THE WAY HOME
No war can last forever. One day the moment comes when the shots stop and representatives of the warring parties sit down at the negotiating table. But not only political and territorial issues must be resolved by the high contracting parties; each of them also bears responsibility for their citizens who, by force of circumstances, find themselves in prisoner of war camps. After all, no matter how hard it is in captivity, a person always has a glimmer of hope that the state remembers him and the day and hour will come when he returns home. This faith helped prisoners of war go through the agony of being in the camps.
The above discussed issues related to the conditions of detention, accounting, medical care and labor use of prisoners of war in camps during the Winter War and the Continuation War. Some aspects of political work with prisoners of war and the possibility of realizing their spiritual needs in captivity were touched upon. Now the turn has come to put a final point in the history of the stay of Finnish and Soviet prisoners in camps in the USSR and Finland and consider issues related to their repatriation
Activities of the commission for the post-war exchange of prisoners of war. 1940
On March 12, 1940, an agreement was signed between the Soviet Union and Finland to cease hostilities. However, some complications immediately arose: despite the truce, separate groups Finnish military personnel who did not have time to retreat beyond the line of contact were taken prisoner by units of the Red Army. Such actions continued, according to some sources, until April - May 1940. After the ceasefire, the Red Army captured at least 30 soldiers of the Finnish army, and at least three soldiers and commanders of the Red Army voluntarily went over to the Finnish side.
As we remember, both states generally adhered to the 1907 Hague and 1929 Geneva conventions on prisoners of war. In accordance with these international legal instruments and the domestic legislation of both countries, the peace treaty included a provision providing for the return of all prisoners of war to their homeland as soon as possible.
April 8 people's commissar Foreign Affairs of the USSR Vyacheslav Molotov notified the Commissioner of the Government of Finland, Juho Kusti Paasikivi, about the consent of the Soviet side to the creation of a Mixed Commission for the exchange of prisoners of war between the Soviet Union and Finland.
"To Mr. Paasikivi
Commissioner of the Government of the Republic of Finland
Mister Commissioner,
I have the honor to inform you that the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics agrees to the following procedure for the mutual return of prisoners of war - Soviet citizens and Finnish citizens:
1. The return of prisoners of war will begin on April 15 of this year and must be completed as soon as possible
2. The transfer of seriously wounded or seriously ill persons, whose health condition does not allow transportation from one place to another, will be carried out as these persons recover; the parties immediately communicate to each other lists, indicating the names and surnames of these persons.
3. Prisoners of war who have committed any kind of punishable acts are also subject to immediate return.
4. For the practical implementation of the return of prisoners of war, a mixed commission of three representatives of the USSR and three representatives of the Republic of Finland is established in the city of Vyborg.
5. The above-mentioned commission has the right to send its representatives to the field to facilitate the speedy departure of prisoners of war to their homeland.
6. The Mixed Commission will establish regulations for its work, determine through which border points the return of prisoners of war will take place, and establish the procedure and conditions for the evacuation of prisoners of war.
Please accept, Mr. Commissioner, the assurances of my utmost respect for you.
/IN. Molotov/".
The tasks of this intergovernmental body included: 1) approval of regulations for its activities; 2) determination of border points through which the return of prisoners of war will take place; 3) establishing the procedure and conditions for the evacuation of prisoners of war.
To facilitate the speedy departure of prisoners to the USSR and Finland, the commission was empowered to send its representatives to places where prisoners of war were held. However, the exchange of prisoners proceeded quite smoothly and without complications, and therefore neither the USSR nor Finland considered it advisable to control the sending of prisoners of war on the spot and were satisfied with the lists presented by both sides.
However, not all Soviet prisoners of war sought to return to the “tender embrace” of their homeland. Throughout the Finnish captivity, Soviet soldiers and commanders were offered to stay in Finland or leave its borders after the end of hostilities, citing the fact that prisoners in the USSR would still be shot. The emigrants painted tempting pictures of life in a free Finland for the Red Army soldiers.
“...The priest said that after 5 years of working as a farm laborer you will receive citizenship. You will be given 4 cows, a house, land, 3 horses with payment of their cost in installments. Those who do not want to stay in Finland can go to any other country.”
Those who did not want to return to the USSR wrote petitions. Characteristics appeals and petitions of prisoners of war to the Finnish authorities are, firstly, the desire of the writers to prove that they are ideological opponents of the existing regime in the Soviet Union: (“Being a subject of the USSR, living there from the day of my birth, throughout my entire adult life I have understood political system in the USSR, I did not and do not share my personal beliefs and views with the state-political system of the USSR,> (petition of A. Semikhin) 5. Secondly, references to promises of the Finnish government and the Red Cross to send them to any other country, or leave in Finland. Thirdly, fears that death awaits them in the USSR as traitors to their homeland, and they appeal to the humane feelings of the Finns (“If you decide that I should not be here, I ask you to kill me for revenge, if they will always kill me in the race there, but at least I will not suffer there in prison<…>
I only thought that if I succeed in moving to Finland, then as long as I live I will accept and thank the entire Finnish Government and all the people<…>
But please don’t send Mine to the S.S.S.R.” (petition from N. Gubarevich) 7.
Here are some examples of such requests and petitions (spelling and style have been preserved. - D.F.).
“To the Finnish Red Cross Society from Russian prisoners of war who have not returned to their homeland.
Petition.
In March of this year, before the exchange of prisoners, we were offered, through representatives of the Red Cross and Finnish military authorities, the right not to return to our homeland and, along with this, conditions were offered. And they promised to send us to another country according to our wishes. We, being somewhat averse to the Soviet government, willingly took advantage of the offer. But 5-6 months have passed since then and today, 21/VIII-40, to our misfortune, we are still within the walls of prison and no one undertakes to predict our fate.
In addition, we lost our homeland and citizenship and thus found ourselves completely helpless. But despite all this, we have not yet lost our human appearance and we are still living beings, and therefore we resort to the Red Cross Society, an organization that fairly protects the interests of human life. And we earnestly ask for your intervention and your petition to the Finnish government to release us from prison.
Where to determine the place of residence, we cannot ask anything now and trustfully entrust you and the Finnish Government.
