[VanDeKoik]

Yeeesh! That was a bizarre little tidbit of history.

But I guess the origins were not nefarious, just the adaptation by fascists.

[Renderofveils]

But I guess the origins were not nefarious, just the adaptation by fascists.

It's an offshoot of a salute from olden days. You'd hold your right hand (sword arm) open and facing up and towards the person you were greeting to show that you didn't have bad intentions. Over the years the military salute has migrated to the hand over the brow. You can still see where the changes happened by looking at salutes (and how open the hand is in relation to the soldier) of European soldiers.