At the conclusion of the Continuation War in September 1944, the
Finns ceded a large part of Finnish Karelia to the Soviet Union in
return for an armistice. This area included 3 cities, 2 boroughs and
39 municipalities as well as splitting 21 other municipalities.
This memorial is in Haukipudas' new Parish Cemetery is, to date, the most beautiful of the ones I have seen. Being a lot more simple than many others, it still encapsulates the dogged determination of those who had to leave their homes and set anew in a different place. Source: Personal Collection
The Karelians and Finns of the area were given a choice, similar to
the choice given at the end of the Winter War in March 1940, to
either stay and become citizens of the Soviet Union or evacuate to
Finland and be resettled. The vast majority chose to leave their
homes and settle in Finland. Around 280,000 had to be rehoused
throughout Finland (in 1939/40 around 400,000 left Karelia and when
the Finnish Army retook their ceded areas in 1941 280,000 returned to
reclaim their land). This meant leaving behind for good their roots,
their ancestors, the graves and houses that had been in their
families for generations.
The Karelian
Association
In the wake of the first evacuation in 1939/40, the numerous
displaced Karelians sent 340 representatives to found an organisation
on the 20th April 1940 that would monitor the interests of
the displaced citizens, make sure that they were resettled and
compensated quickly and that they would still be represented within
Finnish Society as a whole.
The Association has always pushed to keep the memory of the Karelia
that was lost alive in Finnish culture and society, while still
maintaining a sense of independent identity. When the hope of
recovering Finnish Karelia was dashed in 1944, the group worked in
the best interests of all displaced Karelians throughout Finland so
that they were be treated equally and fairly, it also became a place
to allow members to come together and maintain their links.
The memorial in Hietaniemi cemetary, Helsinki. Sculpted by Amas Tirronen, it was built in 1957. Source: Personal Collection
The memorials
Each kunta or municipality throughout contained a church that served
that community. This included the burial of the deceased. Finnish
culture is one that takes great care of its ancestors, where graves
are lovingly tended over by families for generations and candles are
lite at special occasions. As the over 400,000 displaced inhabitants
of Karelia were now spread throughout, with very little to no chance
of visiting the graves of their ancestors, an initiative was taken up
by the Karelian Association. In 1951 the association approached
sculptor Kirsti Liimatainen to design some memorials for the larger
Karelian communities. In 1952 the first of such memorials was erected
in Humppila, these were soon followed by others in places like
Kajaaani, Rovaniemi, Kauhajoki and Riihimäki.
The one in my home town of Oulu. Source: Personal Collection
To date there is around 200 of such memorials around Finland,
allowing Karelians and their descendants to honour their ancestors
even though they cannot physically visit the graves.
Tampere. source: Personal Collection
Tornio. Source: Personal Collection
I will look more in depth at specific memorials in their own articles
in future, but this was to give a small background to this little
known but intimate piece of Finnish history.
Thursday 31st May saw the Finnish Prime Minister’s Officer announced the opening of an independent probe into those Finnish citizens who served in the Waffen-SS during the Second World War. The investigation will look to see if any Finns participated in “in the homicide of Jews and civilians during 1941-1943.”
Why it is happening?
Back in January, Efraim Zuroff, an American-born Israeli historian and director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center office in Jerusalem, made a request to President Sauli Niinistö to open an official investigation into the roughly 1,400 Finns who voluntarily served in Waffen-SS to see if they were involved in any war crimes.
However this request didn’t just appear unprovoked but due to the release of information by Historian André Swanström. In 2017, Swanström, went on record declaring the vast majority of the Finnish SS men were fascists and that some had taken part in war crimes during their service in Ukraine from 1941 to 1943. His words caused a ripple of controversy in historical circles that were heard outside of Finland as well. It was from this that Efraim Zuroff was made aware of the discussion and formally requested an official investigation.
A little background
After the conclusion of the Russo-Finnish Winter War in March 1940, Finland found itself in a precarious position. The Western powers had shown themselves unable to provide Finland with any legitimate support, Sweden had to look after its own (more so after the German invasion of Norway), and the Soviets (as victors) decided to put more pressure upon Finland. Also during this time Germany and the Soviet Union were joined together through the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, which had seen Poland divided between the two powers and the Baltic States fold to Soviet pressure and so Finland felt itself more isolated and against the wall.
