The forest swastika was a patch of carefully arranged larch trees covering a 60 yard square area of pine forest near Zernikow, Germany. The reason behind the planting of the trees is unclear, but it has been suggested that it was laid out in 1937 by locals to prove their loyalty after a businessman in the area was denounced and sent to a concentration camp by the Nazi Party for listening to the BBC, or that a zealous forester convinced local Hitler Youth members to plant the trees in commemoration of Adolf Hitler's birthday. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... November 14 is the 318th day of the year (319th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Species About 12; see text Siberian larch Male (above) and female (below right) cones of Japanese Larch emerging in spring Larches are conifers in the genus Larix, in the family Pinaceae. ... A yard (abbreviation: yd) is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... Subgenera Subgenus Strobus Subgenus Ducampopinus Subgenus Pinus See Pinus classification for complete taxonomy to species level. ... Zernikow is the name of the following places in Brandenburg: Local part of Grosswoltersdorf Zernikow bei Gransee Gransee Zernikow (Uckermark) near Prenzlau Zernikow bei Wittenberge Wittenberge Category: ... It has been suggested that Internment be merged into this article or section. ... The National Socialist German Workers Party (German: , or NSDAP, or commonly, The Nazi Party), was a political party in Germany between 1920 and 1945. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Hitler redirects here. ...

For a few weeks every year in the autumn and in the spring, the colour of the larch leaves would change, contrasting with the deep green of the pine forest. The short duration of the effect combined with the fact that the image could only be discerned from the air and the relative scarcity of privately owned aeroplanes in the area meant that the swastika went largely unnoticed after the fall of the Nazi Party and during the subsequent communist rule. However, in 1992, the reunified German government ordered aerial surveys of the state-owned land. The photographs were examined by forestry students, who immediately noticed the design. This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ... A right-facing Swastika in a decorative Hindu form The swastika (from Sanskrit ) is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing () or left-facing () forms. ... Communism is an ideology that seeks to establish a classless, stateless social organization based on common ownership of the means of production. ... German reunification (German: ) took place on October 3, 1990, when the areas of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR, in English commonly called East Germany) were incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, in English commonly called West Germany). The start of this reunification process is commonly referred to...

The Brandenburg state authorities, concerned about damage to the region's image and about the possibility that the area would become a pilgrimage site for Nazi supporters, attempted to destroy the design by removing 43 of the 100 larch trees in 1995. The figure remained discernible with the remaining 57 trees, though, and in 2000 German tabloids published further aerial photographs showing the prominence of the swastika. By this time, ownership of around half the land on which the trees sat had been sold into private hands, but permission was gained to fell a further 25 trees on the government-owned area on December 1, 2000, and the image was largely obscured.   (Lower Sorbian: Bramborska; Upper Sorbian: Braniborska) is one of Germanys sixteen Bundesländer (federal states). ... December 1 is the 335th (in leap years the 336th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In September 2006 the New York Times reported on another Forest Swastika in Eki Naryn, at the foot of the Himalayas. It is about 600 feet across, but does not resemble the swastika symbol as much as the Zernikow forest swastika.^[1] The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... Perspective view of the Himalayas and Mount Everest as seen from space looking south-south-east from over the Tibetan Plateau. ...

References

1. ^ "Secrets and lies shroud origins of giant swastika", C. J. Chivers, New York Times, September 16, 2006. URL last accessed October 31, 2006. (Picture)

• "German forest loses swastika" BBC News, December 4, 2000, retrieved March 9, 2006
• "Swastika made of living trees cut down in German forest" CNN, December 4, 2000, retrieved March 9, 2006
• "Berlin forest swastika to go but its image may remain" Hannah Cleaver, Daily Telegraph, November 30, 2000, retrieved March 9, 2006
• (German) "Der Hakenkreuz-Wald bei Zernikow kam unter die Säge", Berliner Zeitung from December 5, 2000. URL last accessed March 14, 2006.
• (German) "Das Kreuz im Wald", Die Zeit, August 12, 2004. URL last accessed March 14, 2006.