been used in the last couple of seasons. And as for the image…I highly doubt Wal-mart would back the neo-nazi image knowing full well what it represented…it is 99% an artists bad choice of images to copy.
well some people just dont have any style you know what i mean like i try to match my clothes to make it look like an outfit you know and well i really dont have any matching clothes but i like have one two or three idk haha:))))))))) bye !!!!!!!!
Just another good reason not to shop at Wal-Mart!!!
Why buy a random Walmart shirt to represent nazis and anti-semitism when you go buy a von Dutch trucker hat and do the same thing, only COOLER…
Hahahaha…you’re rad!
1978 is significant in that the American Nazi party got to march in Skokie, IL. Skokie contains a very large Jewish community, which is why it was chosen.
It was big news back then because Skokie said no to the march and then the ACLU stepped in, keeping stride with their vigorous defense of the rights of nazis, child molesters etc etc. . So the Nazis got to march in Skokie after suing Skokie.
It’s much like a Klan rally in a black community.
Maybe 1978 isn’t so benign after all….
Lot’s of folks use the relatively simple Number to Letter of alphabet coding system..
You may have seen “Support your local 81st (8 = “H” 1 = “A” so Support your local 81st = support your local Hells Angels).
Under that system, 1 9 7 8 = A I G H.
All sorts of neo-nazi phrases you can make with those letters, considering they contain Adolf Hitler’s initials. I.G. could equal lots of things… “Is Great” for example.
If they used “Since 1897” instead, the connection would be almost undeniable. It’s easy to imagine that the designer(or an “editor” at the design company) swithced the numbers adound to either disguise the meaining OR to simply make the date more recent. I can easily imagine a neo nazi selecting that image, and Since 1897 and submitting it, and haing someone change it to 1978 to make it look more like a 70’s tee shirt. (though why would a shirt FROM 1978 say “Since 1978”??) Would anyone make a “Since 2004” shirt this year?? doesn’t make much sense…
Wow – you got some smart readers here. I was going to mention the Skokie thing in 1978, but the last comment addressed it.
It was the Skokie incident that inspired the nazi side-plot in “Blues Brothers.”
As far as the ACLU goes, what the unenlightened on both the Right and the Left fail to recognize is that the First Amendment requires an organization like the ACLU to protect it. The ACLU is amoral (as opposed to immoral) in these matters and doesn’t let emotion and passion influence its work.
As an individual, I’d like nothing more than to hand out a beat-down to some nazi sonuvabitch, and under the right circumstances, I can see myself doing so. But as part of a society governed by the Constitution, I also acknowledge that they have a First Amendment right.
I agree with Bonnie, It is
“Just another good reason not to shop at Wal-Mart!!!”
I just saw this on CNN. I’m cheering for you in posting this! We’ll never know how the shirt got there, but if it can cause some bad PR for Wal-mart’s “evil empire”, I’m all for it!
rick your a idiot with no wisdom
And what were you doing stopping at Walmart to buy anything?
The Turner Diaries, written by neo-Nazi leader William Pierce in 1978.
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/Militi_71/2737_71.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turner_Diaries
According to the book description accompanying the 1996 edition published by Barricade Books, the United States Department of Justice considers the novel to be a manifesto for far right militia groups, while the Federal Bureau of Investigation believes that it served as inspiration for the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.
Nice catch. But let’s not read too much into this. I seriously doubt it’s any big deal.
I think a lot of people in the clothing industry just put an image on a t-shirt that they think is cool, they don’t think anything much about the image
Wal Mart and Hot Topic are also famous for selling lots of Che clothing. This is kind of strange cause Che was a communist revolutionary and Wal Mart/ Hot Topic are the pinnacle of Capitalism. I think Wal Mart is only trained to deny clothing with Gangster reference…a very lax rule set that allows these shirts to get by. Plus if your not a polly sci, History, or have a keen eye for symbols then you have no knowledge of what any of these symbols mean. In fact an anti racist student organization at my college uses this very same skull and cross symbol, mostly cause its “radical” looking
So political correctness be dam…as long as your shirt is radical looking its on the shelves
Hey!
This skull design was inspired by another military unit of an ealier age (The Dragoons, or something). The german tank crews that were sent to the Spanish Civil War wore these on their berets. The Waffen SS took the design and made it their own. The 3rd SS made it the unit insigna, but the SS as a whole wore it on their caps and field headresses.
Nazi, and especially SS images started beeing used in the 70’s with the British punk movement. That stuff isn’t new…The rock band Kiss used the lightning bolts of the SS logo for their own signature, so did AC/DC for that matter.
Fuct Skateboards used the skull a few years back and more recently, Obey Propaganda.
No big deal, I think.
J-S
I would be inclined to accept the explanation that this was an unfortunate but unintentional appropriation of Nazi imagery, if not for the fact that ‘since 1978’ is in Gothic script. That makes a denial a bit harder.
Okay – to those people who do NOT work in the fashion industry – you cannot understand the pressure that artists are put under to create art and create it NOW.
The designer is in the buy meeting with the Wal-Mart buyers. The buyers don’t like anything in front of them – but they know that they want to buy a skull. Designer calls artist – “I need a skull design in the next five minutes! And it should look vintage and distressed – I don’t know – throw a year on there.”
And this is how the art is created for the shirts you buy at Wal-Mart. Just like everything else having to do with Wal-Mart, it is a quick and dirty process.
Is it possible that the artist was making a subversive neo-Nazi statement? Yes, anything is possible. Is it likely? No.
Personally the image made me think of aztecs, not nazis, but that’s pretty obviously not the source.
And I was born in 1978 but I’m not a nazi, a stormtrooper, or a yorick-esque skull…
And I’m not in the fashion industry but I don’t really buy the dismissals posted. Coincidences just really aren’t, in my experience. Skokie seems a far more likely reference.