It was in this uncertainty that Finland found some support. Germany started making offers of military, economic and political support in confidence. One of these offers was for a group of Finnish men, similar to the 1917 Jaeger movement, to come to Finland and train in military matters. These men would fall under the administration of the Waffen-SS (the armed wing of the Nazi Party's SS organisation), serve a two-year contract, and would form their own Battalion within the 5th SS Division “Wiking”. Recruitment saw the German want a high percentage of far right members (over 60%) and to be racially pure (according to their own Aryan doctrine) but this wasn’t accomplished.
The Battalion on Parade. Source: LiveLeak
The 1408 men, coming from all over Finland, arrived in 5 separate batches from May to June 1941. Those men who had sufficient military training or were veterans of the Winter War were attached to combat ready units of the Division until the rest of the Battalion were ready. The Battalion was founded officially on 15th June 1941 in Vienna and was called SS Freiwilligen-Bataillon Nordost. In December 1941 the Battalion was ready for deployment and sent to the Ukrainian front to become the third Battalion in the Nordland Regiment. From this moment on, it fought with distinction, especially during the 1942 Summer offensive. It was here that the received their new title, Finnisches Freiwilligen-Bataillon der Waffen-SS, and were seen as brave and stubborn fighters, so much so that Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, stated "In the place where the Finnish SS man stood, the enemy was always beaten.”
The Waffen-SS wanted to retain such valuable soldiers when their contract expired by Marshal Mannerheim forbid their reenlistment and the Battalion arrived home 2nd April ,1943 in Hanko. The Battalion was officially disbanded 11th July, 1943 and the men were then sent to various units within the Finnish Army.
Finnish SS volunteers in Gross Born Truppenlager, 1941. Source: Wikimedia
Did they commit War Crimes?
Originally, the statement from historians and layman alike have been that the Finnish Battalion did not commit anything that would be construed as War Crimes. This statement is supported and traced back to the phenomenal work by Professor Mauno Jokipi. Jokipi is seen as one of the foremost Finnish historians on the Second World War and in 1968 he published the book, Panttipataljoona: suomalaisen SS-pataljoonan historia (I unfortunately have yet to read it as it is way passed my current abilities in Finnish). This 936 page epic is seen as the go to book for anything related to the Finnish SS men, Jokipi used records available from the Finnish National Archives, as well as material made available to him from the Veljesapu-Perinneyhdistys ry (the organisation set up to support veterans of the unit and their families, as well as provide information about the Battalion). Jokipi put out the statement that the Finnish SS soldiers did not take part in any executions of civilians but that some were eyewitnesses to these horrible acts. However this has been challenged by some, with Swanström being at the forefront.
The Battalions Chaplain, Major Kalervo Kurkiala, at Hietaniemi Cemetary, 1943. Source: Wikimedia
Swanström wrote in 2017 that Jokipi’s work is flawed and that he made a deliberate choice to select certain source materials over others. During his research, Swanström, came across a letter written by one member of the unit, Olavi Karpalo, who stated that ‘the executionof Jews is for those with poorer shooting skills that ours’. He postulates that Karpalo would not have written those words if he had not committed such acts. Karpalo, who had fought during the Spanish Civil War on Franco’s side, was frustrated that he had been assigned to a rear area vehicle maintenance unit, alongside 5 other Finns, while the rest were off getting glory. Swanström accuses Jokipi of having access to the letter but ignoring its contents during his research and that he has deliberately ‘hidden’ evidence in order to push a narrative.
In light of the evidence that Swanström has brought forward, as well as those thoughts by other historians like Oula Silvennoinen and Marko Tikka, it is very possible that some Finns serving within the Waffen-SS committed war crimes.
Reactions and the Need for the Investigation
When news was released about the request for the investigation were published, and the follow up confirmation that the probe will go ahead, there was the expected reaction from the internet. Unfortunately there were far too many comments of an antisemitic nature which are not worth repeating or given more than just a mention here. There were, however, several comments proclaiming a historical revisionism in progress in order to push some political correctness agenda. Within recent years whenever a new book/article/lecture or academic publication makes a statement that challenges the status quo it is accused of Revisionism, and well they are right...to a degree.
The Battalion arriving at Hanko, 1943. Source: Wikimedia
What is Historical Revisionism?
