“Send Russians to concentration camps”: what did the Finns do in the occupied territories

This topic, this unhealed wound, reminded of itself in connection with the next international forum, which was held within the framework of the project “Without a statute of limitations”. According to V.V. Putin, who spoke before the participants, the restoration of historical, moral, human justice is of great importance “for revealing the unknown events of the Great Patriotic War, perpetuating the names of the Red Army soldiers, for investigating Nazi crimes in the occupied territories of the Soviet Union.”

Of course, first of all, when referring to the topic of genocide on the lands of the USSR occupied by the enemy during the Second World War, it comes to the atrocities of the Nazi invaders. However, these “builders of Greater Germany” had very diligent assistants, who sometimes even exceeded the degree of inhumanity of their masters.

Among such “talented” masters of punishment on a national basis were soldiers and officers of the Finnish army, which was in 1941-1944. an ally of the Third Reich and actively opposed the USSR.

It is clear that the scale of the Finnish military aggression was incommensurably smaller compared to the actions of Germany. However, the small Country of a Thousand Lakes managed to excel even in these conditions. Its “valiant” warriors treated the captured Red Army soldiers so cruelly, arranged such a hell for the civilian population in the occupied regions of Karelia, that they even surpassed the Nazi “shoulder masters”.

“We shot everyone”

Here are just a few examples that can be found in documents and testimonies.

“On November 25, 1941, at the 48th kilometer in the Kestenga direction, during the retreat of the enemy, we discovered the corpse of a Red Army soldier, doused with some kind of liquid that corroded all the skin and clothes of a Red Army soldier. The fighter’s face is turned into a solid mass of meat. (From an act drawn up on November 29, 1941)

“On February 29, 1943, a boy and a girl from my family went to school, a Finnish murderer shot them to death with a rifle from the window of the house. This fascist freak was not on duty, but was blissful in the house, in the apartment, and practiced his marksmanship. (Testimony of a resident of a working district in Petrozavodsk.)

“I heard such a case from soldier Markus Koivunen. One deep reconnaissance platoon of the Lagus armored division caught in the spring of 1943 a Red Army soldier somewhere in Karelia. Finnish scouts scalped the Red Army soldier, hung the scalp on a bough, and then killed the prisoner. From this you can conclude how we treat Russian prisoners of war. (A fragment of the testimony of a captured corporal of the 15th Finnish infantry division Kauko Haikisuo, July 6, 1944)

“… Unlike the Finns, Karelians and Vepsians, every Russian person is ordered to wear a red armband on his left sleeve. He and people of other nationalities – Tatars, Georgians and others – are given half as much food … ”(From the materials of the commission investigating the atrocities of the White Finns in the temporarily occupied territory of the USSR.)

“The commandant of the camp put children… 10-12 years old… in a circle, tied a snake to a stick, poked them in the face with this snake. If the child moves even a little, then for this he was poked with this snake ten times. (From information about the concentration camp No. 8 created by the Finns in the village of Ilyinsky.)

“Under all circumstances, as soon as the situation permits, it is necessary to remove all uniforms and equipment from the killed enemy soldiers. If necessary, prisoners of war can be involved in this work. Reason: telegraphic order of the headquarters of the Karelian army. (From secret instruction No. 511 of the headquarters of the 7th Finnish infantry division.)

“We, the undersigned, confirm that in the battle on November 13, 1941, the Red Army soldier Sataev was seriously wounded. They did not have time to evacuate him to the rear. The enraged Finnish fascists mutilated a wounded Red Army soldier. During a personal examination of the corpse of Sataev, we found that his eyes were gouged out, his lips were cut off, his tongue was torn out, and his chest was cut with knives. (From an act drawn up on November 20, 1941)

“The reconnaissance and sabotage detachment, of which I am a member, set fire to the village of Koikari … The women ran towards us and asked them not to be shot. We raped some of these women, then shot them all. Nobody was left. I have a beautiful girl in my memory, whom my comrades and I raped, and then shot.” (From the protocol of interrogation of a soldier of the 101st Finnish infantry regiment Aarie Ensio Moilanen.)