Or it could have been “The Boys from Brazil,”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077269/
Sure sounds like Jessica understands exactly what she is talking about! Makes perfect sense, too. Find a cool looking image, pop it on a shirt, deadline met and no harm intended.
Understand, though, that evil regimes of the past are a real one-stop-shop for cool looking symbols, images, clothing, etc. If you had to think real hard and say one positive thing about the Nazis, it would surely be “thank God they lost!” If you had to think even harder and come up with positive thing #2, the only thing left really is that for being a bunch of nuts, they certainly had excellent fashion sense!
These symbols and uniforms were created and used because they have a certain subconscious appeal. It worked then, and it still does today. The US GI’s thought the stuff was cool – that’s why there was such a demand for souvenirs at the time. That’s also why most people who collect military antiques collect 3rd Reich items. Are they Nazis? Nope. The stuff is visually interesting, a tangible link with history, and was brought home by granddad after he helped to defeat them. Certainly no harm to society there, though many do not see it that way.
Though I think Jessica is probably right here, there are also plenty of people who enjoy wearing T-Shirts displaying symbols or slogans that make other people upset or uncomfortable. The ‘taboo’ or ‘rebel’ factor is a great marketing tool. This is why some people enjoy wearing Nazi or Communist iconography, Confederate flags, pictures of Che, Bin Ladin, Sandino, etc. Undoubtedly there are a few who really do think that the Nazis were cool, probably even more who think that Che was something other than a murdering sob, etc. Most folks who enjoy such things just like thinking that they are getting away with some sort of ‘statement’, whether they know what that statement is or not.
Bottom line –
Is this really harmful? Only to the hyper-sensitive.
Is this appropriate for Wal-Mart? not so much. I wouldn’t want that on the shelves if I was running the store.
Well, it coud be from the rising punk era, were the banned icons were worn to signify rebellion, and not exactly support of the nazis. Kind of like the whole biker hells angels thing.
But at the bottem of it, someone forgot to do their homework. I’d buy it, just to say i got it at walmart.
Does anybody have any idea how many random shirts there are at Wal Mart with skulls on them? Most of us don’t even try to look in to any sort of significance in them. Yes this one in particular obviously has some significance. But how was the average person to know that?
I work there, and yesterday I got an e-mail to pull them from the shelves, the only description given was the color, and “skull”. They had not hit the shelves in my store yet, so I could not find them (several employees looked for them). A new overnight person put them out without knowing their significance. Needless to say with all the hype about them, a local news station employee comes in and finds them and purchases one.
When the store manager got wind of what happened, a few heads rolled. Mine included.
As far as sleeping through history class, my history class included a trip to Auschwitz, as well as Berlin (before the wall came down), I have seen the insignia, but had not seen the shirts until they were slammed down in front of me this morning.
If not for people being able to find work as “fashion designers” and “marketing agents” we would all be living in a Star Trek like Utopia by now.
Fashion and Marketing are jobs that you can’t “be wrong” in, you can only get the job or not, there’s no real measurment for ability, only on how sucessful you are at it. (and before you say they’re the same thing turn on the radio and listen for an hour or two)
If this is what you choose to do for a living, and you go grab the first image you can to meet a deadline, you deserve to get confused for a nazi, lose your job, get hated by your community etc..
Next time I bet they’ll do their homework, or maybe they’ll realize that being a fashion designer is really just a pretend job that requires no skill and does nothing to forward humanity whatsoever. Then they can learn some skills and get a real job.
Jan:
Very sorry to hear that! Anyone who works at a store like that (or knows anyone who does) understands that there is a ton of inventory, especially clothing, and is normally packed to the ceiling this time of year in a back room that does not have anywhere enough space to store all of it. With different shifts working, tons of merchandise, and a vague description, it should be easy to understand how this would slip past and make its way to the shelf. Hopefully it is a tempest in a teapot that will blow over and you can get back to trying to control the normal, every day wal-mart chaos.
Wal-Mart makes claims that it doesn’t sell obscene, vulgar, etc. CDs, DVDs, clothes, etc. but that is so not true. I’m a World War II nut and I recognized that skull and crossbones right off the bat. I also spotted several Rammstein CDs in the racks in the electronics department several years ago. Since the HQ is just up the road from me, I called them about the CDs way back, and about the T-shirts this time. I got the same bored, rude jerk each time who probably just stuck it in a file somewhere and blew me off. Frankly, I don’t care and I think pulling the shirts and refusing to sell certain products all the while raping America is pretty hypocritical and censory of them, but I wanted to see if they would pull it. They didn’t until they started getting an ugly blot in the media for it. Now the shirts are gone, but Rammstein is still in the stores. For those of you who don’t speak German, the lyrics to Rammstein contain several references to raping little boys, incest, child porn, beating women to death, etc. I guess they figure Americans are too stupid to translate the lyrics or look them up.
Jan,
My comment about “sleeping through history class” was not directed at you or anyone at the store level, but at the Wal-Mart buyers and higher management who make the decisions about what items to carry.
From your statements it is clear that your history class went to extrodinary lengths to inform the students about the events of WWII. Very comendable.
Much of this is a “tempest in a teapot” but it is evident that World War Two continues to influence our lives more than 60 years after the event. As the last of the “Greatest Generation” passes that influence might pass as well, but I doubt it.
Good luck to you Jan.
I know that lots of people are saying that the “Since 1978” is probably just random – and I may be guilty of looking a little to far into the subject, but does the fact that this is realted to the Nazi SS – and the fact that the Gothic Script Shows (from what i can tell) A Double S (One superimposed slightly to the upper right of the other)Not seem a little too Distinct
Hello,
at first i must say, that something like that could just have happened in Germany, because even here not everyone or let me say nearly no one knows more nazi symbols then the swastika and the double “ss” sign.
