He added: “It is to be noted that Eric von Rosen, the Swedish count who gave the first swastika airplane to Finland in 1918, was at the time a well-known (far) right person, who would later become one of the leading National Socialists of Sweden.”
VERDICT
False. Swastikas used by the Finnish Air Force do not represent the country’s support for Nazism. It introduced the logo before the rise of Nazism in Europe. The originator of the emblem, became later a Nazi sympathizer, but he was Swedish.
Good grief, that has to be the most obnoxiously pedantic article that I’ve seen all year.
‘Yeah, Finland may have allied with the Third Reich, the guy who popularized this symbol there may have been a Fascist, and the Finnish Air Force may have continued using this long after the Swastika in the West became associated with Fascism…but it’s not like Finland is LITERALLY Nazi Germany, so who cares? BOOM! MYTH BUSTED!!!’
I know you made this comment a month ago but I find the history of the Nazi’s use of the Swastika very interesting.
Von Rosen became brother-in-law to Hermann Göring when his wife’s sister, Carin von Kantzow, married Göring. The pair became acquainted when Göring was flying Eric von Rosen in bad weather from Stockholm to Rockelstad Castle, at the lake Båven in Sörmland, Sweden. Due to bad weather conditions, Göring had to stay at the castle. There he became acquainted with the sister of von Rosen’s wife, Carin von Kantzow. She was at that time married to a Swedish officer, but would be his future wife and greatest love.
Göring had noted the swastika during his stay in Sweden and at von Rosens’ castle (forged into a metal piece at the fireplace). However, the swastika of the German Nazi party had been adopted already in 1920, two years before Göring met Adolf Hitler.
Although I looked into this and the page for Göring on britannica.com actually says he met Adolf Hitler in 1921, still one year after 1920 when Hitler made the Swastika the flag of the Nazi party. My theory was that Göring could have met Hitler or had influence on the Nazi party earlier than otherwise thought, and that the swastika extensively used by the Nazi regime did originate from von Rosen and became famous through his connection to Göring. I could be completely wrong though.
The funniest article I have ever read on the topic:
https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-finland-russia/fact-check-finnish-air-force-swastika-not-introduced-in-support-of-nazism-idUSL2N2XG0WK
Good grief, that has to be the most obnoxiously pedantic article that I’ve seen all year.
‘Yeah, Finland may have allied with the Third Reich, the guy who popularized this symbol there may have been a Fascist, and the Finnish Air Force may have continued using this long after the Swastika in the West became associated with Fascism…but it’s not like Finland is LITERALLY Nazi Germany, so who cares? BOOM! MYTH BUSTED!!!’
Yet the swastika was not dropped after WW2. Ergo, they are fine with what it represented then…
Uh actually it wasn’t a German Nazi swastika, it was a Swedish Nazi Swastika, so it’s fine.
I know you made this comment a month ago but I find the history of the Nazi’s use of the Swastika very interesting.
from Wikipedia
Although I looked into this and the page for Göring on britannica.com actually says he met Adolf Hitler in 1921, still one year after 1920 when Hitler made the Swastika the flag of the Nazi party. My theory was that Göring could have met Hitler or had influence on the Nazi party earlier than otherwise thought, and that the swastika extensively used by the Nazi regime did originate from von Rosen and became famous through his connection to Göring. I could be completely wrong though.