A stand of trees near Brandenburg, Germany is being cut down today to eliminate a remaining vestige of the Nazi era. When the trees turn color in the fall, the colors form a swastika that contrasts against surrounding evergreens and can be seen from the air.

Forestry officials moved in with chain saws early Monday to obliterate the Nazi symbol. The swastika of larch trees was planted north of Berlin in 1938, according to local reports.

By measuring the trees, the local forester Klaus Göricke concluded they had been planted in the late 1930s. The formation survived for decades unnoticed in Brandenburg and was only later cut back by state forestry officials.

The local forester, Klaus Göricke, set out to uncover the origin of the troubling larch formation, and he found out that the trees had been there for a long time. By measuring the trees, he came to the conclusion they had been planted in the late 1930s.

It could only be seen when the fall leaves fully turned, but the swastika concealed in the forests in Germany was an over 60-year old reminder of Nazi fanaticism.[2] It appeared each autumn, when a cluster of larch trees turned yellow against a backdrop of evergreen pines near Zernikow, a rural village 60 miles north of Berlin.[2] A forest warden is believed to have planted the trees in 1938, either because of his enthusiasm for Adolf Hitler or because he was commanded to do so.[2]

A local forester measured the stand of 140 larches and determined they had been planted in the late 1930s, during the height of Adolf Hitler's dictatorship. One elderly resident said he had helped plant the trees as a child for the Nazi forestry service.

The forest swastika was a patch of carefully arranged larch trees covering a 3,600 m² area of pine forest near Zernikow, Uckermark district, Brandenburg, in northeastern Germany, to look like a swastika.[3] The reason behind the planting of the trees is unclear, but it has been suggested that it was laid out in 1937 by locals to prove their loyalty or that a zealous forester convinced local Hitler Youth members to plant the trees in commemoration of Adolf Hitler's birthday.[3] Brandenburg state authorities attempted to destroy the design by removing 43 of the 100 larch trees in 1995 and felled a further 25 trees on December 1, 2000, to largely obscure the image.[3]

An aerial view shows a giant 60-by-60-metre swastika symbol consisting of larch trees amid a green pine forest near the village of Zernikow 110 km northeast of Berlin.[8] The trees, planted in the 1930s, formed the Nazi symbol through their contrasting color with the surrounding forest when seen from above.[8] German foresters began cutting down larches in December 2000 after renewed publicity about the formation.[8]

As "Hakenkreuzwald" was referred to a plantation of larches in the shape of a swastika that became known in the 1990s. The planting was located in a forest section in the Kutzerower Heide near Zernikow in the Uckermark. The origin story of the planting is unclear; what is certain is that the originally around 100 to 140 larches in the form of a swastika with dimensions of 60 × 60 meters in six rows each six meters wide were planted in 1938, at the same time as the surrounding pines on what had previously been a bare area.

The swastika of larch trees was planted north of Berlin in 1938, according to local reports. Forestry officials cut down the trees because the symbol remained visible from the air.

For decades, this swastika of larch trees stood undiscovered in the middle of dense pine forest near the village of Zernikow, about 110 kilometers northeast of Berlin.[6] After the Nazi symbol was discovered in an aerial photograph in 1992, a scandal broke out that did serious damage to the area's reputation.[6] The planting of swastika formations, like this one near the town of Asterode in the western state of Hesse, was popular among foresters throughout various regions of Nazi Germany.[6]

Zernikow - In 1938, a forester planted some larches into the forested area between pines. However, the legacy of the Hitler-enthusiastic man only becomes visible in autumn. While the pine needles remain green, the needles of the larches turn brown-yellow and, seen from above, form a 60 by 60 meter swastika. The problem, which is clearly recognizable for flight passengers flying from the north to Berlin, has been known to the authorities for some time.

A 60 by 60 meter, yellowish-brown swastika can once again be seen this autumn in the forest near the Brandenburg village of Zernikow. A loyal-to-the-line forester had, in 1938, planted larches in the middle of the pine forest in the form of this Nazi symbol, whose needles change color in autumn. The pine needles, on the other hand, keep their dark green color and form a contrast. From the air, therefore, a giant swastika can be seen every autumn north of Berlin.