I must say, I don’t blame the designers, because I think this skull looks great. But, knowing the historical background of it I wouldn’t wear it. But, I believe many would, not for beeing nazi but for thinking that all this mess with 3rd reich, hitler … is so far away, that you don’t have to be too excited about it.
not a racist…..not a nazi……just an amateur historian….but went and bought one just to say i got it at wal-mart!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika
just cause something is used doesnt mean thats where it originated from. the swastika is still commonly used in buddist and hindu culture even today. as an avide anime watcher its even used in japanese cartoons still playing these days. the original meaning of the swastika might be good it was just used by some evil people prolly cause they thought it looked cool…go figure
To the person complaining about Rammstein. Can you cite where you got the lyric translation from please?
“the lyrics to Rammstein contain several references to raping little boys, incest, child porn, beating women to death”.
Er, they dont. I have all their albums and have checked severeal translation sites.
History class don’t mean shit. Cuz the MAN in power owns the press and so, re-writes HISTORY for his own gain.
How many cars,how much gold,how much does it take to fill that void?
They say that the more money etc. you have the more god has blessed you…….funny…..cuz they go about getting that wealth in such UN-GODLEY ways. Have an answer for that? No, I am not a commie,leftest. But you don’t need to be to see this. I am all for making a buck – if only others don’t hurt because of it. A good wage for a fair job. The world’s on its last leg – grow up.
What NORTH AMERICANS do not undertsand is that “Europe” is and always will be, another world.
Stay the fuck out of their bee wax. Go get another X-box.
I think the T-Shirt is cool! Skulls and Crossbones are in. I guess Captain Jack Sparrow is a Nazi too (Pirates of the Caribbean) for he has Skulls and Crossbones flags!
So what if people think it is a Nazi Symbol. Haven’t you seen all the Iron Cross T-Shirts for Orange County Choppers, Jesse James and other prominent biker clothing articles sold at Wal-Mart. The Nazi’s used Iron Crosses too. Oh my god, we must pull those items too!
All this political correctness crap is stupid. I mean really. What’s the difference? Nazis…Jews, Pilgrims…Indians, Serbians…Croats it’s all the same.
Stalin exterminated 10 million of his own people including mostly Jews before WW2 even started. Russia was America’s Ally and continued killing Jews throughout the war! All told Stalin killed more Jews than Hitler even could have thought of. Look it up.
Oh yeah, Something to chew on for the Holidays. Maybe your History books left this out. Rmember when the Anglos came over here stole from, raped and murdered Native Americans by the thousands. Mmmmm, I want some trukey. Happy Thanksgiving. Don’t forget, Go Redskins. They are having a Scalping good season. Let’s do the Tomahok chop!
Uh, National Socialism is not “thinly veiled Nazism.” It IS Nazism. They are both one and the same. And National Socialists did not call themselves “Nazis” since that was a slur for them.
The thing about the iron cross is that it’s not a nazi symbol to begin with. It is the ensignia of the German army, and because of that it’s not a taboo sign.
While this skull was worn by the hardcore SS the most brutal and dedicated nazis in the fighting forces.
Could someone please point me to an example of the same skull image Wal-Mart used on it’s shirt also being used by anyone other then by the Nazi SS? I’m not talking about a generic skull and crossbones. I’m specifically referring to the exact image that Wal-Mart put on their t-shirt. The same exact image used by the Nazi SS.
It wasn’t used by pirates or Prussian cavalry troops. Though both pirates and Prussian cavalry troops used skull images, they didn’t use this specific and unique skull.
Has it yet occurred to anyone that perhaps Walmart is leaving them on the shelves because so many people — even for curiosity’s sake — are buying them?
Rick,
You raise an interesting point.
In fact this is not the only skull design used by the SS. Like many aspects of German military uniforms, the insignia on Waffen-SS uniforms evolved over time. This particular design is most closely associated with the 3rd SS Panzer Division and with the members of the Totenkopf units, which supplied the guars for the Concentration Camps.
There are examples of Army uniforms using items of SS insignia and of Waffen-SS uniforms using Army insignia (Army pattern eagles for example). This was due most likely to shortages of the proper insignia.
You might consult Roger James Bender’s book (Uniforms Organization & History Of The Waffen-SS Vols I-VI) or the books by Andrew and John Mollo to find numerous examples of various skull designs used by the SS throughout their history.
However…
There is a much larger issue here: can a symbol be divorced from its past?
Those who continue to fly the Stars & Bars (Confederate Battle Flag) would have us believe that by doing so they are not supporting nor advocating slavery or racism, but rather “Southern heritage” or even State’s Rights. These “explanations” sound even more hallow than those offered by veterans of the Waffen-SS who submit that they were just soldiers, like any others.
It is also important to remember that the vast majority of the soldiers in the Waffen-SS were neither volunteers nor members on the Nazi party. Some were drafted, some press-ganged into joining, and others transferred from the Navy of Air Force. This includes a large number of Air Force ground crews that were transferred into the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte (Hitler’s bodyguard division) in late 1942 to replace losses suffered on the Russian Front. These airmen had no say in the matter. (See General Michael Reynolds’ book Steel Inferno pages 18-19.)
So, can a symbol once corrupted be used again without reference to its past?
Perhaps, once all with living memory of World War II are gone – but not before. And even then, perhaps never, so great were the crimes of the Third Reich.
As for the wearing of Nazi regalia…
The photo of George Carlin on his first comedy album shows him wearing a belt buckle used by the Sturm Abtailung – the Storm Troopers. Did he wear it to make a pro-Nazi statement, or because it simply looked cool?