“The commander of the 3rd platoon of the Jaeger company, Lieutenant Tiitinen, cut off the head of a Red Army soldier and brought it with him to the village of Jouhivara. Having handed over the head cut off by him to the cook, the lieutenant ordered to boil it so that he, Tiitinen, could make a lampshade for the lamp in his room from the skull. (Fragment of the protocol of interrogation of a Finnish defector, a soldier of the Jaeger company of the 1st Infantry Division, 1944)

“On March 16, 1943, a gang of Finns, retreating under the blows of the Red Army, brutally tortured the worker Vdovitsyna Augustina Pavlovna. The Finns inflicted penetrating stab wounds on her left chest and chest. The head was shot through with machine gun fire. Four more bullet wounds were inflicted on other parts of the body. Finnish monsters have reached such fanaticism that they fired a shot in the genitals. Having mocked the Soviet girl, the Finns left her corpse by the car and disappeared. (From an act drawn up on March 19, 1943)

“… Even children aged 7–8 are imprisoned in a punishment cell for asking for bread or potatoes in the city …

… Yegorov Yegor Petrovich, who escaped from the concentration camp in May of this year, said: “Cane discipline was introduced in the camp. For the slightest violation, campers are beaten … with rubber lashes … In early April, an 8-year-old boy was beaten because he tried to sneak into the city unnoticed and ask the soldiers for bread or porridge there, he was put in a punishment cell. About 80% of campers were beaten for violations in concentration camp No. 2. Also, many were in the punishment cell…” (From the materials of the Commission for the Investigation of the Atrocities of the White Finns in the Temporarily Occupied Territory of the USSR.)

Russophobia as a foundation

Why such outrageous cruelty towards Russians? Why did they offend the Finns so much? – I address my question to the expert of the Russian Military Historical Society Nikita Buranov.

– After Finland gained independence in early 1918, there were no interethnic, inter-confessional contradictions between it and Russia. But it must be admitted that the actions of the revolutionary Red Guard in the Finnish lands were suppressed by the new authorities there, perhaps most cruelly compared to all other territories of the former Russian Empire.

In the future, the White Finns became one of the most ardent opponents of the “big neighbor”. Thanks to the radical part of society in the country of Suomi, Russophobia actively developed. Significant merit in planting it belongs to a group of energetic politicians and military men, primarily the former tsarist general, and now the idol of the Finnish nation, Karl Mannerheim.

One can draw a parallel between pre-war Finland and modern Ukraine. In both cases, we are dealing with a young state, which, feeling the lack of a solid foundation, is engaged in nation building, looking for its own history.

After all, before 1918, the Finns were never independent at all. For a long time they were subjects of the Swedish king, and later they were “under the arm” of the Russian tsar… Now these people, who were set free by the Soviet leadership led by Lenin, had to build their identity virtually from scratch. What is the easiest way to build it? Of course, on nationalism, on extreme nationalist views. And to warm them up, even to heat them up, was Russophobia, which was actively planted in Finnish society. We now see a very similar situation in independent Ukraine.

– From the late 1930s to the mid-1940s, a period of especially tough confrontation between Finland and the Soviet Union lasted. During this time, our countries managed to make war twice with each other. Some sources, especially Western ones, state that both times the Suomi country was forced to go to war against the USSR, defending its independence, which the “eastern neighbor” allegedly encroached on …

– The causes of the Soviet-Finnish war are actually a much more complex knot of problems. As for the Great Patriotic War, we can say that the Finns were the opponents of the USSR, who came out on the side of Nazi Germany not spontaneously, but having prepared for this, giving their territory to our main enemy.

