Not sure how, but my recent Ukraine-related searches somehow led me to a photo I hadn't seen in a while. I think it was a result of Czar Vladimir's claim that Ukraine is led by Nazis. All this despite the fact that President Zelensky is Jewish. But hey ho! Jews for Hitler, right?
It worked for Richard Green. (See Apocalypse Culture II, Adam Parfrey, ed., P. 397)
I'd mentioned the photo in question back in 2007 as part of a post about the kerfuffle surrounding a swastika-shaped barracks at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado in San Diego. In that post I mentioned a swastika which, like the Coronado building, was visible only from the air. But this swastika was made of trees, and became visible when the seasons turned the strategically-placed larches yellow against the surrounding evergreen pines. The origin of this "treestika" is uncertain, but it's fate is more clear. In 1995 a few leiderhosen-clad dudes with chainsaws cut down 43 of the 100 offending trees; yet in 2000, traces were still visible, so a further 25 trees were felled. By all accounts it's now been pretty much obscured. Auf Wiedersehen, Nazi trees. Situated near the German village of Zernikow, not so far from Berlin, this is what the treestika looked like when the season was right (i.e. Spring and Autumn):
Reports say the larches were planted in 1938. It is unclear how the
trees came to be planted and arranged in such a fashion. It seems they
were planted in commemoration of Adolf Hitler's birthday, either by
local Hitler Youth members or by a warden.
At the time of the Coronado post, I'd heard of another "forest swastika" near the town of
Asterode in the state of Hesse, which also included the date "1933". This second homage was apparently discovered by American soldiers in the 70's, but its origins are even more obscure than the Zernikow version. Until recently I hadn't seen a photo, but now we have, and here it is (from
Atlas Obscura):
Apparently such "horticultural hate" (
quote from ABC News) was a pretty popular hobby for Nazi sympathizers, because there is yet
another tree swastika in Kyrgyzstan, near the village of
Eki Naryn, Kyrgyzstan, on the edge of the Tian Shan Mountains. This was first
reported by the New York Times in 2006. According to the article it was at least 60-years old at the time. Roughly 600-feet across, legend has it that German POW's duped their Soviet captors to plant the symbol as an act of defiance. But the legend is untrue, and the article recounts several conflicting versions about its origins. But no German POW's ever worked there. One account says it was planted in the 30's, others say the 40's. Still others say 1958. Another version dates it to 1960.
Those who point to the 30's say it was made to celebrate Stalin and Hitler's non-aggression pact. Those who point to later dates blame German nationalists or Nazi sympathizers. The local forestry service hasn't been much help, as its records are in disarray and date back only to 1960. Whatever the case, it should be noted that today it's hard to make out and isn't very accurate. For one thing it's flat, and not at a 45° angle; for another, it points in the opposite direction of the Nazi swastika.
You can read the article yourself if it's not behind a pay wall. The NYT is tricky that way.
This is the best photo we've seen of the swastika, and as you can see, it was either poorly-executed or time hasn't been kind to it, because it takes a little imagination to see the swastika.
But this kind of tree imagery is not the province of fascists alone; the Soviets also did it. According to this article, Russian photographer Slava Stepanov captured the following image with the aide of a drone. 300-meters long and 82-meters high, one can clearly see the Cyrillic for "Lenin" spelled out with pine trees. Stepanov figures the work dates back to the 1970's. 1970 was the 100th anniversary of Lenin's birth, so it's not an improbable estimate. It's located near the town of Tyukalinsk in the Ornsk region.
The Telegraph reports on another Lenin tree memorial, but you have to sign up for a free trial to read it.
Wikimapia doesn't have much to say, but it does say the trees spell out "Lenin's 100 Years". So that 1970 date for the Tyukalinsk version might be on the money.
This Twitter account (USSR Pictures) links to yet another Lenin tree memorial near the town of Ivanava. Not gonna show that photo here, but you get the idea. I'd be willing to be there are more of these scattered throughout the ex-USSR.
The use of trees to make art is not limited to political statements. Irish Central reports on a Celtic cross made of trees, saying
The Emmery Celtic Cross, which
appeared in Donegal in Fall 2016, was the handiwork of forester Liam
Emmery, who sadly passed away before seeing the magnificent final
product.
The cross is 100-meters long and 70-meters wide and is made of two different species of trees. It is sad that Mr. Emmery died before it was fully-realized; apparently he'd had an accident and lingered for two years before passing on. I kind of feel bad for including his handiwork in such dubious company, but I think it's interesting that the technique has been in use so recently. Hats off to you, Mr. Emmery.
Apparently the cross should be visible for another 60 to 70 years. Maybe the local authorities will do something to help it live a little bit longer.
I guess this kind of work would be akin to what is sometimes called "land art", which in effect is a kind of monumental sculpture. That these works of "tree art" are literally living things is a pretty nifty take on the concept. Art that grows and changes over time, and eventually, dies. I guess all art eventually "dies," as even stone erodes. I myself once made an
assemblage topped with a plastic skull which serves as a flower pot, but I keep forgetting to water the damn thing and can't get the plants I've added to really bloom.
These forest artworks also remind me of what are known as geoglyphs, defined by Wikipedia as
a large design or motif
(generally longer than 4 metres) produced on the ground by durable
elements of the landscape, such as stones, stone fragments, gravel, or
earth.
Geoglyphs can often (but not always) only be seen from the sky, which has prompted more than a few people to speculate they were made for aliens. Of course they were! It is possible they were intended to be seen by the gods from the heavens. It's also possible they weren't intended to be seen at all, which is as fascinating a concept as anything from among the -isms, jisms and paroxysms of high modernism.
