Revelations Make Finns Review War Extraditions
By Irina Titova
Staff Writer
As Finns celebrate their Independence Day on Saturday, they will revisit their view of themselves after recent revelations that their country handed over dozens of Soviet Jews to Germany where almost certain death awaited them during World War II. "The Extradited," a new book by Finnish historian Elina Sana, for the first time reports that about 3,000 foreigners, including 74 Jews, were sent by Finns to Nazi Germany. The news has led to a public debate in Finland. As a result, on Nov. 19 the Finnish government launched an investigation into the deportation. "The book got such a response because it showed completely new data on the number of foreigners and Jews extradited by Finland," Sana said in a telephone interview from Helsinki on Thursday. "Most of those extradited were Soviet prisoners of war, and among them were many Jews," Sana said. Mark Grubarg, head of St. Petersburg Jewish Society, said Thursday he is concerned not only about Jews being deported, but about all Soviet soldiers. "Deportation to Nazis was equally bad for everyone," Grubarg said. "I don't think the Finns who deported Soviet soldiers thought there was any difference in their nationality," he said. "They just deported Soviet soldiers." "However, one thing is clear: when they deported people of Jewish nationality, it clearly meant their death," Grubarg said. The Finns fought alongside the Germans, following the loss of a tenth of Finland's territory after Stalin attacked it in the Winter War of Nov. 30, 1939 to March 13, 1940. That action ended in a ceasefire. Stalin's assault was made with his knowledge of the secret Ribbentrop pact made with Hitler that allocated Germany and the Soviet Union certain spheres of interest. The two dictators also used the pact to divide up Poland in 1939. But in 1941, after Hitler attacked the Soviet Union, the Finns' position changed and they allied with Germany from June 25, 1941 to Sept. 4, 1944, which included their taking part in the siege of Leningrad. Sana has been quoted as saying that the Jews were handed over to the Germans in order to enlist German support and as such were "part of the price for our freedom." Finland has always been proud of having protected its own Jewish citizens from the Nazis, and previously it believed that the total number of Jews to fall into German hands from Finland was eight. When SS head Heinrich Himmler visited Finland in the summer of 1942, there were fears that he would demand that Finland hand its Jews to Germany. Finns are proud to tell how Prime Minister Jukka Rangell responded when Himmler asked about Finland's Jews. "Finland has a couple of thousand Jews - decent families and individuals, whose sons fight in our army just like other Finns, and who are as respected as citizens as all others," Rangell said. He ended his comments by telling Himmler: "Wir haben keine Judenfrage" ("We have no Jewish question"). The issue of the eight Jewish deportees was so important for Finland, which is proud of its liberal democracy, that a monument was erected memorializing the extradition. November's decision to launch an investigation into the deportation of foreigners to Nazi Germany was also conditioned by a request for information from the Simon Wiesenthal Center, famous for hunting down Nazi criminals. In a statement posted on its web site, the center called for a full report on the deportations and, if possible, the punishment of those responsible. Political historian Professor Seppo Hentilk told the Helsinki Sanomat newspaper that Finland had no alternative but to launch an investigation. "The Holocaust is such a sensitive issue in Central Europe that we cannot just shrug our shoulders," Hentilk said. Hentilk said the investigation needed to involve many years of work by several researchers "if we wanted to investigate the matter thoroughly." The Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, which welcomed Finland's decision to investigate the deportations, also called for the use of independent scholars. Its statement concluded that "the investigation of these events is likely to prove painful and embarrassing for Finland, which admirably protected its own Jewish citizenry from being murdered by Nazi Germany during World War II." "But the clarification of these deportations, which had such tragic consequences, is a necessity if Finland seeks to honestly confront its record during the Holocaust," it said. Academic Heikki Ylikangas was assigned the investigation and is to inform Helsinki of the initial results by the end of January. "For present-day Finland the investigation of this question is very important, because Finland has been regarded as open democratic constitutional state," Ylikangas said in a written response to questions. He said Finland deported 2,600 to 2,800 Soviet prisoners of war to Germany. About 600 of them were expelled because of their political orientation. Eighty to ninety of the Soviet prisoners of war were Jewish, he said. "I must say the examination is very difficult because a big part of archives was systematically destroyed at the end of the war," Ylikangas said. Sana also said she had difficulties when working in Finnish archives. "I'm 80 percent sure there were more Jewish prisoners deported to Germany than the 74 names that I have found," Sana said. Sana said there could be one more reason why not all the names of Jewish prisoners could be found. "The matter is that when being captured Soviet soldiers of Jewish origin tended to hide their Jewish names because they were afraid they would become victims of Holocaust," she said. The publication of Sana's book has also raised interest in another chapter of Finnish history - the extradition of large numbers of people, including Ingrians, ethnic Finns who had lived in the Soviet Union, to the Soviet Union after the end of the war. Returning Soviet prisoners of war often suffered a very grim fate: many were sent to the gulag on their return.
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