Posters from the 1924 Olympics show the salute with the arm almost vertical. It was widely used at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, and confused a lot of people then and ever since as to who was saluting the Olympics and who was saluting Hitler. The official salute of the Olympics is also very similar to these other ones, though rarely used because people don’t want to look like Nazis. connection inclined him in favor of the salute or not, it seems not to have dissuaded him from adopting the salute. Hitler certainly knew of Mussolini’s use of the salute and almost certainly knew of the U.S. Hitler himself recounted a medieval German origin for the salute, which, as far as we know, is no more real that the ancient Roman origin or half the stuff that comes out of Donald Trump’s mouth. In the 1930s fascist movements in other countries and various governments around the world picked it up. He instituted many practices that Mussolini would soon appropriate, including the corporate state, public rituals, black-shirted thugs, balcony speeches, and the “Roman salute,” which he would have seen in Cabiria.īy 1923, Nazis had picked up the salute for greeting Hitler, presumably copying the Italians. It had been seen in Ben Hur, and in several Italian films set in ancient times, including Cabiria (1914), written by Gabriele D’Annunzio.įrom 1919 to 1920 D’Annunzio made himself the dictator of something called the Italian Regency of Carnaro, which was the size of one small city. But when Italian fascists picked it up, it had neither survived from ancient Rome nor been newly invented. Of course, it’s a very simple salute, not hard to think up there are only so many things humans can do with their arms. As far as we know, the “Roman salute” was never actually used by the ancient Romans. dramatic productions of that period would have been aware of both the Bellamy salute and the tradition of depicting a “Roman salute” in neoclassical art. stage production of Ben Hur, and a 1907 film version of the same, made use of the gesture. Jacques-Louis David’s 1784 painting The Oath of the Horatii is believed to have begun the fashion that lasted for centuries of depicting ancient Romans as making a gesture very similar to the Bellamy or Nazi salute. Congress instructed Americans to instead place their hands over their hearts when swearing allegiance to a flag, so as not to be mistaken for Nazis. From the early 1890s through 1942 the United States used the Bellamy salute to accompany the words written by Francis Bellamy and known as the Pledge of Allegiance. children and adults with their right arms raised stiffly out in front of them in what will strike most people as a Nazi salute. But if you search for images of “Bellamy salute” you find countless black-and-white photographs of U.S. If you do a web search for images of “Nazi salute” you find old photos from Germany and recent photos from the United States.
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