... predating its use by the Nazis. I prefer to focus on that history, rather than its misuse by Hitler.

The chips, BTW, were made before WWII and (no big surprise) many of them were intentionally destroyed during the war.

The following excerpt is from the website:

http://www.innerx.net/personal/tsmith/swas.html

Here are some more details about the history of the swastika:

The English and German word SWASTIKA is derived from the Sanskrit word: SVASTIKAH, which means 'being fortunate'.

The first part of the word, SVASTI-, can be divided into two parts: SU- 'good; well', and -ASTI- 'is'. The -ASTIKAH part just means 'being'. The word is associated with auspicious things in India - - because it means 'auspicious'.

About 2500 years ago, when Sakyumuni brought Buddhism to China from India, the Chinese also borrowed the swastika and its sense of auspiciousness. In China, the swastika is considered to be a Chinese character with the reading of WAN (in Mandarin).

It is also thought to be equivalent to another Chinese character with the same pronunciation, which means 'ten thousand; a large number; all' The swastika symbol has been used for thousands of years among practically every group of humans on the planet.

It was known to Germanic tribes as the "Cross of Thor", and it is interesting that the Nazis did not use that term, which is consistent with German history, but instead preferred to "steal" the Indian term "swastika". As the "Cross of Thor", the symbol was even brought to England by Scandinavian settlers in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, long before Hitler.

Even more interesting, the sign has been found on Jewish temples from 2000 years ago in Palestine, so Hitler was (inadvertently?) "stealing" a Jewish symbol as well as an Indian one.

In the Americas, the swastika was used by Native Americans in North, Central, and South America.
Since the outer arms of the swastika can point either counterclockwise or clockwise, the swastika has been used as a counterpart to the Taiji, or Yin-Yang, symbol.

If you look at the outer circle of the Falun Dafa symbol, you will see that there are 4 swastikas (of Buddhas' School origin) and 4 Taiji, or Yin-Yang, symbols (of Taoist origin). The Taiji are not black and white, as those colors are a very low level manifestation. Of the 4 Taiji, 2 are red and black (from the Tao as generally regarded) and 2 are red and blue (from the School of the Primordial Great Tao, which includes the Rare Cultivation Way). If you look at all the swastikas of the Falun Dafa symbol, you will see that their arms all point counterclockwise. However, since the Falun Dafa can be seen from above and below, as well as the 8 directions indicated on its outer circle by the 4 Taiji and 4 swastikas, the Falun Dafa swastikas can be perceived to be rotating either clockwise or counterclockwise: "When Falun rotates clockwise, it can automatically absorb energy from the universe. While rotating counterclockwise, it can give off energy."

In India, both clockwise and counterclockwise swastikas were used, with different meanings: the counterclockwise one is associated with the goddess Kali-Maya (mother of Buddha, associated with the Moon), and the clockwise one is associated with Ganesha (elephant-headed father of Buddha, associated with the Sun).

Since the swastika is a simple symbol, it has been used, perhaps independently, by many human societies. One of the oldest known swastikas was painted on a paleolithic cave at least 10,000 years ago.

Here are some references with information about the swastika:

Barbara G. Walker, THE WOMAN'S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MYTHS AND SECRETS (1983), and THE WOMAN'S DICTIONARY OF SYMBOLS & SACRED OBJECTS (1988), both published by Harper & Row

James A. Michener, THE SOURCE

Ernest Klein, KLEIN'S COMPREHENSIVE ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (Elsevier, 1971)

Robert H. Mathews, MATHEWS' CHINESE-ENGLISH DICTIONARY (Harvard, 1966)