We kindly ask you not to refuse requests on behalf of all prisoners
/Groshnitsky/
In May 1940, prisoners of war compiled a list of those who refused to return to the USSR and handed it over to the Finns.
“List of prisoners who do not want to return to the USSR.
1) Gorbuyanov, Vasily A. soldier
2) Grammar Konstantin D.
3) Erofyev Dmitry D.
4) Zavitskov Nikolay.
5) Zubaev Makar.
6) Ivankov Vasily T.
7) Kadulin Zakhar V.
8) Ksenontov Nikolay K.
9) Kumeda Anton T.
10) Ladovsky Alexey F.
11) Lugin Alexander T.
12) Malikov Alexander T.
13) Malyastrov Vasily P.
14) Mezgov Andreevich I.
15) Popov Stepan I.
16) Nikolaev Yakov A.
17) Rakhmanin Ivan S.
18) Svetsov Ignat A.
19) Utarev Khalidulla.
20) Khrenov Matveev (? - D.F.) TO.
21) Shadagalin Selim.
22) Shemna Mikhail V.
23) Yablonovsky Andrey I.”
However, no decision was made on their request until August 1940. Then they wrote a second petition:
“To His Excellency!!!
Prime Minister of Finland
From Russian prisoners who have not expressed their desire to return to Russia
Petition.
We would like to inform Your Excellency that in the month of March of this year, before sending Russian prisoners to their homeland, we were offered, through the Finnish authorities and through the organization of the Red Cross, the right to remain in Finland or go to another country of our choice, along with this we were promised a number of conditions.
Having sufficient hatred for our government (Soviet), we with great joy met the offer of the Finnish Government not to return to our homeland, in the hope of soon settling our lives under the protection of fair laws Finland or another country. But 5-6 months have passed since then and 8/8/40 we are still within the walls of the prison and no one dares to predict our fate and what awaits us tomorrow. Who, even today, we experience the attitude towards us that in our face they only see their enemies, who came along with the war to devastate Finland. Although this is true, we ask you to believe that we are less to blame for this, that this is the fault of the state and the F. government. And that we ourselves suffered in this more than the Finnish people, which made us turn away from our homeland and disgust the Soviet government. Therefore, taking into account all of the above and our suffering in prison, we kindly ask you to draw the attention of Your Excellency and the Finnish government to release us from imprisonment. To determine our place of residence, leave it in Finland or send us to another state, we rely on your mercy and as it pleases Your Excellency and the Finnish government.
We kindly ask you not to refuse your request. By authorization from 23 Russian prisoners
1) Gromitsky,
2) Gorbunov,
3) Xenophon.
And we also earnestly ask you to respond to our request as soon as possible, since many of our experiences depend on this.”
The Soviet prisoners of war remaining in Finland remained in the country's camps and prisons for quite a long time, waiting for their fate to be decided. During the Continuation War, some of them worked as translators, orderlies, and doctors in prisoner of war camps (Karvia, Kemi, Kokkola, etc.).
Both sides determined the city of Vyborg as the place of work of the Mixed Commission for the Exchange of Prisoners of War. Three representatives from each side were delegated to the commission. Even before the start of the meetings, the USSR and Finland agreed on some nuances for the return of prisoners. Firstly, the transfer of seriously wounded or seriously ill prisoners of war, whose health condition does not allow transportation from one place to another, will be carried out as these persons recover. In this case, both sides had to immediately transfer to each other lists indicating the names and surnames of these prisoners. Secondly, the Soviet side urgently demanded the immediate transfer of prisoners of war who committed various kinds criminal offences. I think most likely the USSR feared that these prisoners would refuse to return to the Soviet Union after serving their sentences in Finland. In practice, during the work of the Mixed Commission, this issue was raised both directly and indirectly several times. Thirdly, the USSR and Finland agreed that the return of prisoners of war should be completed as soon as possible.
Initially, in accordance with Molotov’s note, the work of the commission was supposed to begin on April 10, and the first batch of prisoners of war was transferred on April 15. But by mutual agreement, the start of the activities of this intergovernmental body was postponed by more late date- 14th of April. It was on this day that the first meeting took place. The commission from the Finnish side included: General Uno Koistinen, Lieutenant Colonel Matti Tiyainen and Captain Arvo Viitanen. The Soviet side was represented by brigade commander Evstigneev (representative of the Red Army), state security captain Soprunenko (head of the UPVI NKVD of the USSR) and representative of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs (NKID) Tunkin. Thus, the USSR delegated to work in the commission representatives of those structures that, by the nature of their activities, were closely connected with prisoners of war. The army captured soldiers of the Finnish army, the UPVI was responsible for their maintenance in camps and reception centers, and the NKID regulated international legal aspects of the reception and repatriation of Finnish prisoners.
Due to the fact that the commission worked on Soviet territory, most of the costs of its maintenance were borne by the USSR. On April 14, 1940, brigade commander Evstigneev sent a telegram to Moscow with a request to transfer 15 thousand rubles to maintain the headquarters of the commission. The report on the work of the commission noted that the employees of the Soviet delegation received 30 rubles a day for food and 15 rubles for travel expenses. For five breakfasts (250 rubles each) for representatives of the Finnish delegation, 1250 rubles were allocated.
The Mixed Commission for the exchange of prisoners of war between the USSR and Finland carried out its activities from April 14 to April 28, 1940. During the work, six meetings were held - April 14, 15, 16, 18, 27, 28, 1940, at which attempts were made to resolve the following issues:
The procedure for transferring prisoners of both armies;
Return of prisoners of war of the Finnish army captured after 12 o'clock on March 13, 1940, that is, after the cessation of hostilities;
Making inquiries about missing persons;
Timing of transfer of sick and wounded prisoners of war.
At the first meeting of the commission, both sides exchanged data on the number of prisoners of war held on their territory. The Soviet Union announced 706 Finnish prisoners of war, and Finland announced 5,395 Soviet prisoners. At the same meeting, members of the commission established approximate dates for the transfer of prisoners. The Soviet Union stated that it was ready to repatriate 106 Finnish prisoners of war on April 16 and 600 on April 20. The Finnish side undertook to hand over Soviet prisoners of war within the established time frame:
April 25 - all other prisoners of war, except the sick and seriously wounded, who were to be transferred as they recovered.
