he Nazis claimed the double lightning flashes of the SS were 'ancient runes' that extolled the supremacy of the German race. But a new TV documentary has debunked the myth, revealing that Heinrich Himmler paid £1 to an out-of-work illustrator to create them. Walter Heck designed the SS symbol in 1929 and is believed to have copied it from the signs on electricity pylons in the country at the time.