Face-to-face with a Hakenkreuz

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A very perfectly legal neo-Nazi symbol © imago images / Pacific Press Agency

For the first time in my life this Sunday I saw a swastika quite literally “in the flesh.”

I had just stuffed my laptop back into my bag after going through security at Edinburgh Airport, when I noticed that the man behind me, who’d had to take off his jacket, had the Nazi symbol tattooed onto his left forearm. Rubbing my eyes, I had to register the iron cross on his right arm before accepting what I’d seen.

It’s one thing knowing that there are still Nazis out there, seeing someone who has permanently inked a symbol of mass genocide into their arm is quite another. I felt an anger boil up inside me. I wanted to shout to the other people there: “Look! That guy is a Nazi.” But I didn’t. I just stood there gawping.

The man, a flabby 40-something with a Glatze, supinely answered the security personnel’s questions, then took back his jacket and bag and walked off to join his gang. They were all wearing jackets bearin…