At the fifth meeting of the commission (April 27, 1940), the parties also agreed on the timing of the return of the last category of prisoners of war. The first transfer was supposed to take place on May 10. According to the commission's estimates, the Finnish side could return a group of 70-100 people to the USSR, and the Soviet Union - about 40 Finnish sick and seriously wounded prisoners of war. The next exchange was planned for May 25, when all other prisoners whose health condition allowed transportation should be transferred. As can be seen from the above figures, both sides did not yet have complete information about the exact number of prisoners of war they held. But the data was clarified, and by the time the work of the Mixed Commission ceased, the parties already had more complete and accurate information about the number of prisoners of war.
In addition to the exchange of prisoners of war, the commission was engaged in the search for missing Red Army soldiers, Finnish soldiers, officers, foreign volunteers who served in the Finnish army, as well as civilians.
Before the last, sixth meeting of the Mixed Commission (April 28, 1940), brigade commander Evstigneev received a lightning telegram signed by Dekanozov. In particular, it noted several points that should be noted Special attention Soviet delegation:
1. In accordance with the principles of international law of the 1907 Hague Convention “On the Laws and Customs of War” and the 1929 Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War, demand that the Finnish side return all personal documents, personal property and money of Soviet prisoners of war;
2. Return to the USSR all prisoners of war who are on trial, under investigation, in prisons and other places of detention;
3. Get the facts of use included in the minutes of the meeting Finnish side Soviet prisoners of war at defensive works in Finland;
4. Demand from the Finns a certificate about all Soviet prisoners of war who have not yet been returned, who have died and who did not want to return to the USSR.
It is also advisable to note that during the work of the commission and the exchange of prisoners, issues related to the return of personal property and Money, seized from prisoners at reception centers and in prisoner of war camps on the territory of the USSR and Finland. The Soviet side stated that the following were taken from Russian prisoners of war in Finland:
money - 285,604.00 rubles;
passports - 180;
Komsomol tickets - 175;
party documents - 55;
union cards - 139;
military tickets - 148;
work books - 12;
hours - 305;
ID cards - 14.
In addition, during the exchange of prisoners of war in the USSR, 25 former Soviet prisoners were transferred as part of one of the groups, who stated that 41,374 Finnish marks were confiscated from them in Finland. Most likely, judging by the special equipment and equipment taken from them, some of them were members of sabotage and reconnaissance groups, agents of the intelligence department of the North-Western Front. This is confirmed by the Red Army soldiers who returned from Finnish captivity:
“When we were getting ready to be sent home, we saw our paratroopers... 21 people dressed in Finnish uniforms... These comrades asked us to tell our government about them...”
On May 14, 1940, a telegram from the Leningrad Military District came to the address of state security captain Soprunenko, signed by the head of the LVO, brigade commander Evstigneev, and the commissar of the RO LVO, battalion commissar Gusakov:
“I ask for your order to allow prisoners of war who returned from Finland, former agents of the intelligence department of the North-Western Front and armies, to be interviewed. different times detained in Finland while on special duty. assignments, which is extremely necessary to find out the reasons for failure and take into account shortcomings in preparation. Major Comrade is sent to conduct the survey. Pomerantsev. Reason: Telegraphic order of the Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, Divisional Commander Comrade. Proskurov".
The Finnish side, in turn, stated that personal property was taken from Finnish prisoners of war on the territory of the USSR - watches, gold rings, feathers, etc. in the amount of 160,209 Finnish marks and money of 125,800 Finnish marks. A total of 286,009 Finnish marks. On April 21, 1940, the Soviet commissioner, senior political instructor Shumilov, transferred 19,873 marks 55 pennies to the Finnish side. Thus, each of the Finns at the time of capture should have had on average about 150 marks. However, despite the fact that, according to existing instructions in the USSR, personal belongings, currency and valuable items had to be registered and stored, over one hundred thousand Finnish marks mysteriously disappeared in the depths of the NKVD. However, it is unknown whether the money ended up in the NKVD or with the looters, or whether the Finns inflated the amount of things taken from them. It is also advisable to note that the Finnish side transferred to the USSR before the end of the work of the Mixed Commission only a small fraction of the personal belongings taken from Soviet prisoners. Unfortunately, researchers do not have accurate information about the return of the remaining property to Finnish and Soviet prisoners of war after the Winter War.
Homecoming Organization (Winter War)
The main exchange of prisoners took place at Vainikkala station. During this time, 847 Finns returned to their homeland (20 remained in the USSR) and 5,465 Soviet soldiers and commanders (according to V. Galitsky - 6016).
Speaking about Soviet prisoners of war during the Winter War, it should be noted that the problem of the relationship between the Soviet state and its compatriots who were captured went through several stages. The Russian Empire in the 19th and 20th centuries signed all the major conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war. At the same time, considerable attention was paid to our own soldiers and officers captured by the enemy. Those who returned home were greeted as heroes. After the 1917 revolution, the situation gradually began to change. Russia announces its withdrawal from the war, but the problem of prisoners remains. The Soviet state declared responsibility for the fate of prisoners of war, and already in April 1918, in accordance with the decree of the Council people's commissars The Central Commission for Prisoners and Refugees (Tsentroplenbezh) is created under the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs.
In July 1918, at the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets, delegates accepted “greetings to Russian prisoners of war in various places.” This document ordered all provincial councils to create special departments for organizing assistance to prisoners, which were to conduct their work in close contact with Tsentroplenbezh. The departments had to immediately begin collecting bread and basic necessities to send them to prisoners of war. Moreover, the Council of People's Commissars, in its resolutions of November 16, 1918, May 18, 1919, June 9, 1920 and August 5, 1920, appointed monetary compensation to Russian prisoners of war of the First World War and servicemen of the Red Army and Navy who returned from enemy captivity. Cash assistance was also provided to family members of prisoners.
However, the Civil War made its own adjustments, and despite the fact that the RSFSR guaranteed humane treatment of prisoners of war regardless of state and nationality, this provision was not always observed. The extremely brutal nature of the war, in which both sides suffered colossal losses, and the uncompromising nature of the political struggle often made it impossible to observe the most basic standards of treatment of prisoners of war. Both the Reds and the Whites allowed massacres and torture of prisoners.
