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{{Short description|Spanish organization}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox organization
| founder = Eduardo González Arenas
| founded = 1970
| defunct = 1984
| location_country = Spain
}}
'''Edelweiss''' was an organization, often described as a [[cult]],<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.rtve.es/play/audios/espacio-en-blanco/sectas-edelweiss-07-11-2021/6186719/ |title=Espacio en Blanco - Sectas: Edelweiss |date=2021-11-07 |language=es-ES |publisher=[[RTVE]] |access-date=2021-11-15}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> that existed in [[Spain]] from 1970 to 1984. Founded in 1970 by former [[Spanish Legion|legionnaire]] Eduardo González Arenas (Eddie), it operated in Spain as a [[boy-scouts]]-like youth organization{{citation needed|date=May 2025}} that actually covered up a network of [[child sexual abuse]].<ref name=":0" /> It recruited around 400 children under fake camps, imposing an ideology that blended [[neo-Nazism]], esotericism, and alien worship.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Eddie González, legionario, pederasta y líder de la secta alienígena Edelweiss|url=https://www.lavanguardia.com/sucesos/20190531/462573047251/eddie-eduardo-gonzalez-arenas-edelweiss-secta-pederasta-ovnis-legionario-abusos-ninos-las-caras-del-mal.html|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091201043839/http://www.elmundo.es/1998/09/02/sociedad/2SEN0110.html|archive-date=2009-12-01|access-date=|website=[[La Vanguardia]] |language=es-ES |issn=}}</ref>

The group taught that women were imperfect and therefore homosexual relationships were ideal; Eddie also claimed he was an alien and was sent to save children from an imminent apocalypse. Edelweiss was dismantled in 1984. There were no trials until 1991, when Eddie and several other members of the group were tried for several counts of [[corruption of minors]]. Eddie was sentenced in 1991 to 168 years in prison, with the other defendants sentenced to 14 to 65 years.<ref name=":0" /> He served only six and was released in 1997. He then opened a club in [[Santa Eulària des Riu]]; he was again arrested for child sexual abuse, but was ordered to be released by the judge a few days later. On 3 September 1998, a year after his release from prison, he was murdered by someone who frequented the same bar.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Subirachs |first=J. C. |date=1998-09-02 |title=Eduardo González Arenas, el líder de la secta Edelweiss, asesinado en Ibiza |trans-title=Eduardo González Arenas, leader of the Edelweiss cult, murdered in Ibiza |url=http://www.elmundo.es/1998/09/02/sociedad/2SEN0110.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091201043839/http://www.elmundo.es/1998/09/02/sociedad/2SEN0110.html |archive-date=2009-12-01 |access-date=2021-11-16 |website=[[El Mundo (Spain)|El Mundo]] |location=Madrid |language=es-ES |issn=1697-0179}}</ref>

==In media==
Edelweiss is a documentary series created and directed in 2021 by Eulogio Romero for [[Radio Televisión Española]] in which, in addition to chronologically reviewing its history, some of its members, researchers or journalists express the testimony of their experiences.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Neo-Nazism in Spain]]
[[Category:New religious movements established in the 1970s]]
[[Category:Religious organisations based in Spain]]

Edelweiss (organization) - Revision history

imported>Ira Leviton: Fixed references. Please see Category:CS1 errors: archive-url and Category:CS1 errors: empty unknown parameters.