The Truth, you are a dumb. It isn’t just a skull. It’s not just a skull and crossbones. God Damn you must be denser than plutonium.
I think EVERYONE here is thinking too much into this. Hasn’t anyone ever seen the Independent Skate Co.’s, iron cross? I mean..every teenager/twenty something has their clothes. These symbols dont mean anything to the younger generations as it does to everyone else. It’s just a deaths head…big whoop. It symbolized something else 60 years ago, now it’s just another marketing tool. I see backwards swastikas (ancient indian peace symbol) in hippy/head shops all the time. It’s time to get over this whole thing. Plus..I have a deaths head belt buckle. I got it at the mall, it was on sale..it goes great with my steve maddens!
Dear Rick,
You’ll be surprised to know that I entered a Wal-Mart just this past Saturday and thought I would do a “spot check” to see if there were t-shirts there. There were none. However, the photo was still there and so, I took a picture of it with my camera phone and sent it to my boyfriend with the text underneath that read, “WTF?” I was tempted to take the picture out of the little plastic holder and storm up to the front counter and ask the manager what the hell the photo was still doing there but the place was so damn busy that I am sure they would have just tossed it in the trash and not given it a second thought. I would have wanted them to actually think about it. You see, my mother is German. So, I don’t blame you for making an issue of this. Sure, kids these days all want skulls on their shoes, tees, hoodies. I go to Vans Warped tour and there are booths set up selling patches that are anti-nazi, anti-discrimination, anti-racism. Even if these kids don’t know what this is, we do. I’d prefer my kid to keep on wearing the Misfits Crimson Ghost T-shirt but not this one. BIG difference. Thank you very much.
According to Miami’s Orange Clothing Co. the tshirt was a mistake and Jessica was on the money.
And BTW, the owner of the company is Jewish.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16063172.htm
they are still selling the shirts at the walmart in elko nevada.
Dude, what are you doing shopping at
walmart ?
Nice catch, but walmart sucks with or without nazi swag.
Please, can we all just lay off the whole exploitative big box big dumb paradigm ?
http://www.sprawl-busters.com/
http://www.walmartmovie.com/
In other news, scores of retail outlets are still selling Che shirts.
I was shopping at a mall in Boston and saw the same Death’s Head logo on a patch sewed onto a jacket in the display window of Lucky Brand Jeans.
I checked on their website, but did not see the patch on there. It was sewed onto one of the green military jackets they sell.
Should have taken a picture…
America wake up this is what they want to shove down our throats-NEW WORLD ORDER.
Yale Skull and Bones-look it up.I promise you -you will understand at the end of the days research on Skull and Bones you will see what is comeing down.
Its a bad deal and everyone should get mad as hell now.Before its too late.Also Walmart is still selling the logo and now Kmart is.They want you to get used to the symbols-you know-to dethinsisize America.
I know I spelled that one word wrong-sorry
Whatever happened to the OLD WORLD ORDER? I’ve heard of “old world charm”, but never the order.
Without order, you have chaos.
I’d buy one….
I find this vendetta against the image of a skull on a t-shirt frankly absurd.
I’m not a Nazi, nor a sympathiser thereof.
We should all start to realise that the nazis simply appropriated a lot of existing imagery. The death’s head is found on tombstones and in churches all over Europe, dating from many hundreds of years before Hitler.
As also is the even older swastika. Which is a fairly basic and useful image carved by pattern-making humans since neolithic times.
To react in fear, horror and disgust to these ancient symbols is to give them to the nazis, to acknowledge their continuing power.
Be bigger than that.
Reclaim them for the people.
The usa is a lost cause they might as well call it Daddy Isreal. You can thank the jews for 9-11 and the middle east crisis and both world wars. You dont believe it do some research. I got to walmart too late to get my shirts.
And, whilst we’re on the subject…. The skull was not used only by the German military…
What about the ‘Death or Glory’ boys?
During WWII the British 17th/21st Lancers were wearing their death’s head badges, as they had since 1759… (They were also the first British Cavalry regiment deployed during the American War of Independence.)
http://www.qrl.uk.com/h_home.html
soubriquet, can you honestly say that the examples of the images you provided look anything like the skull used by Wal-Mart and the Nazi SS? The ones you pointed to are different.
Rick, I didn’t provide any examples of images.
I said other people, in particular the 17th/21st Lancers used deaths-head imagery. And I linked their website, which has their own insignia upon it. Obviously I made no claim that their badge was an identical artwork, merely a similar sentiment.
I haven’t tracked the SS totenkopf image back very far, but the death’s head was a badge of Prussian Hussars as far back as 1744
Soldiers often have a rather grim sense of humour, which stems perhaps from constantly being faced with the possibility that you yourself may die tomorrow.
In mediaeval times the skull and crossed bones was called a ‘Memento Mori’, literally a ‘reminder of death’. To remind all, the rich, famous, beautiful, clever, the brave and the cowardly, that ultimately, we all end up dead, and our skull and bones would be the same as those of the beggar and the pauper.
The argument here is simply whether Wal-Mart should be treated as nazi sympathisers because they bought in t-shirts with a skull symbol similar to that used by a particularly reviles nazi ss division. And I say no. There is no evidence to say Wal-Mart is pushing nazi ideology or propaganda, simply that they’ve used a clip art image to make a shirt that might appeal to death metal fans and uncommitted goths.
soubriquet, the images you pointed to are different. The Wal-Mart shirts on the other hand are exact copies of the specific skull and bones worn by the Nazi SS. To bring up pirates or Prussian Hussars is really quite pointless. They would have some bearing if the discussion was centered on using skulls as logos. It’s not.
Do you think this is the first time I’ve seen a skull and crossbones image on a t-shirt? I cannot count how many generic skull images I’ve seen the last few years. Skulls that looked like pirate skulls or the skulls favored by the Prussian Hussars.