Since the mid-1920s, a climate of general mistrust, suspicion and spy mania has developed in the USSR. All this was naturally reflected in the Criminal Code of the USSR in relation to prisoners of war. Since the 1920s, articles have appeared in Soviet criminal legislation providing for liability for surrender. In this case, the military personnel of the Red Army and the Workers' and Peasants' Red Fleet were subject to the 58th and 193rd articles of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, which provided death penalty with confiscation of property for treason - espionage, betrayal of military and state secrets, escape abroad, defection to the enemy and invasion of the territory of the USSR as part of armed gangs. Family members of a serviceman were also subject to repression if they knew about his intentions but did not bring this to the attention of the authorities. In this case, they were sentenced to up to five years with confiscation of property. The remaining family members were deprived of voting rights and were subject to deportation to remote areas of Siberia for a period of five years.
Similar actions committed by military personnel were prescribed in more detail in Article 193 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, which provides for punishment for military crimes. In accordance with this article, military crimes were recognized as acts directed against the established procedure for military service, committed by military personnel and those liable for military service in the reserve of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, as well as by citizens who were members of special teams formed in wartime to serve the rear and the front.
Encircled privates and junior commanders during the Winter War were often charged with “unauthorized abandonment of a unit or place of service,” “escaping from a unit,” or “unauthorized abandonment of a unit or place of service in a combat situation” (Article 193-7-193-9). Officers and political workers fell under Article 193-21 - “the commander’s unauthorized retreat from the orders given to him for battle, in order to assist the enemy.”
Article 193-22 provided for execution for unauthorized abandonment of the battlefield, refusal to use weapons during battle, surrender and defection to the enemy. There was a clause here: “surrender not caused by a combat situation.” Thus, it was understood that there were some circumstances, such as injury, etc., in which capture was not considered a criminal act. But in reality everything turned out to be wrong. Even injury often did not entail release from liability for surrender.
Criminal liability, or rather execution, was provided for in Article 193-20: “Surrender to the enemy by the chief of the military forces entrusted to him, abandonment to the enemy, destruction or rendering unusable by the chief of the fortifications entrusted to him, warships, military aircraft, artillery, military warehouses and other means waging war, as well as the failure of the commander to take appropriate measures to destroy or render unusable the listed means of warfare when they are in immediate danger of being captured by the enemy and all methods of preserving them have already been used, if the actions specified in this article were committed in order to assist the enemy...”
We could list for a long time the parts and paragraphs of Article 193 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, but the result will be the same: in most cases it provided for “the highest measure of social protection with confiscation of property” for committed offenses.
Analyzing Article 193, one can come to an interesting conclusion: while providing for harsh penalties for the surrender of Red Army soldiers, it at the same time made the position of foreign prisoners of war more secure. Thus, paragraph 29 (paragraphs A and B of this article) provided for imprisonment for a term of up to three years or the application of punishment in accordance with the rules of the disciplinary charter of the Red Army for “mistreatment of prisoners, or associated with special cruelty or directed against the sick and wounded, and equally negligent performance of duties in relation to these sick and wounded persons who are entrusted with their treatment and care for them.” These are, in brief, the main provisions of the articles of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR concerning punishment for military crimes, if captivity can be considered a crime at all. But the Soviet legislation of that time was characterized by an accusatory bias. After the end of the Winter War, almost all former Soviet prisoners of war, by decision of the Special Meeting of the NKVD of the USSR, were sentenced to imprisonment in forced labor camps of the Gulag system. Thus, initially the Soviet state viewed its citizens who found themselves in enemy captivity as criminals.
From the moment of crossing the state border line, conversations and interrogations were carried out with former Soviet prisoners special groups military investigators, consisting of political instructors. Analyzing the “Acts of the sanitary condition of prisoners of war, reports on conversations with them and information on the number of valuables and documents taken by the Finnish authorities,” we can identify several main groups of questions that were clarified with special care from former Soviet prisoners:
1. Food supply standards for Soviet prisoners of war in Finland, food for prisoners in camps and prisons.
2. Treatment of Soviet prisoners of war in camps, temporary detention centers and prisons in Finland by civil and military authorities.
3. Anti-Soviet work with prisoners of war.
4. Identification of traitors and traitors to the Motherland from among Soviet prisoners of war.
5. Finding out the names and surnames of Soviet prisoners of war who did not want to return to the USSR after the end of hostilities.
6. The mood of prisoners of war returning to the Soviet Union.
Further events developed like this: on April 19, 1940, a decision of the Politburo (signed by Stalin) ordered all prisoners returned by the Finnish side to be sent to the South camp of the NKVD of the USSR (Ivanovo region), previously intended for Finns. “Within three months, ensure thorough implementation of operational security measures to identify among prisoners of war persons processed by foreign intelligence services, dubious and alien elements and those who voluntarily surrendered to the Finns and then bring them to trial.” From the moment of crossing the state border with former Soviet prisoners of war, operational work began.
Information about “defectors” was obtained from prisoners of war. "Prisoner of War Mikhet<…>knows the name of the tank driver who surrendered along with the tank, without resistance.” Or: “Second Lieutenant Antipin ... stayed and dressed in Finnish clothes, sent to an unknown destination. I agreed to write memoirs.” Gradually, on the basis of such testimony, the names of the defectors were revealed. On June 6, Soprunenko sends to Moscow “a list of persons who were held captive in Finland and refused to return to the USSR.”
Based on interrogations in April 1940, the USSR presented Finland with a list of its prisoners of war held on its territory, consisting of 99 names. However, Finnish authorities stated that they had 74 prisoners of war. Of these, Finland transferred 35 people to the Soviet side. The corresponding document from the Finnish side contained the following digital data:
RETURNED
Russians 33 people.
Belarusians 1 person
Georgians 1 person
Armenians 1 person
Jews 1 person ·
Latvians 1 person
Bulgarians 1 person
Komi 1 person
Total 39 people.
NOT RETURNED
Ukrainians 21 people.
Tatars 2 people
Uzbeks 2 people
Bashkirs 1 person
Olonets and southern 1 person.
Tver 1 person
Ingrians 1 person.
Poles 1 person
Total 35 people.
