Svantevit (or Svetovid) was an early deity with the Germanic and Slavonic peoples. He had four faces looking in the four directions of the wind, keeping a constant eye on what was happening all over the world. The Wendish fortification of Arkona on the northern tip of the Baltic island of Rügen was Svantevit's last stand when the danish King Valdemar 'the Great' in 1168 conquered the island.
Svantevit's effigy was hauled out of the temple and, while the pagan Wends wept, turned into firewood by the conquerors.
A few of these germanic 'totem' poles still exist, like the one to the left on the ancient Arkona site of Jaromarsburg and a few in Poland and in the Ukraine.