I had not seen any Nazi SS Death’s Head images until the day in my friendly local Wal-Mart.
To even discuss Wal-Mart’s motives at this point is moot. It was relevant a month ago when all this happened. It’s now been over a month and this shirt can still be found in some Wal-Mart stores. Either corporate Wal-Mart has no control over their stores, or they just don’t care.
My point has always been that if a retailer is going to make a big deal about not selling music with adult content to adults, they ought to not sell Nazi SS paraphernalia to kids. They might have gotten away with claiming ignorance a month ago, but not anymore. At least not with me.
“Words are an arbitrary sign of an inward process.”
-Socrates(?)
So what is your inward process?
Skull = Nazis
or
Skull = piss of the teacher/looks cool?
Can you take back your inward process and let:
Skull = piss off the teacher/looks cool?
Then could the Nazis really become what they should be, a part of the (important) past, and the skull image become what it was/should be intended to be a ‘hip’ cheap piece of fashion?
What does your inward process say about who you are?
Cheers.
I think you people are making to big of a deal out of this.
its just a t-shirt. not a provocation intended for the whole world to see.
it’s probably in only one wal-mart of all the marts in the world. and yet, some guy with nothing better to do in his life chose to moan and bitch about it, and getting the whole world on their feet.
its in the same league of stupidity as was the reaction of the Muslims to the cartoon with Mohamed.
most people dont give a fuck, and probably never will, but some people are just looking for a cause to bitch and moan about.
Lucky,
[quote]its in the same league of stupidity as was the reaction of the Muslims to the cartoon with Mohamed.[/quote]
The muslims who had to endure discrimination, harassment and abuse on daily basis and also have the symbol of their belief become the butt of jokes, or the jews whom ancestors were gassed and later found that they now can buy the symbol of their murderer in Walmart; well all of them deserves every right to react the way they did.
couple of points to clarify some simplistic knee-jerk reactions upthread: the American Nazi Party petitioned to march in Skokie in 1977, not 1978, and ultimately, did not march there. Check your facts before lending more urban myth-weight to stupid t-shirts.
J,
They did march in 1978 after the supreme court they could. They tried in 1977 but were stopped by a law suit filed by the residents.
my 2 cents.
this thing is awesome and i want one just because its sold at walmart. not any other reason.
i agree with the fashion people. and wal mart knows they messed up, they even mailed rick on it. its just a goof up some body made for fashion, i am in the military and we get subjected to stupid tv commercials day in and day out, one of them is about nazi’s and what not, and my friend goes is that a skull on there hat? we both thought it was dumb. so i looked it up and found this sight in the mean time of trying to find this nazi “skull”
so i at 24 had no clue what this symbol meant. not that im clueless, but im sure 100’s of thousands of other people dont/didnt either. especially in small rural towns where walmart took over anyhow.
i read on another comment that rammstein lyrics are about raping little boys and stuff, well that got me curious and i read almost all there songs, and found some disturbing and weird lyrics, but none of raping little boys, now maybe the translations were just way off, but i doubt it. also the only strange lyrics, were when he talks about finding men and stuff, so maybe hes gay, or maybe in his attempt to say human he just says guy, or man, or male, or dude, or his/him. but may just mean people in general. im not saying your wrong, but id like some proof they talk about raping children. that would make them seem more hardcore than they do, and enlighten me on their beliefs.
after looking at more rammstein songs, i found one song that talked about so called raping little boys, it was the song halleluja, and its talking about priests doing bad things sorta, it never quite says he rapes him or anything. look it up
halleluja.
Soubriquet writes:
“I haven’t tracked the SS totenkopf image back very far, but the death’s head was a badge of Prussian Hussars as far back as 1744”
How come? You were sufficiently interested to post a site re: 17/21 lancers.
“Soldiers often have a rather grim sense of humour”
Except that “soldiers” almost NEVER create -authorized- uniform insignia — that’s almost always done by general staff officers or government bureaucrats, neither group in the general category of “constantly being faced with the possibility that you yourself may die tomorrow.” So your thesis falls flat on that particular count.
“The argument here is simply whether Wal-Mart should be treated as nazi sympathisers because they bought in t-shirts with a skull symbol similar to that used by a particularly reviles nazi ss division. And I say no.”
Your thesis is faulty here as well. The base issue here is whether Walmart should be held to a consistent standard based on their own policies, AS STATED BY Walmart itself. If the retailer has set itself up as arbiter, protector of ‘decency’ [however Walmart defines that] and censor, then they have taken on the duty to hire people who are educated enough to actually RECOGNIZE images, speech, etc. which ARE unacceptable to the local community standards. And the totenkopf symbol, as worn by ANY nazi-related organization, whether it be the SS, Heer, nazi partei, etc. is and should be, unacceptable to ANY community in the US which lost members in the ongoing fight against nazism, neo or otherwise.
“There is no evidence to say Wal-Mart is pushing nazi ideology or propaganda, simply that they’ve used a clip art image to make a shirt that might appeal to death metal fans and uncommitted goths.”
