Again and again the same pattern was repeated. A few strokes combined in an unexpected, pleasing way to form a symmetrical, box-like ornament. I was immediately tempted to copy him. ‘What is that?’ I asked in a whisper as it was during a lesson, boring though that was. ‘Anti-Semitic sign,’ he whispered back in telegraphic staccato. ‘The Ehrhardt Brigade wore it on their helmets. Means “Out with the Jews”. You ought to know it.’ And he went on scribbling. It was my first acquaintance with the swastika.
