Why All the Swastikas?: UK Rock Stars’ Nazi/Holocaust Encounters, 1960s–1980s

Demsky, Jeffrey

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-79221-3_4

Jeffrey Demsky⁵

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Cultural Heritage and Conflict ((PSCHC))

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Abstract

Demsky scrutinizes rock ‘n’ roll stars in the UK misappropriating Nazi and Holocaust icons. He identifies various motivating reasons for this behavior. Sometimes the impetus was generational, as performers flaunted swastikas to signal autonomy from their elders’ experiences and attitudes. Other times, the motivation was stylistic, in line with the Nazi chic trend. Racial considerations also played a role, as Third Reich ideas and imagery helped bigoted rockers and their fans decry rising levels of non-white immigration. Perhaps, musical celebrities are unusual pedagogues. Ultimately, however, just as with American rock stars—who Demsky also concisely analyzes in this chapter—their behaviors embody Holocaust post-memorializing as inheritor generations received this history on their own terms, and represented it for their own needs.

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Notes

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Political Science and History, San Bernardino Valley College, San Bernardino, CA, USA
Jeffrey Demsky

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Demsky, J. (2021). Why All the Swastikas?: UK Rock Stars’ Nazi/Holocaust Encounters, 1960s–1980s. In: Nazi and Holocaust Representations in Anglo-American Popular Culture, 1945–2020. Palgrave Studies in Cultural Heritage and Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79221-3_4

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79221-3_4
Published: 18 August 2021
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-79220-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-79221-3
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