Research & Analysis

The Order was an American white supremacist terrorist group from the early to mid-1980s which committed assassinations, armored car robberies and bombings for several years before being brought down by law enforcement.

The Thor's Hammer or Hammer of Thor is an ancient Norse symbol. In Norse mythology, Thor is the god of thunder and his hammer (called Mjölnir) has the power of lightning. During the era of Viking ascendancy, miniature Thor's Hammers were often used as religious amulets. Today, the Hammer is a major symbol for those who follow neo-Norse religions such as Asatru. Although its traditional origins are non-racist, and although most Asatruers today are not racist, the Thor's Hammer…

ALTERNATE NAMES: Death's Head"Totenkopf" is German for "death's head" or skull and typically refers to a skull-and-crossbones image.  During the Nazi era, Hitler's Schutzstaffel (SS) adopted one particular Totenkopf image as a symbol.  Among other uses, it became the symbol of the SS-Totenkopfverbande (one of the original three branches of the SS, along with the Algemeine SS and the Waffen SS), whose purpose was to guard the concentration camps.  Many original members of this…

The triangular Ku Klux Klan symbol looks like a triangle within a triangle but is actually three letter K's aligned in a triangle and facing inwards.

ALTERNATE NAMES: TriskelionThe triskele (or triskelion) is an ancient symbol originating in pre-Christian Europe. The symbol consists of three curved or jointed segments spiraling from a common center. One version of the triskele, with three human legs, has been used in the coat of arms for the Isle of Man and the Kingdom of Naples. An abstracted triskele appears on the seal of the United States Department of Transportation. The triskele appears in many different variations, from a form that…

The Tyr rune is one of many ancient European symbols appropriated by the Nazis in their attempts to create an idealized "Aryan/Norse" heritage. This gave symbols such as the Tyr rune a new, racist significance that they did not originally have. Nazi Germany used the Tyr rune as a symbol for a number of Nazi entities, including the leadership schools (Reichsführerschulen) of Hitler's brownshirts, the Sturmabteilung, and a Waffen SS infantry division, among others. Since World War II,…

The Unforgiven are a large white supremacist prison gang based in the Florida prison system. Their main symbol consists of an interlocking Iron Cross and swastika, with SS lightning bolts in the center.

The Universal Aryan Brotherhood is a white supremacist prison gang based in the Oklahoma prison system, one of several such gangs that have used "brotherhood" in their title. Despite the gang's name, it has no connection to the original Aryan Brotherhood, which is based in the California and federal prison systems.

The United Society of Aryan Skinheads (USA) is a white supremacist gang active in the prisons and on the streets. Although it originated in Oregon, it is essentially based in California. USAS members primarily use one or more of three symbols: the white power fist, the Valknot, and bindrunes.

The Valknot or "knot of the slain" is an old Norse symbol associated with the afterlife that has been appropriated by white supremacists as a racist symbol. Non-racist pagans may also use this symbol, so it should be carefully examined in context.

The Vinland Flag was designed in the 1990s by gothic metal musician Peter Steele for an album for his band, Type O Negative. "Vinland" was the name given by Viking explorers to the area of North America that they discovered in the Middle Ages. In the early 2000s, white supremacists (most notably, the Vinlanders Social Club, a racist skinhead gang) began to appropriate the flag as a white supremacist symbol. Common variants involve adding one or more other hate symbols to the flag. Despite its…

The Vinlanders Social Club (VSC) is one of the larger hardcore racist skinhead gangs in the United States, with their strongest bases of support in Indiana and Arizona.

The handsign used by the Vinlanders Social Club, a racist skinhead gang, consists of holding up the first, second, and fourth fingers of one hand.

Members of the white supremacist group Volksfront have used several handsigns to represent their gang. A common one-handed sign features the fingers of the right hand divided into a "V" shape, often held over the chest. A two-handed sign uses one hand to make a "V" shape (using two or four fingers) and the other hand to make the shape of the letter "F."

Volksfront is a hybrid racist skinhead gang/neo-Nazi group that started in the Pacific Northwest in the 1990s.

White Aryan Resistance (WAR) is the name of a large, Arkansas-based white supremacist prison gang, who borrowed the name from California white supremacist Tom Metzger. Their main symbol is an elaborate pyramid-shaped tattoo that contains symbols representing rank and other meanings.

White Aryan Resistance (WAR) was a loosely organized racist skinhead movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s centered around white supremacist Tom Metzger. Now the symbol is associated with Metzger himself or used as a general hate symbol.