There’s also no evidence that Wal-Mart is pushing murder, foul language, etc., yet they choose to insert themselves in the process of choosing which items in these categories they stock. No difference. Exactly WHERE is this particular image a “clip art image”? You also neglect to mention that this particular image greatly appeals to nazis, most of whom would recognize the image and its symbolism to their putrid cause.
actually, the waffen ss didn’t wear black uniforms,they were the only to have camo, the ss or Einsazkommados did, the shultzstaffel did. The waffen ss is the army version of the Shultzstaffel, but they were soldiers, not death squads. They all used the Totenkopf, which dates back before the ss or the nazi. Again the nazi just adopted it into their dress. The Totenkopf division did not did not supply the death camps, that was Einsazkommados. The Totenkopf division was a WAFFEN SS branch, Soldiers. You can tell the difference from regular army Werhmacht because the waffen wore there eagle and swaztika on their arm sleeves and werhmacht wore it over there right chest. O, and the Waffen ss didnt draft, that was for the army, they were volunteer for the most part,even from other counties. And the only ones who wore deathheads were waffen ss, the panzer crews were ss too! again look close at their uniforms and any body that had the totenkopf also had the eagle on there ARM not their chest. This is because Hitler wore his on his arm. and as far as walmart, its just a popular band now, I dought they even thought for minute about nazis, ther out for money, and that kind of stuff sales.
the real worry and concern here should be that you ACTUALLY SHOP AT WALMART! we as people give symbols their meaning. as other people have stated, these symbols, particularly ALL nazi symbols go back WELL BEYOND the era of the nazi party. think (east) Indian, Native American, Egyptian, Druid. were Native Americans nazis? i think the real solution here is to have everyone wear these shirts and symbols, creating a new meaning and stripping the old meaning away just as the nazis did before. after all, nobody jumps up and down over stylized spread eagles, which were used as much as any other nazi symbol. look at the quarter in your pocket. we define the symbols. if you want to rob neo-nazis of their shock-power, then devoid their symbols of their meaning. it is simple. besides, shopping at walmart does more harm than any old symbol ever will.
I agree there are plenty of skull and bones references on our own currency which Wal-Mart gladly accepts from us everyday. This is not proprietary to Nazis as it was used by many other military groups around the world. Could some skin head graphic designer put this together as a prank? Yes. Could this just be a coincidence and nothing more? I would say so. The point is censorship is bad enough in America and things like this only make it even more so. I am a firm believer of it means what you want it to mean. If you want it to mean you’re a Nazi enthusiast then it will. If you’re just into skulls and Goth (as most kids are these days) then it’s just a symbol of your resistance against conforming. Lets keep in mind that the reason the Nazis and many other political groups were fought by the U.S. Military were so that people could decide to wear what they want, say what they want, and have freedom. If we pull these shirts, give it tons of news coverage and then go on and on wasting time trying to cipher the meaning then the Nazis have won and that’s sad. There are much more important things going on in the world than indirect Nazi symbols on shirts at Wal-Mart. Ask Bush JR and SR they both are members of the Yale fraternity “Skull and Bones” which worships skulls, death and symbols just like the totenkopf. Not to mention almost every other politician in this country.
Oh yeah they also tracked down the designer of the alledged “Totenkopf” shirts and guess what. He is Jewish lol. Talk about irony.
Best,
Tim Matheson
What is the UPC for this shirt? I’ve seen this story enough times to the point where I want to see if I can wrestle any (useable) details from any systems inside walmart. This has piqued my interest and it’s not going away. If someone, somewhere posts the UPC for this shirt on ANY site to where I can find it I will be grateful.
-ThePhantomAssociate
Who care if it is nazi insignia or not, no one takes offense at a red star. People will adopt any ideology they wish. There are many things happening to day that are far from moral (depending on your opinion), what are you going to do, ban everything you dont agree with or that makes you feel threatened. Make a law against the wrong opinion. Get real, Can no one see beyond the last war, why dont you try and ban all roman insignia too. So What!
I have seen shirts promoting George W. Bush and the republican party. Pretty offensive to me.
Previous poster is right. Only offensive to the hyper sensative.
The symbol itself doesn’t equal nazi, it is people’s perception and opinion that gives the symbol its meaning.
There is a house owned by either a Hindu or Indian couple (not sure forgive me) and there are two large statues adorned with swastikas. To some, this would indicate the house is occupied by nazi sympathizers, but the reality is that the swatika, along with many other images used by the nazis, including runes, predated the party by hundeds if not thousands of years.
Get over it. All they hire at Walmart are puerto ricans and blacks who use our money for welfare anyway.
Stop being such babys about everything…You people who have nothing better to do except complain, about a symbol,that has many different historical meanings,are the ones who ruin this country…….And I better get over to walmart quick before they all sell out.
@matt od: Yes, by all means, run right out to your local Wal-Mart to get one of these shirts before they sell out. The clock is ticking.
So now I can’t buy one because somebody doesn’t like it? Get a fucking life.
Johnny’s right. I have the same problem with cocaine. People just need to “get a fucking life.”
If you are familiar with WalMart at all you would have expected communism not nazis. I do not think that the management of the company put any thought to it at all. The average American would not notice or recognize any symbol that is not current.
Now if the shirt had a picture of MAO on it I would have to say the management knew about it and approved.
Don
WHITE POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations on creating one of the longest-lived comment dialogs ever achieved on a blog (although, I guess Luke James’s comment before mine doesn’t really contribute anything…).
@jessejace: The really funny thing is that I had comments shut down on this post for for a couple of years. As soon as I turned comments back on, they started to appear again.
I want to buy one of those shirts, where can I find one?
The Jew is the vampire of nations. They are the plague of humankind and need to be exterminated from earth.
Does that mean you have no problem with the Jews living on the Moon or on Mars?
Klaus, you and your nazi friends can go to hell
Just as well you were alert enought to spot this. I’m sure if Wal-Mart were informed about this, they would have these removed from their store immediately. I can’t understand how these have been slipped in.
They were informed… and they didn’t remove them. Not immediately, not shortly after. They don’t care.
https://bentcorner.com/62-weeks-later-and-wal-mart-is-still-selling-nazi-t-shirts/
Four years! I can’t believe it!
The funny part is that I actually had comments turned OFF for a couple of years. I then figured that the story was so old, that nobody would even want to comment, so I enabled comments again.
haha.. the image predates Nazi Germany… It has been around since the 1800s if not before as the Prussian Empire utilized the image as well..
