Russian propaganda lies again: The "Edelweiss Brigade" in Ukraine is not a Nazi reference, a Russian military unit was also named after the alpine flower

Russian propaganda began to immediately spread alleging that this name is proof of Ukrainian “Nazism” because a German Nazi anti-partisan unit during WWII had this same name. This narrative then began spreading on social media and several Romani social media users in the Czech Republic have also fallen for it.

In reality, the “Edelweiss” name is used by various mountain units all over the world, including in Russia itself. “Given the exemplary fulfillment of the tasks entrusted to them when defending the territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine, I am giving the honorable title of ‘Edelʹveis‘ to the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade of the Ground Troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” President Zelenskyy said in a statement posted to the website of the Office of the President.

The brigade’s new name was then exploited by Russian propaganda to spread more lies. “Are they saying there are no Nazis in Ukraine? For those who are blind and deaf, here is more proof. On St. Valentine’s Day, Zelenskyy officially named a Ukrainian division ‘Edelweiss’ after the infamous Nazi Wehrmacht unit responsible for war crimes,” news server iDNES.cz cites the Russian Foreign Ministry as alleging.

This narrative then began spreading through social media with the aid of pro-Russian accounts. “So, President Zelenský [sic!] has officially named a division Edelweiss. No, this isn’t a joke or fake news. The connection to the Nazi Edelweiss division is indisputable,” Facebook user Tomáš Tyl posted, and his claim was then disseminated among Romani Facebook users.

This is a clear manipulation, however, because the German word Edelweiss is the name of the alpine downy mildew plant (Leontopodium nivale), a mountain plant and therefore a rather well-known emblem of elite mountain units. As news server Manipulátoři.cz reports, it is also the symbol of several American Green Beret units.

“This plant is in the insignia of, for example, units in Slovenia and Austria. Russia had a unit called ‘Edelweiss’ between 2011 and 2016 as well,” Manipulátoři.cz reports, also pointing out that the Ukrainian unit’s name has not taken the German spelling of the word, but the Ukrainian one.

“The new name has nothing to do with the dark past of the Nazis. This plant is called edelʹveis in Ukrainian, when transliterated from Cyrillic. Volodomyr Zelenskyy’s decree names the division in Ukrainian,” Manipulátoři.cz reports.

What’s more, there is an anti-Nazi musical number called “Edelweiss” in The Sound of Music. Every other year in Austria an unofficial world championship for such mountain units called the “Edelweiss Raid” is held, and Czech Army representatives compete in it.

It is also true that a German Nazi anti-partisan unit called “Edelweiss” committed massacres in the villages of Kľak and Ostrý Grúň in the Slovak State, murdering a total of 164 people. On the other hand, an anti-Fascist youth group also called itself the “Edelweiss Pirates” in Nazi Germany.

“That was the Edelweiss Piraten. In the beginning, the movement was just teenagers revolting against the Hitlerjugend. The groups were named after the edelweiss flower, which was in their emblem, and were formed by youth from working-class families who were usually between 14 and 17 years old. They got into conflicts with the Hitlerjugend patrols. To be exact, they actively assaulted those patrols,” reports Manipulátoři.cz, adding that members of the group hid those fleeing the concentration camps and forced labor, Jewish people, and German war deserters in an abandoned bunker in a suburb of Cologne.

The Ukrainian brigade that has been named “Edelʹveis” specializes in combat in forested and mountainous areas. It comprises several assault battalions as well as tank and artillery divisions.

The unit is the most recently created in the Army of Ukraine and first came together in 2015. Just one other Ukrainian unit sports the designation “Mountain Assault Brigade”, the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Transcarpathian Brigade.

Immediately upon its formation the brigade was deployed in the fighting underway in Ukraine following the 2014 establishment of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk “People’s Republics”, supported by Russia. After the full-fledged invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces in February 2022, the brigade aided with deflecting the Russian assault on the Kyiv area.