Historical Revisionism is the act of challenging the status quo in light of new evidence. It is a process that has always taken place, indeed, the American Historical Society’s President James McPherson stated in 2003,
“The fourteen-thousand members of this association, however, know that revision is the lifeblood of historical scholarship. History is a continuing dialogue, between the present and the past. Interpretations of the past are subject to change in response to new evidence, new questions asked of the evidence, new perspectives gained by the passage of time. There is no single, eternal, and immutable “truth” about past events and their meaning.”
History is constantly in flux, we are uncovering new things about the past. When new things are discovered, the historical process takes over, where we see historians debate and challenge each consecutive hypothesis.
This doesn’t mean that negative historical revisionism doesn’t take place, however in the academic world this type of revisionism is called Historical negationism or denialism and is done for mainly ideological reasons. It strives to muddy the waters of historical discourse for the masses and pass of their poorly supported evidence as honest revisionism.
A few other comments I saw made attempts to deflect the discussion into points about Soviet war crimes and how those should be investigated (some stated before the investigation into Finns). However these comments are only attempting to put wrongness on a scale and fit it into a narrative.
The following video by the brilliant TIKhistory channel explains why Historical Revision is not negative much better than I can.
The Battalion on board ship leaving Tallinn to Hanko, 1943. Source: http://maximietteita.blogspot.com
The need for an official investigate is paramount to Finnish history. In 2003, President Halonen, after an official request by Simon Wiesenthal Center, launched a probe into the deportations of around 3,000 Soviet POWs to Germany. The project was undertaken by the National Archives and after several years a 568 multilingual report was published that showed how Finland’s treatment of Soviet Prisoners of War and Civilian Internees were not as up to par with International Law as first thought. All this stemmed from the research of Elina Sana. The report allowed for a more open and honest discussion on Finland’s role during the Second World War.
Following the same light, an official investigation, using all the resources available (this includes archives outside of Finland, like Russia, Ukraine, Poland and Germany).
In Tampere, 1943. Source: SA-Kuva
What will happen?
According to a statement on the National Archives website, there will be a steering group appointed by the Prime Minister’s Office with members of the National Archives, the President’s and Prime Minister’s Offices. This group will oversee a project team from the National Archives and also use external experts as required. The project team will use any and all resources available to them in order to assess and evaluate evidence in order to present a complete study. The team will also work with Docent Lars Westerlund, who led the National Archives project in the 2003 study mentioned above, as well as the Prime Minister’s Office funded 2002 War Victims of Finland 1914-1922 Project database. His expertise will be much required during this delicate study.
The Project Team consists of:-
Chair: Director-General Jussi Nuorteva
Vice-Chairman: Research Director Päivi Happonen
Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki, Professor Pia Letto-Vanamo
Professor of Political History at the University of Helsinki, Kimmo Rentola
Professor Vesa Tynkkynen of the National Defense College
Antero Holmila, Associate Professor at the University of Jyväskylä
Docent of Åbo Akademi André Swanström
President of the Holocaust Victim Records Association, Docent Oula Silvennoinen.
Researcher Docent Lars Westerlund
Assistant Researcher Ville-Pekka Kääriäinen
The investigation is reported to be finished by November of this year and will cost no more than 69,000 euros.
Once the report is completed, the next stage will be to see if there is a need for any legal proceedings. As Jussi Nuorteva of the National Archives said to YLE, "About 1,400 volunteers from Finland took part [in the battalion] and only about a dozen of them are still alive. The youngest of them were 17 when they enlisted and are now 95 years-old or older,”. This mean that the handful of SS men left alive will be of similar health to those of German and other SS soldiers who have recently been on trial in Europe.
The Battalion's disbandment ceremony, 1943. Source: veljesapu.fi
On the morning of
the 4th June 1942, Field Marshal (Sotamarsalkka) Mannerheim found
himself confronted by a large delegation of civilian ministers,
including President Risto Ryti, and military officers. This group
then bestowed upon him the unique and specially created title,
Marshal of Finland.
Mannerheim on his 75th birthday Source: Wikimedia
Mannerheim’s
Ranks
When Mannerheim returned to Finland in 1917 he held the rank of
Lieutenant General, but this was within the Imperial Russian Army.
Upon the formation and reorganization of the Finnish Army in 1918 he
was made General of the Cavalry (ratsuväenkenraali), a General rank
but with a special recognition for the branch of the individual. This
was and is the highest rank within the Finnish Defence Forces.