The so-called "Hakenkreuz-Forst" near Zernikow in the Uckermark was created in 1938, when, on what was then a bare area, in addition to pines, fast-growing larches were planted in six rows, each six meters wide, to form a huge NS symbol. A forester explains that at the time of planting 62 years ago, the symbol must also have been visible from the ground and that the "Hakenkreuz-Forst" was a well-known term in the area. The exact authorship is disputed; either the landowning Rittmeister Hans von Wedel or the then forester Walter Schmidt is said to have had the idea.

The so-called Hakenkreuzwald of Zernikow (Oberhavel) is to be cleared. The swastika consists of larches planted in 1938 that, in autumn, create a clearly visible swastika from the air within the green coniferous forest. The federal BVVG, which owns the forest, has now approved the felling campaign, the Brandenburg Ministry of Agriculture confirmed.

The article says the swastika-shaped larch planting at Zernikow was discovered in 1992 from aerial photographs, and that in 1995 the forestry office had trees felled to try to make the symbol unrecognizable. It confirms the planted forest symbol was a known issue by the late 1990s.

The forest swastika in Brandenburg, Germany most likely had been around since the 1930s, based on estimates of the age of the trees. No one knows who bears responsibility for the forest swastika in Brandenburg.

A giant swastika made of larch trees in a pine forest 60 miles north of Berlin was planted in 1938 by Nazis, but escaped detection until the early 1990s when an aerial survey of the land was made.[1] The swastika would show only for a few weeks when the larch trees changed color while the rest of the forest stayed green.[1] The German government later destroyed it by removing the swastika trees and replacing them with evergreens.[1]

Reports say the larches were planted in 1938. It is unclear how the trees came to be planted and arranged in such a fashion. They may have been planted in commemoration of Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday.

Inside a forest in the heart of Germany was a rather dark and hidden symbol of Nazism which remained hidden for decades.[5] Someone had planted a number of larch trees which for a few weeks a year were different colours to the surrounding trees, and this made a swastika at the heart of the forest near Zernikow in Brandenburg.[5] There were reports that the trees were planted in 1938 and they may have been planted in commemoration of Hitler's birthday by a member of the Nazi Party or Hitler Youth members as a tribute.[5]

What is certain is only the year: 1938. Then the larches that form a 60 by 60 meter swastika were planted in the until-then bare area. After the war, things remained quiet around the forest swastika; only in 1992 was it noticed during the evaluation of aerial photographs. Various rumors circulate about its origin. The official version says that a loyal-to-the-line forester planted it to get back at a local estate owner critical of the National Socialists; residents of Zernikow, by contrast, report that the swastika was created to thank the Nazi labor service (Reichsarbeitsdienst) for building the village road.

Through decades this swastika-shaped larch plantation stood unnoticed in the middle of a pine forest near Zernikow in Brandenburg. Only in 1992 did an employee evaluating aerial images discover the Nazi symbol. Each autumn, the yellowing larches contrasted with the green pines to reveal the 60-by-60-meter swastika from the air.

Kerstin Stutterheim reports that she made a documentary in 1995 about a Nazi symbol: a swastika formed by trees in a forest. The film deals with a forest area in Brandenburg where larches planted in the Nazi era were arranged to form a swastika that only becomes clearly visible from the air when the foliage changes color.

The post describes a large swastika planted in a Brandenburg field and notes that it is visible mainly from the air. Although this is about a field rather than the Zernikow forest, it provides contextual evidence that Nazi symbols have been deliberately planted in Brandenburg landscapes.

Brandenburg aktuell recalls the outrage topic from exactly May 4, 25 years ago: a gigantic planted swastika in the middle of a forest near Prenzlau/Zernikow. The report describes larches planted in the Nazi period that formed a swastika visible from the air, which came to public attention in the 1990s and was later largely felled.

The forest swastika was a patch of larch trees in a pine forest located near Zernikow, Brandenburg, Germany. Reports say the larches were planted in 1938.