What I've heard referred to as "land art" may be the closest corollary to geoglyphs in the "fine" art world. The most famous example may be Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty (1970, fancy that), a form chosen perhaps, because so many ancient geo- and petroglyphs are spirals, a symbol some interpret to be a representation of the cosmos. As above so below: from the milky way to water down the drain, the universe moves in spirals. Tornadoes, atoms, DNA...helices ans spirals. I've even heard it said that the swastika, in a way, represents the same cosmological movement as the spiral. And the swastika, though sadly tarnished by the Nazis, has been used as a spiritual symbol for millennia in Buddhism, Hinduism, various pagan contexts, even in ancient synagogues (eg Capernaum).
For an idea of just how universal the swastika is:
In various European languages, it is known as the fylfot, gammadion, tetraskelion, or cross cramponnée (a term in Anglo-Norman heraldry); German: Hakenkreuz; French: croix gammée; Italian: croce uncinata; Latvian: ugunskrusts. In Mongolian it is called Хас (khas) and mainly used in seals. In Chinese it is called 卍字 (wànzì) meaning "all things symbol", pronounced manji in Japanese, manja (만자) in Korean and vạn tự / chữ vạn in Vietnamese.
The most famous of geoglyphs are perhaps the Nazca lines, built by the Inca in what is now Peru. These were created in two phases over the millennium between roughly 500 BCE and 500 CE. Hundreds of these geoglyphs have been found and the largest is over a kilometer in width. Some of the lines are just that, lines; but there are also animals, flowers and even humanoid forms. No swastikas or Cyrillic, though. According to National Geographic, there are over 800 lines, 300 geometric patterns and 70 zoomorphic (flowers, animals, humanoids) designs.
The purpose of the Nazca Lines is unknown, although it's generally believed they have religious significance. Others have suggested they are linked to irrigation patterns, still others to astronomy or astrological calendars. None of which preclude a religious significance as well.
But these messages to the skies are not limited to South America. I've been fascinated by the so-called mound builders of North America since I saw my first small mound in St. Mary's, West Virginia, where my dad grew up. There's even a nearby town called Moundsville. The Grave Creek Mound is not a geoglyph, but it is the largest conical-type burial mound in North America, standing 63 feet high and 240 feet in diameter at the base. Many of the mounds are just that, mounds, much like the barrows of England.
Some of the mounds, known as effigy mounds, are shaped like animals, people, or abstract geometric patterns and like the Nazca lines, often visible only from above. The are also believed to have served a religious function and some are also burial sites. Most of the effigy mounds were built in present-day Wisconsin, where as many as 20,000 were though to have existed, but only about 4000 are intact today.
Here's an example known as the the Marching Bear Group from the Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa:
The "Mound Builder" culture extended primarily across the American Midwest, with the largest and most complex site located at Cahokia, just outside St Louis, but there are mounds as far south as Florida (there is a site I've visited in Safety Harbor with mounds built by the Tocobago people) and as far north as Canada. According to the National Park Service, effigy mounds are located primarily in an area that
extends from Dubuque, Iowa,
north into southeast Minnesota, across southern Wisconsin from the
Mississippi to Lake Michigan, and along the Wisconsin–Illinois
boundary.
In addition to the aforementioned barrows, there is another form of geoglyph in Great Britain referred to as a "hill figure". Many were once thought to be ancient, but more sophisticated archeological studies have revealed that many of them, at least in their current form, date to as recently as the 19th century. The only verifiable ancient hill figure is the Bronze or Iron Age Uffington White Horse, but the most famous is arguably the Cerne Abbas Giant. His date of origin is unknown, with some saying it was made as recently as the 17th century, others placing it back to circa 1000 BCE. Other scholars date it to well, just about any time in between.
The giant is a source of great mirth because he's well, rather giant. A real "size queen's" delight. I'd say the giant is well-hung, but that thing ain't hanging at all, but shooting skyward like a cock rocket.
(You ever hear of a Japanese motorcycle referred to as a "cock rocket?" I actually just Googled the term and it seems the phrase has now become associated with Jeff Bezos' New Shepard rocket; it doesn't help that a model of what has been said to "resemble a sex toy" recently went on sale. For 69 $!)
But I digress. The Cerne Abbas Giant. Boiiinngg-g!
In England a few years back I was surprised to see a hill figure near Westbury. I'd been in the area to visit the magnificent stone circle built in and around the village of Avebury. Apparently, many hill figures are horses. This one, the Westbury White Horse, has origins as equally obscure as the Cerne Abbas Giant. While some say it dates back to the 9th century, real evidence only appears as late as 1778. Which is odd when you think about it. These figures are massive, yet know one knows exactly how long they have been there? The range of dates for the giant and horse are millennia apart.
It's like the Kyrgyzstan swastika. 1930's? 1960'? Know one knows. The only two of these giant pieces of land art we can date with any precision are the Emmery cross (2016) and the Hesse swastika (1933). Even for the latter, there is some uncertainty. Was it made in 1933? Or was it made later to commemorate the year Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany?
So, I began this with the intention of adding the Hesse and Kyrgyzstan swastikas to the blog because I'm something of an obsessive completist. Then Lenin came along. And Emmery (my apologies, good sir).
That geoglyphs and hill figures are massive works of art visible either only from the sky or from afar seemed a natural extension of that idea. Same concept, different tools. Still using the earth itself as a medium, just in different ways. As a student of art, with a fascination for architecture, monuments, and the strange, how could I resist?