You know what else has been around a long time? The post you just commented on.
I know this is a very old thread, however I just became aware of it and had to share my opinion.
I have been familiar with this particular skull design since I was a child. Growing up in an artistic family, and being exposed to music, skateboarding, horror movies and all sorts of subcultures has instilled a love of skull imagery, as well as design in general.
I always liked this particular skull, and only within the last 10-15 years did I discover its link to Nazis. I remember the image clearly from many sources when i was young, none of them being Nazi related. One of the earliest references I can make to it is in a music video by Aerosmith, in which the singer is wearing a shirt with the same skull, and the words “Toxic Twins” on it.
I know for a fact that this skull is used often, and with no intention of linking Nazi ideology or sympathies. What I wanted to comment most on was the insistence of one user that the Gothic style letters and “faint double s” clearly signifying in his mind a link to the German SS. My point being that the Gothic style, or Olde English letters, add absolutely nothing to the argument that it is more than coincidence. These have been utilized since before I was even born in all manner of Heavy Metal, Punk Rock, Hardcore, Tattoo, etc typography, with no connection to Nazis, in fact many times the band/artist/etc. have been strongly anti-racist/anti-facist. This further lends credence to Jessica’s very well put argument. The fact that there is what looks like a double “S” is merely the style of calligraphy.
I salute Rick’s sharp eye identifying it, and agree when he says:
“My point has always been that if a retailer is going to make a big deal about not selling music with adult content to adults, they ought to not sell Nazi SS paraphernalia to kids.”
I just can’t help but chuckle at all the conspiracy theorists who actually seem to believe there was some Nazi intention here.
And by the way, Rammstein is an incredibly corny band who intend to shock with their appearance, lyrics, and performance. Even if their lyrics do include references to the things one user suggests, it is purely for shock value, so I wouldn’t be concerned pal. Though I do see the hypocrisy of censoring some but not all.
Thank you,
Good night
The totenkopf and variants of it have been used by numerous military battalions and divisions over the years including the U.S. and Britain. It’s certainly not limited to Germany.
The fact that you are alarmed at such images implies an ignorance of history and reinforces the fact that people in the U.S. get a very skewed history education. In the time it took you to snap that photo and write this Blog entry you could have researched this for yourself.
Incessant whining over inconsequential things is just another reason our country is failing.
Thanks for the input Johnathan.
Show me exactly where I was “alarmed”.
I think SS were reporting directly to the German National Socialist Party that had been extremely good at promoting their slogans. So it is not surprising to find business trying to profit from the same appealing/proven strategies. Not mentioning that there was over 10,000 post WII wanted war criminals who escaped prosecution by immigrating to the US securing new life and identity.
A wide guess would be 1978 correlated to the natural death of the couple. After all Otto Skorzeny died in 1976.
Greetings. I stumbled across this site looking up a joke about wal mart and would just like to add a different perspective to this discourse. While it’s fun for everyone to run with an idea like “is wal mart selling nazi tshirts?” don’t get too carried away. It certainly could be that someone did this intentionally but as a graphic designer myself, I’m willing to bet whoever made this shirt phoned in the work. In other-words, they needed a skull for a tshirt, they googled skull artwork, liked the nazi one not knowing it was a nazi skull and they replicated it. The Since 1978 part is more than likely a artificial date to make it look like the tshirt co has been around forever, it’s a pretty common practice. Think Ecko 1972, Ecko wasn’t around in 1972….
I stumbled across this article after seeing a local driving around with the Totenkopf symbol on the rear window of their SUV. I wondered, knowing what the symbol was, would anyone want it on their vehicle. So off to the internet I went. Unfortunately most young people do not know what it is since it isn’t really taught in government schools and most in my generation aren’t WWII buffs.
Well the emblem is a dead ringer for the 3rd Panzer Division of WWII fame both on the SUV and this Tshirt.
The significance of 1978 is important and, I believe, related to the Neo Nazi movement in America.
In 1977, in Illinois, Frank Collin,* the leader of the group there had planned a march in Skokie Ill., a predominantly Jewish enclave where 1in 6 were Holocaust survivors. The residents filed a suit to stop the march and it was stopped…temporarilly. In 1978 the supreme court ruled that the group could indeed march AND in a different ruling that same year it also ruled that the Totenkopf symbol could be used to represent the Neo Nazis since it didn’t directly symbolize “fighting words” and it wouldn’t rule against the First Amendment to the constitution of free speach.
*Wikipedia
Understanding White Supremacy:
The old tactics of “calling names and telling lies” have really served the Sons of Hell very well in their quest to destroy God’s Holy Seed from upon the Earth! Well, we know what has always worked for us. Searching for the truth and standing up for the truth when we find it! It is the Truth that protects the righteous in the Christian World!
So, let’s put all our racial theories into practice, shall we?
White Supremacy: Name the race of people that has accomplished more – or even as much as the White European People have done (law, science, invention, art, literature, etc., you know, the things that lift us above the level of an animal)? What race of people would you be better off living with should the good White people decide you have worn out your welcome in their God-given lands (choose well because the racial separation is a fact that is happening all over the world right now and those who curse us and use us spitefully are not going to be part of “white society” much longer)? What other race of people would you rather see piloting the aircraft on your next flight? Whose medicine do you reach for when you or a loved one is sick? Whose laws and whose justice do you seek when you find yourself innocent and in a courtroom? Whose kindness would you rather have when you are in trouble and what race of people would you rather have defend you when you are being mistreated?
For those of you who have answered honestly – we have many problems that maybe you “white supremists” can help us with.