Thus, Finland was in no hurry to hand over non-Russian prisoners of war. The Russians were transferred faster. Apparently, there were fears that the USSR would persistently demand the extradition of Russians.
However, the document contained an interesting note regarding persons not included in this general list of prisoners of war returned by Finland:
“There are approximately 30 additional Russian defectors who will not be returned because officials the prisons promised them this, that they would not be returned. Captain Rusk announced them on 15/4-40, the Minister of Foreign Affairs (inaudible) 16/4 prisoners were sent to Kokkola.”
That is, there were at least 30 more people in Finland who not only did not want to return to the USSR, but who were given a promise that they would not be extradited to the Soviet authorities. However, this did not bother the Soviet authorities. They persistently made every effort to return them to their homeland. In particular, on November 18, 1940, the Finnish mission received a request “to inform the Finnish government that the Soviet side insists on the return to the Soviet Union of the 20 prisoners/prisoners from the Red Army who remained in Finland.”
The Finns did not respond to this demarche. But these requests from the USSR did not stop. He insisted on extraditing to him those who did not want to return to their homeland. And despite the fact that some Soviet prisoners of war several times submitted petitions to various government authorities in Finland to be left there, most of them, under pressure from the Soviet authorities, were repatriated to the Soviet Union. Moreover, some of them were simply exchanged for Finnish citizens who remained in the USSR
The last such exchange occurred on April 21, 1941. Then private Nikifor Dmitrievich Gubarevich, who lived in Belarus before the Winter War and was in the prison of the city of Mikkeli since March 21, 1940, despite the fact that four times he petitioned not to be sent to the USSR, was exchanged for Finnish citizen trader Yurie Nikolai Nieminen.
But only with the beginning of the continuation war was the fate of the 20 Soviet prisoners remaining in Finland decided. The head of the Headquarters organization department, Colonel S. Isaacson, and the head of the government department, Major Tapio Tarjanne, informed the Foreign Ministry that since the mentioned Soviet prisoners of war “did not express a desire to return to the USSR in an organized exchange of prisoners of war after the war of 1939-40, they are no longer prisoners of war, located in Finland. They should be treated as foreign nationals residing in the country, about whom the Government issues orders.” At the same time, in response to possible reproaches from the USSR regarding its national security, the document emphasized in advance: “The headquarters also declares that none of them can be used for defense work.”
After the exchange of prisoners of war ended, the government authorities of both Finland and the USSR made many efforts to investigate the circumstances of the disappearance of military personnel and their further fate on the territory of the warring countries. Both sides did not forget about those who did not return from combat missions.
So, for example, on July 17, 1940, the Plenipotentiary Representative of the USSR in Finland asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Finland to inquire about the presence of pilot M. I. Maksimov among the prisoners of war, who made a “landing on the Gulf of Finland” on February 21, 1940. . A similar request was contained in the appeal dated November 25, 1940 regarding the pilot N.A. Shalin, who made an emergency landing on the Finnish side on March 8, 1940. But it was apparently not possible to find out what happened to these pilots due to the passage of time or due to the lack of witnesses. Both requests from the Soviet side that we cited have a short and unambiguous note from the Finnish authorities: “There is no information about captivity.” This was conveyed to the Soviet commissioner.
One of the special issues that Soviet investigators paid quite a lot of attention to was the question of beatings and abuse of Red Army soldiers in captivity. Former prisoners said that they were abused not only by the Finnish guards, but also by some of their own fellow prisoners. According to investigators, “Karelian prisoners of war” were especially rampant. Political reports noted: “The former junior commander, now a prisoner, Orekhov, having been captured, was appointed barracks foreman, he mercilessly beat prisoners of war... Didyuk, a Karelian, was a translator, beat prisoners of war... Gvozdovich from the city of Kalinin, was the foreman of the ward, beat his own, took away Soviet money, lost it at cards, bought himself a command tunic from a captured commander<…>" And there are a lot of such testimonies. But still it was not a system. Not all Karelians were traitors. It is worth considering the circumstances under which this information was obtained. It is safe to say that they did enjoy some privileges as a “friendly nation” (according to the Finnish classification). And since many understood the Finnish language, they were appointed barracks leaders, translators and assistant guards.
Operational work continued in the Yuzhsky camp. By June 1940, there were 5,175 Red Army soldiers and 293 commanders and political officers transferred by the Finns. In his report to Stalin, Beria noted: “... among the prisoners of war, 106 people were spies and suspected of espionage, 166 people were members of the anti-Soviet volunteer detachment, 54 provocateurs, 13 people who mocked our prisoners, 72 voluntarily surrendered.” For the security officers, all prisoners of war were a priori traitors to the Motherland. Senior Lieutenant of the 18th Infantry Division Ivan Rusakov recalled these interrogations as follows:
“...The investigators did not believe that most of us were captured surrounded... Asks:
“I’m shell-shocked and frostbitten,” I answer.
This is not a wound.
Tell me, am I guilty of being captured?
Yes, guilty.
What is my fault?
You swore an oath to fight until your last breath. But when you were captured, you were breathing.
I don't even know if I was breathing or not. They picked me up unconscious...
But when you came to your senses, you could have spat in the Finn’s eyes so that they would shoot you?
What's the point in this?!
So as not to disgrace. The Soviets do not surrender."
After an investigation into the circumstances of the captivity and behavior in captivity, 158 people from among the former prisoners of war in the camp were shot, and 4,354 people, who did not have sufficient materials to transfer them to the court, but were suspicious due to the circumstances of their captivity, were sentenced to imprisonment by decision of the Special Meeting of the NKVD of the USSR in forced labor camps for a period of five to eight years. Only 450 former prisoners, who were captured wounded, sick and frostbitten, were released from criminal liability.
Finnish prisoners of war
The repatriation of Finnish prisoners of war began in accordance with the deadlines established at the meetings of the Mixed Commission. On April 16, 1940, the first batch of Finnish prisoners of war, numbering 107 people, crossed the state border. On the same day, Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Chernyshov, who, as we remember, oversaw the work of the UPVI, ordered the preparation of Finnish prisoners of war held in the Gryazovets camp for shipment to Finland. In accordance with this order, brigade commander Evstigneev sends a lightning telegram with the following content to the head of the 3rd department of the headquarters of the Leningrad Military District, brigade commander Tulupov:
“I ask you to transfer 600 Finnish prisoners of war from the prisoner of war camp to Gryazovets, Eshelon submit to the station. Gryazovets of the Northern Railway on the basis that by 9.00 on April 20, 1940 he should be on the border line at Vainikkala station, at railway Vyborg - Simola". Convoying and food supply of Finnish prisoners during transportation to Vyborg was entrusted to the camp leadership.