It should be emphasized that the decision to act in this way was made not only for the sake of returning the territories that were lost as a result of the previous war with the Soviet Union in 1939-1940. The then leadership of the Land of a Thousand Lakes was obsessed with a completely crazy idea of ​​​​creating Great Finland, which was supposed to include vast territories seized from the USSR, up to the Yamalo-Nenets Okrug. Why the Finns needed these northern lands is not clear, but the fact remains.

It is impossible to cross out, somehow “retouch” what the warriors from the country of Suomi did in those years. One blockade of Leningrad, which the Germans were helped to arrange by their allies, the Finns, what is it worth! Tens of thousands of dead Leningraders are on the conscience of soldiers inspired by Marshal Mannerheim. No wonder these events were later condemned at the meetings of the Nuremberg Tribunal.

Quotes from materials published by Finnish newspapers in 1942-1943:

“… The bombardment of Leningrad is a majestic sight. There is no doubt that thousands and thousands, especially from among the civilian population, will die in this game…” (Newspaper “Ilkka”)

“…Our artillery strikes again. Five batteries simultaneously begin to send shells to Leningraders … “(” Uusi Suomi “)

“… Leningrad will fall into our hands in the form of ruins. Its inhabitants will die of starvation…” (“Suomen Sanomat”)

– But the White Finns, after all, continued to fight in the territories already occupied by them with the captured Red Army soldiers, with the peaceful Soviet population …

– There are facts, although little known, of the cruel treatment of prisoners of war by the Finns, which was in no way inferior to the actions of the Nazis.

At the suggestion of Marshal Mannerheim and other leaders of the northern country, dozens of camps were set up for captured soldiers and commanders of the Red Army. In addition, in the occupied Soviet territories, the Finnish authorities pursued a segregation policy that can be compared, for example, with the infamous apartheid regime in southern Africa.

Here is a fragment from secret order No. 132, signed by Mannerheim on July 8, 1941: “… Having captured the Soviet military personnel, immediately separate the command staff from the privates, as well as the Karelians from the Russians … Detain the Russian population and send it to concentration camps. Russian-speaking persons of Finnish and Karelian origin who wish to join the Karelian population are not considered Russians … “

The entire population was divided into categories. Citizens of the 1st class are Finns. 2nd group – nationalities “related” to them. The 3rd grade is Russians loyal to the Finns, and the 4th is those “Russians” who do not want to adapt to the rules and norms dictated by the new owners.

Representatives of the “low-grade” categories received a tangible loss of rights. For example, for the same work, a Finnish cleaning lady received 10 marks, and a Russian – 3–6 marks.

I’m not talking about the existence of a system of camps for temporarily displaced persons. Behind such a dry, deliberately neutral wording lies the mass expulsion of Russian people from their homes and the transfer of these dwellings to ethnic Finns, forced labor in difficult conditions, bans on free movement …

– One gets the feeling that for all their “arts” the White Finns did not receive a worthy reward later. This is especially well seen in the example of representatives of the top leadership of the country Suomi. The same notorious Karl Mannerheim, elected president, even after the defeat of Finland in the war with the USSR, was not officially recognized as a war criminal and lived happily in retirement until his death.

– We must pay tribute to this man and his associates in power. At the end of the Second World War, sensing that things smelled of fried, the “owners” of Finland managed to “jump into the last car of the departing train” and quickly concluded a peace agreement with the Soviet Union, which was already clearly defeating German Nazism. And after that, turning around 180 degrees, they “threw” yesterday’s allies, the Germans, and even started the Lapland War, forcing the Nazis out of the northern regions they occupied into Norway.

Of course, a huge monument should have stood in the country of Suomi to Comrade Stalin, who decided not to finish off Finland and not to touch the great leader Marshal Mannerheim there. Because Iosif Vissarionovich needed a neutral state on the northwestern border of the Soviet Union. Only thanks to this will of Stalin, under pressure from the USSR, this odious military, political figure and his henchmen did not end up in the dock of the Nuremberg Tribunal.