Problematic SS rune: SVP members like Nazi symbol on Facebook

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The Odal rune. It is a symbol dear to racist circles. So much so that the ‘National Socialist Movement’, the largest neo-Nazi group in the US, preferred it to the swastika to ‘better integrate and appeal to a wider audience’, the Canadian newspaper ‘La Presse’ wrote in 2017. . So why do two SVP members like the symbol on Facebook? And why does one of them even have it tattooed on his right arm?

Likes for convicted Holocaust denier

But from the beginning: Philippe Brennerstuhl, chairman of the Nationally Oriented Swiss Party (Pnos), has had a new Facebook profile photo since September 20. De Vaudois, who was legally convicted this spring of discrimination and incitement to hatred after referring to the “improbability in the history of the Holocaust”, shows his motorcycle helmet in the foreground.

You will see an Odal rune that has been popular with right-wing extremists for decades. The 7th SS Division even used it as a logo. A total of 53 people liked the photo of the 60-year-old. If you take a closer look at the list of people, two names stand out: Christophe Loperetti and Eric Bertinat.

The first is the SVP municipal councilor of Yverdon-les-Bains VD. The second, who no longer has an official mandate, was an SVP municipal councilor in Geneva until last month. He was a member of the Grand Council for three legislatures and general secretary of the SVP Geneva for fourteen years.

When asked, Lopretti distanced himself from Brennstuhl’s ideology, ‘which is in reality the extreme right’. “I have been a pagan for several years and that is why I love this very old Viking rune, which I have tattooed on my arm,” he explains. “The Nazis actually adopted a lot of symbols, like the swastika and the motif we’re talking about.” But these symbols have an original, independent meaning. And Loperetti makes a comparison: ‘Hitler was a vegetarian, but that doesn’t mean all vegetarians are Nazis.’

But: if Loperetti does not sympathize with right-wing extremist positions, why did he like the profile photo of the Pnos president, whose views are well known? “He is a motorcycle friend, despite our differing opinions,” he says*. He met Brennerstuhl 18 years ago at a party in a biker bar in Yverdon. “He is someone I often talk to and with whom I have taken a walk, for example. I have friends from all political camps and I appreciate this freedom.”

Loperetti also assures that he stands behind his tattoo. Even though he was accused of using the symbol several times, “I will not remove it. Next to it I have the Swiss flag. If the far left were to take over, I wouldn’t remove it either.”

Eric Bertinat is less talkative, but agrees to answer written questions together with his lawyer. Did he know the meaning of this rune for the extreme right when he gave his virtual thumbs up? If not, does he often like things the meaning of which he does not know? What connection does he have with Philippe Brennerstuhl in general?

At the time of going to press, the questions remained unanswered. Despite several hours of waiting and a final reminder via email and text message, the then-chairman of the now defunct Geneva nationalist movement Vigilance gave no further sign.

_{*Christoph Loperetti wanted to change this quote after initially confirming it in writing.}

Source:Blick