Two days later, on April 18, 1940, Evstigneev ordered no later than April 24 to transfer all healthy Finnish prisoners of war located in the Borovichi hospital to the Sestroretsk reception center for subsequent transfer to their homeland. Already by April 23, a convoy from the NKVD troops was waiting for the Finns at the military hospital in Borovichi, and at the railway station there were four heated cars, which were supposed to deliver them by seven o’clock in the morning on April 26 to the Vyborg station. The hospital management was ordered to provide the prisoners with food for the journey for four days. This group included 151 members of the Finnish army who were transferred to Finland under the terms of the peace treaty.
It is also advisable to note that in accordance with the “Temporary Instructions on the work of NKVD points for receiving prisoners of war” dated December 29, 1939 and Chernyshov’s order, the train with prisoners (20 cars) from the Gryazovets camp, in addition to the convoy, was accompanied by the head of the camp, the heads of the special and accounting departments and an employee sanitary department of the camp - paramedic. Each prisoner of war was given dry rations for the journey. It included: 3 kg of bread, herring or canned food - 700 g, tea - 6 g, sugar - 150 g, soap - 100 g, shag - 1 pack, matches - 2 boxes. As we can see from the above figures, the amount of food given to the Finns for the journey exceeded the norms for food supply to prisoners of war established by the Economic Council under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR on September 20, 1939. On April 20, 1940, a group of 575 prisoners of war from the Gryazovets camp was transferred to the Finnish military authorities.
The direct exchange of prisoners of war took place at the border one kilometer east of the Finnish railway station Vainikkala. On the Soviet side it was carried out by Captain Zverev and senior political instructor Shumilov, and on the Finnish side by Captain Vainyulya.
On May 10, 1940, the Soviet side, in accordance with the accepted agreements, transferred to Finland five Swedish volunteers, soldiers of the Finnish army, held in the Gryazovets NKVD camp: three officers, one sergeant and one private. And on May 16, 1940, the head of the UPVI Soprunenko sent an order to the head of the Sverdlovsk NKVD to immediately send, accompanied by a convoy, medical personnel three Finnish prisoners being treated in the Sverdlovsk hospital.
Analyzing the documents related to the activities of the Soviet-Finnish commission for the exchange of prisoners of war, it should be noted that its work took place without any particular complications. On June 9, 1940, the chairman of the intergovernmental commission for the exchange of prisoners of war, brigade commander Evstigneev, summing up the results of its activities, presented the “Report on the work of the mixed commission for the exchange of prisoners of war between the USSR and Finland.” This document, in particular, noted that the exchange of prisoners of war took place on the following dates: the transfer of Finnish prisoners of war took place on April 16, 20 and 26, May 10 and 25, June 7, 1940, and the reception of Soviet prisoners of war took place on April 17, 20, 21, 22 , April 23, 24, 25 and 26, May 10 and 25, June 7, 1940.
838 former prisoners of war of the Finnish army were transferred to Finland and 20 expressed a desire not to return to their homeland. Among the prisoners of war transferred to Finland were:
Commanding staff - 8 people,
Junior command staff - 152 people,
Privates - 615 people.
Among the wounded prisoners of war who were in hospitals on the territory of the USSR:
Commanding staff - 2 people,
Junior command staff - 8 people,
Privates - 48 people.
However, although the commission completed its work in April, the exchange of former prisoners of war and interned civilians continued throughout the interwar period of 1940–1941. Both sides have repeatedly sent inquiries to each other, trying to establish the fate of the missing. However, it is quite obvious that the USSR never handed over all its citizens to Finland after the end of the Soviet-Finnish military conflict of 1939–1940, since back in the 50s Finns who were captured during the Winter War returned to their homeland.
Working with those returning from captivity (Winter War)
And finally, former Finnish prisoners of war crossed the new state border line and ended up in Finland. The captivity is over. But the Finnish servicemen, returned under the terms of the peace treaty, did not get home immediately. First, they had to undergo testing at filtration points for former prisoners of war. Unlike the Continuation War, when all prisoners were concentrated in the Hanko camp, after the Winter War there was no single place for filtration checks. Most of the former Finnish prisoners of war were interrogated in Helsinki. However, testimony was taken from Finnish prisoners transferred in the fall of 1940 - spring of 1941, for example in Imatra, Kouvola, Mikkeli and other places.
From the moment they crossed the state border, former Finnish prisoners of war were interviewed and interrogated by special groups of military interrogators. We can highlight several basic questions that were clarified with special care from soldiers and officers of the Finnish army who returned from captivity.
1. Circumstances of capture.
2. Treatment of prisoners of war at the time of capture.
3. Conditions of escort and security during transportation to places of temporary and permanent accommodation of prisoners.
4. Conditions of detention in camps and reception centers for prisoners of war.
5. Food supply standards for prisoners in the USSR, food for Finnish prisoners of war in NKVD prisons of the USSR.
6. Medical care in camps and hospitals on the territory of the Soviet Union.
7. Personal property and funds confiscated from prisoners of war.
8. Use of photographs of Finnish prisoners of war in leaflet propaganda of the Red Army.
9. Conditions and content of interrogations of prisoners conducted by NKVD officers.
10. Recruitment of Finnish prisoners of war by the USSR state security agencies.
11. Propaganda work with Finns in camps and reception centers.
12. Propaganda work of Finnish communists among prisoners of war.
13. Finding out the names and surnames of Finnish prisoners of war who did not want to return from the USSR after the end of hostilities.
14. Finding out the names and surnames of defectors.
15. Armament and size of the enemy army.
16. Treatment of Finnish prisoners of war in camps, detention centers and prisons by civilian authorities.
17 The mood of prisoners of war returning to Finland.
The above list is not official, it is compiled by me based on the most frequently asked questions. It is quite natural that in some interrogation reports it is presented in its entirety, in others only selectively. However, it gives an idea of what most interested Finnish military interrogators.
