Hitler took both the 'Heil' greeting – which was popularly used in his 'hometown' of Linz when he was a boy – and the title of 'Führer' for the head of the Nazi Party from Schönerer, whom he admired. Schorske as 'The strongest and most thoroughly consistent anti-Semite that Austria produced' before the coming of Hitler. It was used by the followers of Georg Ritter von Schönerer, head of the Austrian Alldeutsche Partei ('Pan-German Party') who considered himself leader of the Austrian Germans, and who was described by Carl E. The spoken greeting 'Heil' became popular in the pan-German movement around 1900. In Canada, the Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Russia, displaying the salute is not in itself a criminal offence, but constitutes hate speech if used for propagating Nazi ideology. In Italy, it is a criminal offence only if used with the intent to 'reinstate the defunct National Fascist Party', or to exalt or promote its ideology or members. The use of any Nazi phrases associated with the salute is also forbidden.

Use of this salute is illegal in modern-day Germany ( Strafgesetzbuch section 86a) and Austria ( Verbotsgesetz 1947), and is also considered a criminal offence in modern-day Poland and Slovakia. The salute was mandatory for civilians but mostly optional for military personnel, who retained a traditional military salute until the failed assassination attempt on Hitler on 20 July 1944. It was adopted in the 1930s by the Nazi Party to signal obedience to the party's leader, Adolf Hitler, and to glorify the German nation (and later the German war effort). 'Hail Hitler!', IPA: ( listen)), 'Heil, mein Führer!' ('Hail, my leader!'), or 'Sieg Heil!' ('Hail victory!'). Usually, the person offering the salute would say ' Heil Hitler!' ( lit. The salute is performed by extending the right arm from the shoulder into the air with a straightened hand. The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute (German: Hitlergruß, lit.'Hitler greeting', IPA: ( listen) also called by the Nazi Party deutscher Gruß, 'German greeting', IPA: ( listen)), or the Sieg Heil salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany.

Members of the Hitler Youth in Berlin performing the Nazi salute at a rally in 1933

Salute meme