 According to Chakhotin, he found inspiration for the Three Arrows from a swastika that had been crossed over by chalk in Heidelberg.Per Chakhotin's argument, with the Three Arrows and the swastika it would always appear as the three lines would have been imposed over the swastika rather than the other way around.The Three Arrows were adopted as an official social democrat symbol by the SPD leadership and the Iron Front by June 1932.