After an investigation into the circumstances of the captivity and behavior in captivity, 35 former Finnish prisoners of war returned to Finland from the USSR were charged on suspicion of espionage for the USSR and treason. 30 former prisoners of war were convicted by the court and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment - from four months to life. Most of those convicted received sentences ranging from six to 10 years in prison. Five people were released due to insufficient evidence against them.
Information obtained from interviews with former Finnish prisoners of war was used by Finnish military and civilian authorities for various purposes, but mainly in the development and planning of a propaganda campaign in the lead-up to and during the Continuation War.
Return of prisoners of war to their homeland Continued
In September 1944, the war, which lasted almost three and a half years, ended. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Finland concluded a truce. Many people were waiting for this event, but especially the Finnish and Soviet prisoners of war who were in the camps of the USSR and Suomi.
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Start -
Look what interesting photos
, despite the fact that only an idiot would deny the conclusion of the 1939 non-aggression pact between Stalin and Hitler, but other lovers of whitening the West constantly forget about the reasons, as well as previous agreements between Great Britain, Poland and others with Germany. By the way, it is still hidden why the second person of the fascist party, Rudolf Hess, flew to England in May 1941. Again, these amateurs constantly post photos of Molotov with Ribbentrop. And who is this who is walking next to Mannerheim in 1942?
Hitler and Mannerheim in 1942
hence - "Forgotten. Finnish concentration camps in Russia in 1941-1944." http://gorod.tomsk.ru/index-1297965055.php
Collection of documents and materials 1945
REPORT OF THE EXTRAORDINARY STATE COMMISSION FOR ESTABLISHING AND INVESTIGATING THE ATROCITIES OF THE GERMAN-FASCIST INVADERS AND THEIR ACCELERATES
ABOUT THE ATROCITIES OF THE FINNISH-FASCIST INVADERS ON THE TERRITORY OF THE KARELO-FINNISH SSR
IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS FOR SOVIET PRISONERS OF WAR
IN TOMITSKY CAMP No. 5
Kotov Ivan Ivanovich, a native of the village of Plakhtino, Serebryaneky district. Smolensk region, showed:
“I was in Finnish camps for Soviet prisoners of war from November 4, 1941 to September 5, 1942. During this time, I visited the Petrozavodsk and Tomitsk prisoner of war camps. The living conditions of Soviet people in these camps are unbearable. The prisoners of war were kept in terrible unsanitary conditions. We were hardly ever taken to the bathhouse, and our linen was not changed. We slept 10 people in a room with an area of 8 square meters. As a result of these terrible living conditions, prisoners of war had a lot of lice. Prisoners of war were given 150 grams of low-quality bread per day. The food was such that prisoners of war had to catch frogs in the summer, secretly from the camp administration, and thereby maintain their lives. People ate grass and garbage from garbage pits. However, prisoners of war were severely punished for tearing down grass, catching frogs and collecting garbage from garbage pits.
Everyone was sent to work - both wounded and sick prisoners of war. Slave labor was introduced into the camps. In winter, prisoners of war were harnessed to sleighs and carried firewood on them. And when the exhausted people could not pull the cart, the Finnish soldiers mercilessly beat them with sticks and kicked them. I had to experience all this
to me personally in the Petrozavodsk camp, when I worked loading firewood into wagons.
The Finns also carried water and other heavy loads on prisoners of war. Every day we worked 18 hours a day. The prisoners of war in these camps did not have any rights; any of the Finns who wanted to did so beat them. Without any trial or investigation, innocent people were shot in the camps. The living, but exhausted, were thrown out into the snow. I witnessed the following facts:
In January 1942, Red Army soldier Chistyakov was beaten before the formation for finding a torn boot somewhere and bringing it to the camp location. By order of the camp commander, Chistyakov was stripped and beaten with rods until he was unconscious. The camp commander and the performing soldiers looked at each other and smiled after each blow. The blows were delivered strictly on time. One blow was struck every minute.
On April 29, 1942, in Tomitsa camp No. 5, prisoner of war Borodin was beaten to death by Finnish flayers.
In early February 1942, in the Petrozavodsk camp, one of the prisoners of war was shot in front of all the prisoners of war because, while in the restroom for natural reasons, he stayed, as it seemed to the camp commander, too long. After the execution, the corpse of the prisoner of war was taken to a landfill and abandoned there.
In the first half of February 1942, I worked loading firewood at the Petrozavodsk station. At this time, two exhausted Red Army soldiers were being transported past the wood warehouse from the Derevyansky camp. Before reaching the warehouse, these prisoners of war, still alive, were thrown from the sleigh into the snow and left to freeze.
In July 1942, during haymaking in Tomitsky Camp No. 5, for picking sorrel, a Finnish soldier set a dog on prisoner of war Suvorov, which chewed Suvorov beyond recognition.
At the end of July 1942, in the same camp, prisoner of war Morozov salted hay during haymaking and took a pinch of salt. For this, a Finnish soldier severely beat him.
In early August 1942, by order of the head of the Tomitsa camp No. 5, a pack of dogs was set on two prisoners of war (I don’t know the last names of the latter), which severely bit the Soviet people. The bandits then shot the prisoners of war, and their corpses were thrown into the camp for public viewing by the prisoners of war. Why these people were subjected to such monstrous torture and execution - no one knows.
In the same camp, prisoner of war Chum was beaten so badly in July 1942 that he could not get up. They beat Chuma, as the head of the camp announced, because he took potato peels from a garbage pit.
In April 1942, sick prisoners of war were brought to the bathhouse and put on shelves. A Finnish soldier scooped up boiling water from a barrel and began pouring boiling water over prisoners of war instead of a heater, as a result of which many of them were scalded.
All these atrocities against the Red Army soldiers were carried out by order of the camp commanders.”
AT CAMP No. 8062 IN THE VILLAGE OF KONDOPOGA
Fedosova Valentina Petrovna, from the village. Lisitsino, Zaonezhsky district of the K-F SSR, said
“I remember well that in February 1942 in the village. To Kondologa, the Finns delivered up to 300 Russian prisoners of war. They occupied the house in which we lived to house Russian prisoners of war. Subsequently, several more parties arrived at the camp. The camp was listed under number 8062.
