Swastika in New York State: Place in the USA would like to continue to be called swastika

The subject was brought up by New Yorker Michael Alcamo, who had cycled in the area about 35 miles south of the Canadian border during the summer and thought the name swastika was an insult to US World War II veterans. According to a newspaper report from 1977, the hamlet was formerly called Goodrich Mills, but has been in the postal directories as a swastika since 1913.

Douglass admitted that the swastika used by the Nazis was a symbol of hatred. “But I think there are others who don’t associate that with hatred,” he said. “Did the Hindus and the (Buddhists) and all of them remove it from their religious history because of the Germans?” The English term swastika comes from the ancient Indian Sanskrit and means lucky charm. The symbol has been used for millennia.

Douglass said there had been several requests to change the name after World War II. But even local residents who fought in the war themselves were against it. “Simply because Hitler tried to seize the meaning of the swastika”.