In the Lapland War (1944-45), Finns fought the Germans. During the Continuation War (1941-44), Finland allied with Nazi Germany to fight the Soviets. First, there was the Winter War (1939-40), where the Finns fought off a Soviet invasion. World War II in Finland took place in three stages, each considered a war of its own. Anti-Semitism was relegated to the fringes. They never reached the levels of prominence and prosperity that Jews did elsewhere in Europe. These soldiers generally settled down in trades such as selling second-hand clothes, achieving a certain level of prosperity. After a 25-year term of service, the Czar allowed them to settle anywhere in the Russian empire without restriction. Jews first came to Finland as soldiers in the Russian empire. Before, the national narrative centered on Finland’s defiance of the Soviet Union in the Winter and Continuation Wars (1939-1944), with its treatment of Jews mentioned only to emphasise the exceptional irony of some Finnish Jewish soldiers receiving Nazi war crosses.Ĭonfronted with evidence of Finnish complicity in Nazi crimes, such as mistreatment of POWs, the transfer of Soviet Jews to German security forces, and the potential war crimes of Finnish members of the SS Viking division in the Ukraine, the Finnish government convened a commission of respected scholars to study the topic and produce a comprehensive report, which was then shared with the public. The questions in Finnish memory of the Holocaust are not about the fate of Finnish Jews, but rather about Finland’s treatment of refugees and prisoners of war and the actions of Finnish Nazi sympathisers during the war.įinland has been strong in recent years about confronting its marginal role in the Holocaust. Finnish authorities handed another 12 CentralĮuropean refugees to the Gestapo in Estonia and 49 Jewish Soviet Prisoners of War over to No Finnish Jews died in the Holocaust, though 61 did die in combat fighting in the FinnishĪrmy, often alongside German soldiers. The government has been commendable in its reaction to reports that Finnish SS volunt eers took part in Holocaust killings. Finland, though allied with Germany during the war, never handed over its Jews.
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