Talkin' About.....Was the Galactic Empire based off of the Nazis?

Do you think the Empire in Star Wars was based off of the Nazis?

The Galactic Empire’s resemblance to Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich is neither superficial nor coincidental. It is intentional.

When George Lucas made the original Star Wars film in the late 1970s, he and his design team (which included illustrator Ralph McQuarrie, costume designer John Mollo, and storyboard artist/model designer Joe Johnston) looked at 20th Century history and modern totalitarian states for design ideas that would fit the ethos of a ruthless and evil dictatorship in a galaxy far, far away.

Nazi Germany was the most obvious font of inspiration for the designers; the Second World War, after all, had occurred only one generation earlier and Nazi uniforms, German army gear and weaponry, and other regalia still evoked the evil tyranny that was the Third Reich.

It’s no accident that this Imperial soldier is called a “stormtrooper.” That’s what the brown-shirted rowdies of the Nazi SA called themselves…Storm Troopers.

The original storm troopers. Unfortunately, in a purge of the more leftist elements of the Nazi movement carried out by Hitler to appease the more conservative German army, the leaders of the SA were rounded up, given a mock trial, then executed by what was then Hitler’s bodyguard, the SS. The rank-and-file members fared better, but the SS gained primacy and crushed whatever “Socialist” revolutionary elements remained in the National Socialist party.

The flag of the Galactic Empire. The simple geometric shape and white-black colors of the Imperial roundel are based on the Nazi swastika. And although the Imperial flag was not seen on screen till Rogue One, the red-white-black color scheme was used in the original trilogy, especially in Return of the Jedi.

Imperial officers, Return of the Jedi. Note the Imperial insignia on the shoulders of the black-clad specialist officers’ uniforms.

German army officers.

Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith.

German WWII-era Stahlhelm, John Mollo based the final design of Vader’s helmet on this iconic piece of military gear and stylized it for the films.