Salute

The famous salute you're likely referring to is the Nazi salute (also called the Hitler salute or "Sieg Heil" salute), which became synonymous with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime in Germany. While Hitler popularized it globally through Nazism, he didn't invent it—its origins are a mix of earlier influences, and it was adapted for Nazi use in the 1920s. Here's a breakdown of how it started and evolved in connection with Hitler:

### Early Influences and Roots

The gesture—a straight arm raised at an upward angle with the palm facing down—has no authentic ancient Roman origins, despite later claims by fascists and Nazis. Historians trace it to neoclassical art, particularly the 1784 painting *Oath of the Horatii* by French artist Jacques-Louis David, which depicted raised arms as a symbol of allegiance and influenced later European nationalist imagery.<grok:render card_id="14d0af" card_type="citation_card" type="render_inline_citation">

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</grok:render> It gained modern traction in early 20th-century Italy through silent films like the 1914 epic *Cabiria*, which portrayed similar arm gestures in dramatized Roman scenes.<grok:render card_id="8c5983" card_type="citation_card" type="render_inline_citation">

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</grok:render> Italian poet and nationalist Gabriele D'Annunzio further popularized a version during his 1919–1920 occupation of the city of Fiume (now Rijeka), where it symbolized loyalty.<grok:render card_id="e025b4" card_type="citation_card" type="render_inline_citation">

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The verbal component, "Heil" (meaning "hail" or "health"), drew from the pan-German nationalist movement around 1900 in Austria. It was used by followers of Georg Ritter von Schönerer, an antisemitic leader of the Austrian Pan-German Party, as a greeting to express ethnic German pride.<grok:render card_id="5671ba" card_type="citation_card" type="render_inline_citation">

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</grok:render> Hitler, who grew up in Linz, Austria, encountered this as a boy and admired von Schönerer—he later adopted "Heil" and even the title "Führer" (leader) from this influence.<grok:render card_id="323f70" card_type="citation_card" type="render_inline_citation">

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### Adoption by Italian Fascism

The full salute as we know it was first formalized by Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party in Italy in the early 1920s, where it became known as the "Roman salute" or Fascist salute.<grok:render card_id="d8d016" card_type="citation_card" type="render_inline_citation">

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</grok:render> Mussolini's regime claimed it revived an ancient Roman tradition to evoke imperial glory, but this was largely invented propaganda—there's no evidence of such a salute in actual Roman texts or artwork.<grok:render card_id="9ff56a" card_type="citation_card" type="render_inline_citation">

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</grok:render> It quickly became a mandatory greeting among Italian fascists to show obedience to the state and leader.

### How It Started with Hitler and the Nazis

Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) borrowed the gesture directly from Mussolini's Italy, adapting it for their own use starting around 1921.<grok:render card_id="a94520" card_type="citation_card" type="render_inline_citation">

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</grok:render> At first, it was an internal Nazi Party ritual to signal loyalty to Hitler personally, often paired with "Heil Hitler!" or "Sieg Heil!" (meaning "hail victory"). By 1926, Hitler made it compulsory for all party members as a display of unwavering devotion and ideological commitment.<grok:render card_id="bc7fb6" card_type="citation_card" type="render_inline_citation">

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After the Nazis seized power in Germany in 1933, the salute became mandatory for civilians in public life, schools, workplaces, and ceremonies—refusal could lead to fines, imprisonment in concentration camps, or violence.<grok:render card_id="bcaf87" card_type="citation_card" type="render_inline_citation">

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</grok:render> The German military initially retained a traditional salute but fully switched to the Nazi version in 1944 after a failed assassination attempt on Hitler (the 20 July plot), as a forced loyalty test.<grok:render card_id="38c0f2" card_type="citation_card" type="render_inline_citation">

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</grok:render> To downplay the Italian borrowing, Nazi leaders like Rudolf Hess fabricated a "Germanic" backstory for it in the late 1920s.<grok:render card_id="748a2a" card_type="citation_card" type="render_inline_citation">

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In essence, Hitler transformed an borrowed Italian fascist gesture into a core symbol of Nazi totalitarianism, enforcing it to cultivate a cult of personality and suppress dissent. Today, it's banned in many countries due to its association with hate and genocide.

Henry McClure  
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