Perhaps you have noticed it is this “same kindness” that we are known for that is being exploited with the multitudes of other races coming to live with us in every land that was once exclusively for White Christendom. This is the result of vile, Christ-hating, mentally-ill, Baal-worshipping Rabbis who we have mistakenly allowed to come among us a few generations ago. Their mission is to socially engineer the White Race out of existence whether through violence or race-mixing and homosexuality – and the core of their belief can be found at the foot of the Tower of Babel, “….the people seek to make themselves one, now, of all they seek to do what then shall be kept from them….?”
Well, we also know all of the nonwhite people who have come to live with us – came only because of their “great faith” in white supremacy, despite the Rabbis worst intentions. We know that “no one ever asked to be born” and we find no fault in their existence – we only ask from the nonwhite world to allow us a place on this Earth that we can exist – a place where white people can call home. For those who can see through the dust kicked up by the Rabbis and find reason with our request – we (the ones the Rabbis call “White Supremists”- like we want to “Lord over you” in order to get you to hate us and strike out against us) promise you a good place upon the Earth that you can call home – we promise you the right to defend yourselves and promise to share the good things of this world with you! If you profess this one called Jesus is the Christ, and agree that His good laws are to be obeyed – you will never have a greater friend than your White Christian friend!
It is very important to think these things through and make a decision this day because… For all those people who are denying ‘the Son of Man a place to rest his head’ – out comes the curses the Bible promises the lawless! We say “let those curses you have called upon us now come raining down upon your head.” Let the plagues of Egypt come upon you and may your bodies boil over with the sores of Job! Let your houses be broken in and your strong men bound and your daughters ravished! Let the “death angels “you have summoned for us gather their harvest among your kind! You who leer at our daughters – let your eyes be put out like you put out the eyes of our brother, Sampson! Those who misuse our sons and lay hands grievously upon our priests, bring the sword upon them, Father, for yours is the way of Justice!
See how easy that was? You see, the Rabbis have willfully mistranslated that scripture into a statement “…all they seek to do will not be kept from them…!” hoping that no one would notice that this was actually a question posed by the Author to His representation upon the Earth! (Look at how this is written in your Bible as compared to the original in the Septuagint!) Or in other words “I’ve given you all my power to rule this Earth with My Justice – so how much of this garbage are you going to take?”
The Rabbis have been lying to their own people as well! They know that they are not these people in the Bible called “Israel.” (But then the Talmud tells the Rabbis to “go down to the banks of the river and roll up balls of mud – mumble a few magic words – and these godless, mindless and soulless mud-people will become ‘Golems’ who will do the bidding of the Rabbis.”)
The Rabbis have already planned their escape with all their wealth in the last days –to someplace like Barbados – leaving the poorer but better behaved Jews behind to take the brunt of the punishment for their great crimes (just like they did in Germany 72 years ago and in Haiti at the turn of the 19th century)!
I will tell you “they will be filleting Rabbis into ‘rib-eyes’ in Barbados on His day! Karl Gharst
Derp.
Weren’t you the bad guy in the first Die Hard movie?
The nazis didn’t invent the totenkopf.. it was made by the Prussians.. just a militiary insignia that shouldn’t be confused with a racist symbol
While true the Nazis didn’t invent the skull icon, they did create this specific, exact icon. It’s why neo-Nazis and other racists use this specific skull icon and not one created by the Prussians or 18th century pirates.
Who knows? The skull and crossbones symbol is currently being used by many different organizations as it had been used by many in the past. Unfortunately it will always be tied to the Nazis and the SS as they made it notorious. History and politics aside it’s my guess that most kids would think its a cool shirt. If it said establish in the nineteen twenties there would be no doubt. You do have a point though. This one does resemble the SS deaths head but then again so does every variation of it I have ever seen. It’s commercial art at the end of the day. What ever sells. Some people will buy it simply because it’s a cool design and others will buy it because they think it makes a political statement. All the manufacturer cares about is whether they sell or not. Your observation is accurate though.
I think most of you are reading way to far into this… And, why would you shop at wal-mart in the first place…
In 20 years will anyone still believe in the holocaust? Look at all the revisionist material on the web.
Supporters of the terrorist Confederacy have been trying to rewrite the fact that they went to war over slavery for 150 years now and it still isn’t working.
@Koray:
National Socialism=NAtionalsoZIalismus=Nazism. National Socialism IS Nazism–they are literally synonymous. There’s no thinly-veiled anything going on.
@Rick R: Rick, go see what Arnold wore for a belt buckle on a Time Magazine cover. Yes, this very skull is on his belt buckle. http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20070625,00.html
@Harry B: That belt buckle has the same design elements as the Totenkopf skull. A closeup view of it reveals that it has the same short, stubby crossbones, and the head is tilted to the left slightly. It’s not tilted as much as the Totenkopf, but I can see the that artist clearly meant for it to not be symetrical. Focus on the temples on the skull. You will see that one side of the head is more prominent than the other. Pointed to the same direction as the original. Arnold’s father was in the SS, correct? Arnold knows exactly what he was doing when he wore that buckle. I think that this is even worse than the Chuck Testa commercial, because Arnold is a US politician, and he is displaying Nazi regalia to the masses via Time magazine.
@Harry B: Look at the temples on the skull. It’s meant to be tilted, and not symetrical. http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n67/seemslikeadream/Arnold-Deaths-Head.jpg
Excellent. I can’t wait to get a few of these shirts. Do they have any with SS bolts on them?
@MIke: You wear dresses. You don’t need a T-shirt.
Ss was not originally Nazi affiliated nor was the swastika(Hinduism) and the skull has been around since before the 1700 for the huassar/dragoon units
I love it!!!!!
“just AN poorly drawn pirate skull” hmm I thought it was “A poorly drawn pirate skull”. 🙂
Good work Vicky, that community college degree’s really paying off 🙂