Here’s one for the banality of evil bucket: The so-called Sig-Runes, the logo for the Nazi SS (Schutzstaffel), was designed by Walter Heck, a graphic designer who had worked for the badge manufacturing firm of Ferdinand Hoffstätter in Bonn. The Daily Mail reports:
The Nazis claimed the double lightning flashes of the SS were “ancient runes” that extolled the supremacy of the German race. But a new TV documentary has debunked the myth, revealing that Heinrich Himmler [hired] an out-of-work illustrator to create them. Walter Heck designed the SS symbol in 1929 and is believed to have copied it from the signs on electricity pylons in the country at the time. A TV documentary titled “Symbol of Evil” purports to show how SS leader Heinrich Himmler paid the illustrator to create the symbol for £1.
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