These German Forest Swastikas Remain A Mystery After Being Torn Down

[Initech]

Over 20 years ago, a landscaper in eastern Germany discovered a formation of trees in a forest in the shape of a swastika. Since then, a number of other forest swastikas have been found in Germany and beyond, but the mystery of their origins persist.

Blame it on the larches. Brandenburg native Günter Reschke was the first one to notice their unique formation, according to a 2002 article in the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. To be more precise, however, it was the new intern at Reschke's landscaping company, Ökoland Dederow, who discovered the trees in 1992 as he was completing a typically thankless intern task: searching aerial photographs for irrigation lines.

Instead, he found a small group of 140 larches standing in the middle of dense forest, surrounded by hundreds of other trees. But there was a crucial difference: all the others were pine trees. The larches, unlike the pines, changed color in the fall, first to yellow, then brown. And when they were seen from a certain height, it wasn't difficult to recognize the pattern they formed. It was quite striking, in fact.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/horticultural-hate-mystery-forest-swastikas/story?id=19588288#.Udw-g77n-Uk

[krispos42]

1. They even "rotate" in the proper direction for a Nazi

Well, it's no surprise, I guess... stuff from them will be popping up for the next thousand years.

[Adsos Letter]

2. Planted in the 1930's

Par for the course in those days. IIRC, the Furth/Nuremburg Luftwaffe hospital was laid out in the shape of a swastika. Interesting that the Russkies didn't spot it (a point the article makes).