Valaki le tudná fordítani ezt a szöveget?

Many thanks to reader Hautie, who e-mailed me about the striking resemblance between the logo for Jesse James’ custom motorcycle company, West Coast Choppers, and the Iron Cross, a German military decoration first popularized by Adolf Hilter during the Second World War. Apparently the cross was around before Hilter, but was discontinued and he brought it back. The “Iron Cross” is not known in Germany as a nefarious symbol associated with the Third Reich. It’s currently part of the logo for the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces. My husband is German and I checked with him on the cultural meaning of the Iron Cross. He said that to foreigners the Iron Cross is strongly associated with Hitler’s army and he can’t see how else it could be interpreted.

Given James’s fascination with Hitler and Nazi regalia, it’s not that much of a stretch to assume that the logo for West Coast Choppers, est. 1992, is a homage to the Nazis. However, the Maltese cross that’s part of their logo is also known as a “Biker Cross,” which has been around since the 1950s as a symbol of biker gangs and culture. (It probably originated with the Iron Cross, but the meaning has been supplanted.) Did James know what he was doing when he chose a Nazi symbol for his company logo? He sure knew what he was doing when he bought that surfboard with Hitler’s face on it.