Swastika tattoo on Polish resistance fighter's chest?

MD

MD

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Not exactly about WWII firearms but sorta.

When I was a kid in Port Hardy there was a Polish guy who was a pretty tough nut. Had a .38 revolver and when he had people over for drinks he'd challenge them to play Russian roulette. There are a lot of other stories, some pretty cruel, but I won't repeat them.

He said he could never go back to Poland because the communists would kill him.

When he died his family had some of his momentos from WWII including a uniform cap and some medals from the Polish Home Army.

What I could never figure out was shortly before he died I happened to be back in Port Hardy on a hot summer day and bumped into him at the dock and he had his shirt open to the navel and a faded old tattoo on his chest. "What's that?" the guy I was with asked.

"Hakenkreuz" he answered.

I know enough German to recognize that word and looked closely at the tattoo and sure enough, his whole chest was covered with this swastika tattoo.

He never said anything else about it but since then I always wondered if he had been in the resistance why did he have that tattoo?
 
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Prior to the “theft” of the symbol by the Nazi regime it was considered a good luck symbol over much of Europe. It’s possible this guy had the tattoo long before the war broke out depending on his age
 
The swastika has a long history that goes back thousands of years. Its been found on archaeological remains of the Indus Valley civilization and Mesopotamia, its prominent in both Hinduism and Buddhism, and was long considered a good luck symbol before the nazi's used it.

Just like the toothbrush mustache (as if anyone calls it that now right?), those bastard nazi's took something that was once great (ok maybe the toothbrush mustache was never that great unless you're a big Charlie Chaplin fan), and made it a sign of hatred and oppression.
 
bdft said:
Or maybe he wasn't in the resistance. If every Dutch, Polish etc refugee who moved to Canada after WW2 was in the resistance like they claimed the Germans would have been overwhelmed in no time.
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This too. Much of Europe and the world was very anti Semitic leading up to WW2
 
Could have been for good luck, could have been in the SS. After the Germans left Auschwitz the ovens kept going for days, run by the locally sourced labour. That's first hand information from someone who was there.
 
Timeframe and approximate age may help a bit. To be a part of the resistance during WW2 he should be at least 15-16 around 1939. Could be a fake story. Maybe a Volksdeutsche?
 
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SS only did blood group tattoo on the arm no Swasticas. Probably done by whore during drunken orgy at one off many brothels in Sault Ste Marie in the mid 50s. He was probably working on the ships on great lakes.
 
Also easy way of spotting fake meaning done after the war SS tattoo from real thing is real never included RH factor since it was very new since during WW2. Fake ones done in the 50 and 60s just for the show usually have RH factor
 
He would have been possibly roughly 15 to 20 in 1940.

I never knew his actual age. About the same as my dad (born 1925).
 
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bdft said:
Or maybe he wasn't in the resistance. If every Dutch, Polish etc refugee who moved to Canada after WW2 was in the resistance like they claimed the Germans would have been overwhelmed in no time.
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A lot more "Resistance " fighters in Europe after they figured out who was winning. :(

Grizz
 
MD said:
He would have been possibly roughly 15 to 20 in 1940.

I never knew his actual age. About the same as my dad (1925).
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So...age wise he would qualify, but the tattoo would suggest a Volksdeutsche or some kind of Nazi sympathizer (unlikely). You never know...maybe he lost a drunk bet once...too many possibilities. He would get executed by the underground for that kind of tattoo. One more explanation. Swastika hanging on the rope from the gallows. That would be one of the resistance symbols.
 
That guy fits perfectly with one of the guys from 36th SS division lead by Oskar Dirlewanger that was used to finish off Warsaw Uprising. Majority of them were chosen from criminals from Danzig region (90% of the Germans there actually spoke Polish as their second language so playing Polish after the war was perfect disguise). Danzig-Matzkau prison was emptied during Warsaw uprising to fill in ranks of 36th SS division. "Dirlewanger" boys were worst criminals choose by Hitler to finish of Warsaw. This also may explain souvenirs captured from Polish resistance during Warsaw uprising and that swastika.
 
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wojnar said:
That guy fits perfectly with one of the guys from 36th SS division lead by Oskar Dirlewanger that was used to finish off Warsaw Uprising. Majority of them were chosen from criminals from Danzig region (90% of the Germans there actually spoke Polish as their second language so playing Polish after the war was perfect disguise). Danzig-Matzkau prison was emptied during Warsaw uprising to fill in ranks of 36th SS division. "Dirlewanger" boys were worst criminals choose by Hitler to finish of Warsaw. This also may explain souvenirs captured from Polish resistance during Warsaw uprising and that swastika.
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Sounds feasible but I knew him quite well growing up with him in this very small town with many immigrants from all over Europe. He sounded very Polish in his accent and as a very observant kid I recognized a lot of tell-tale accents. He wasn't German. I still remember when in the late 1960s he hadn't seen me (or noticed me) in a long time and I had grown a thick black beard at a very early age so when he saw me at 16 or 17 he said "You look like RRrasputeen!"

But to have captured Polish Home Army artifacts in his possession would have been a great cover for immigrating as a refugee who'd fought the Nazis.
 
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