Mannerheim as Commander-in-Chief in 1918. Source: Wikimedia
Mannerheim maintained his rank and place within the officers list in
the post-civil war turmoil. He had stepped down as Commander-in-Chief
in 1919 but was seen as honorary Commader-in-Chief of the Protection
Corps (which didn’t sit well with some politicians). With each new
administration he was offered the title of Commander-in-Chief of the
Finnish Defence Forces but he refused every time.
1928 saw in tenth anniversary of the Finnish Civil War, and with
wounds still fresh, Mannerheim made plans to be out of the country.
However he was persuaded to attend the official parade. Behind the
scenes though there was discussion about presenting him with the
title of Field Marshal (Sotamarsalkka) as a gesture of thanks for his
services to Finland. While some politicians were in support of the
idea, there were just as many against and so the idea didn’t pass.
But while the Government didn’t support the idea of making
Mannerheim a Field Marshal, the Protection Corps presented him with a
Marshal’s Baton.
In 1931, P.E. Svinhufvud was voted in as President and as others
before him had done, he asked Mannerheim to become Commander-in-Chief
of the Defence Forces. Mannerheim once against refused the offer, he
felt his age made it too heavy a task for him, nor did he want to
push out the current commander, Major General Hugo Österman.
Mannerheim instead became Chairman of the Defence Council. This
position allowed him to serve his country again and contribute to its
continued growth.
The question of making Mannerheim a Field Marshal was again visited
in 1933. This time the motion was passed with large support and so on
the 19th May Mannerheim was presented with the title Field
Marshal and presented with an official baton to signify his position.
The baton was designed by artist Aarno Karimo (a former Artillery
officer during the Civil War) and made from ebony, ivory and gold.
Mannerheim did not know of the discussion and so was taken by
surprise but was delighted about it. In his address he emphasised
that the appointment was in recognition of the support of the armed
forces and the country as a whole. The was one twist in the tale
though, the title came with a stamp duty (a tax to make the document
official) of 4,000 marks and normally this bill would be paid by the
nominees. Lieutenant Colonel Aksel Airo, Mannerheim’s secretary,
tried in vain to get someone to foot the bill, either the Defence
Forces or even the Army Officer’s corps but none would and so
presented the bill to Mannerheim who wryly replied ‘It’s a good
job they didn’t make me a more important man’.
Mannerheim's appointment to Field Marshal, 1933. Source: Wikimedia
Marshal of
Finland
As Mannerheim’s 75th birthday approached he made plans
to visit the front, not out of celebration or anything but because
he thought ‘Holding any sort of party at the headquarter now would
simply be in bad taste, as all the men and officers are in such a
tight spot, and often have to see one of their comrades being carried
off.’ But he was ordered by President Ryti to make sure he was
present at Immola. He was informed that Adolf Hitler, Führer of the
German Reich, would be present as well.
Mannerheim's carriage, today it is now a tourist attraction in Mikkeli where he held his headquarters. Source: Wikimedia
On the morning of the 4th June, the Government and
Military entourage arrived and President Ryti conferred onto
Mannerheim the title Marshal of Finland. The title was in honour of
his long service and to pay him the respects of the Finnish people.
However it wasn’t the title that topped him that day but the
deputation of trade unionists. These men, representatives of the
workers of Finland, praised Mannerheim for his efforts in uniting
Finland, in helping to remove the division of 1918 and make the
Finnish people one nation. Mannerheim was so touched that in he wrote
to his sister, Eva Sparre ‘It was all moving. A people who are
fighting for the right to live in the land which their forefathers
made with great toil, and where church bells daily toll their sons
into eternal rest, and who show me in such an overwhelming way their
trust and recognition, a trust which you understand is difficult to
bear.’
Mannerheim with Hitler and President Ryti. Source: Wikimedia
While the rank was never made a substantive military one, he remained
General of Cavalry within the officers list throughout his career, it
put him unto par with his peers throughout Europe. It also
solidified, as the accompanying document describe, Mannerheim as
‘greatest soldier in our history.’
Today the 4th June is Defence Forces Day (puolustusvoimat
päivää) and is a day of honour to the servicemen and women of
Finland, past and present. It is also the traditional day for
promotions and awards.
Mannerheim's certificated conferring the title of Marshal of Finland. Source: Mannerheim.fi
Sources
Jägerskiöld, Stig, Mannerheim-Marshal of Finland (C.Hurst & co Ltd. 1986)
Clements, Jonathan, Mannerheim- President, Soldier, Spy (Haus Publishing Ltd. 2012) mannerheim.fi
