Mystery of Giant ‘Forest Swastikas’ Resurfaces Again in Germany With no Source of Origin

Twenty years ago an  intern spotted some trees in the shape of the swastika in a forest in East Germany. These were cut down  but they have resurfaced in other regions of Germany with no source of origin. And the mystery persists.

A larch of trees grew unnoticed in the shape of a 'swastika'- a symbol of the political party of Adolf Hitler, for decades in the German state of Brandenburg.

An intern at Reschke's landscaping company, Okoland Dederow, discovered the tress in 1992 as he was referring to the aerial photographs of a Bradenburg forest for irrigation lines. He spotted a group of 140 larches in the midst of a dense forest. He was dumbfounded when he noticed the yellow color larches neatly delineated against the green colored pines in the 'swastika' symbol. During autumn, the trees change their color to orange and brown making them clearly visible among the green thick forest.

Dederow's boss Gunter Rexchke visited the site in a charter plane and was amazed to see the swastika, reports Der Spiegel. The design is visible only during autumn.

A local forester revealed that the trees had been planted in the late 1930 when the Nazi party came to power as the swastika was the associated with the party. This clearly means that the massive swastika survived the Russian occupation, Communist rule in East Germany and the fall of the Berlin wall without being noticed, reports IB Times.

The presence of the swastika has given rise to numerous rumors. A local farmer stated that he planted the larch trees as a child and others claim it to be a sign of fidelity after a nearby villager was taken by the Nazis for listening to BBC. Another interesting story behind the origin of the larch trees is that the Nazi leaders ordered the planting of  these trees as a birthday gift to Hitler.

Earlier in 1995, an army of chainsaw wielding men had cut nearly 40 trees and claimed that the symbol was gone. But five years later the symbol was spotted again.

Officials fearing that the site may be an attraction for neo-Nazis attempted to cut down the trees but were not able to do much as the property is disputed.