I personally knew prisoners of war: I don’t know Valentin’s last name, I previously worked in Medvezhyegorsk, I don’t know Andrey’s last name, Estonian by nationality, who at first often visited our apartment, and subsequently washed in our bathhouse. From these persons I learned that there was a very difficult regime in the prisoner of war camp. The Finns starved, beat and shot Russian prisoners of war for the most minor offenses, in particular, for not going to work. I personally saw many prisoners of war who, from hunger and weakness, could not move and at work, staggering, fell. They were then taken on horseback to the camp and beaten there, which is why they soon died.
There was hunger in the camp. Working at the stock exchange, in the winter of 1942, I saw personally how Russian prisoners of war, warming themselves by the fire, ate dead cats, or walked through garbage dumps and pits and took slops, or rather all kinds of dirt, and used it for food. In the summer of 1942, prisoners of war collected grass and ate. They found on the street various remains of meat from killed or dead animals, which stank strongly, and ate them. I also remember that in the summer of 1942, Soviet prisoners of war on two horses carried the dead meat of fallen horses to the camp. I then went to the store and saw this meat. Not only then, but even now, I get scared when I remember how people could eat rotten and strong-smelling meat. I asked the prisoners of war what they were carrying, the prisoners of war replied that they were carrying carrion and would eat it.
Soviet prisoners of war carried the meat accompanied by camp guards, who along the way laughed at the fact that Russian prisoners of war were carrying dead and terrible meat for food. The guards said: “The Russians will eat everything.”
I saw many times how at the stock exchange the Finnish guards Laine and Alatalo, the sergeant and others systematically beat Soviet prisoners of war to death.
One day there was a Soviet prisoner of war lying near the camp, who himself could not reach the camp. When I asked the guard Kusti Rautavuori, he replied that the prisoner of war had been shot. This was in the winter of 1942. After some time, I personally saw how the corpses of three executed Soviet prisoners of war were carried on horseback along the road to the village. New.
The Finnish camp administration was responsible for the mass extermination of Soviet prisoners of war: junior sergeant Risto Mikkola, lieutenant Virrankoski, senior sergeant Jaakko Alatalo, senior sergeant Saaristo and others.”
Kopylov Yakov Grigorievich, native of the village. Anfantovo, Prisheksninsky district of the Vologda region, said that on December 5, 1941, with the permission of the Finnish authorities, he settled in the village of Staraya Kondopoga. By this time, camp No. 8062 already existed in the village, which housed Soviet prisoners of war.
“As I learned from prisoners of war,” says Kopylov, “there were 750 people in the specified camp. The second small prisoner of war camp, with about 50 prisoners, existed since 1941 in the city of Kondopoga, in the house of Sunastroya, on Kommunalnaya Street. Prisoners of war from camp No. 8062 were used by the Finnish authorities in the most difficult work: rolling out, cutting, loading and shipping timber and firewood to Finland. Prisoners of war from the camp on the street. The Finnish authorities used communal services only for the repair of the railway track.
During the existence of camp No. 8002, I was acquainted with prisoners of war No. 22 and 596 (I don’t know their names). From these persons I learned that in camp No. 8062 the authorities had established a regime of terror and extermination of Soviet prisoners of war. They fed people in the camp with pieces of biscuits and water, and forced them to work a lot. Soviet prisoners of war were losing strength every day and could not work; most of them walked with the help of sticks. Many, many Soviet people were dying of hunger, and those who tried to eat dead dogs, cats and dead horses were shot by the Finnish fascists. I saw with my own eyes hundreds of exhausted Soviet prisoners of war who fell as they walked. Those who were lying down and could not get up were killed by the Finnish fascists. After much suffering, they died of hunger: Alexander Vasilievich Borkin, former chairman of the Kondopoga artel
“Toy”, Vasily Lapin (I don’t know his middle name), a native of the village. Ustyandom, Zaonezhsky district; I don’t know the names and numbers of other deceased prisoners of war. By June 1942, out of 750 people in the camp, only 194 prisoners of war remained, the rest all died of starvation or were shot.
Executions of Soviet prisoners of war were carried out inside the camp. The dead were taken 1.5-2 kilometers from the village. Kondopoga on the road to Myanselga, or buried near the cemetery. When in the winter of 1941-42. mass extermination of Soviet people was carried out, then the dead were not buried at all, but were taken out and thrown into the snow. And only in the spring of 1942, when the smell of corpses began to spread from the dead, the Finns removed the corpses into the trenches and covered them with earth. The arms and legs of the dead stuck out from many of the trenches. In 1943-44. The Finns buried all the dead in the village cemetery. Kondopoga.
Prisoners of war Boriskin, Lapin, Orekhov Alexander, for No. 22 and 596 and many others personally asked me many times not only for bread or potatoes, but also for dead cats, dogs, etc. I personally caught a dog and two cats for a prisoner of war for No. 596, Borkin Alexander found and gave the head of a fallen horse. In May 1942, I found a dead horse near the cemetery in the village of Kondopoga. This horse smelled of carrion, worms were crawling through the meat, but still I decided to tell the prisoners of war, who at that time were literally dying of hunger, about the find. Prisoners of war No. 22 and 596, together with their comrades, up to 15 people in total, carried out the meat and offal of a dead horse and ate them.
In the fall of 1941, residents of the village of Kondopoga slaughtered livestock and buried the offal of the animals on the ground. In the spring of 1942 (around May), I personally saw how a group of Soviet prisoners of war dug these offal out of the ground, washed it away and ate it. I must say that the offal was completely rotten and reeked of carrion. There were many such cases. It got to the point where prisoners of war were rummaging through garbage pits and eating | garbage without any washing or cooking.
I know from prisoners of war No. 22 and 596 that the camp foreman and the camp’s senior translator beat to death 30 prisoners of war who could not get up from their plank bunks to work in the morning. Anyone who did not rise, the Finns took and threw to the floor, and then finished off. I remember well how every morning the prisoners of war went to work, they all could barely move, and in the evening, holding each other, they returned back. In winter, most prisoners of war went out to work with sleighs to pull each other. Many people died on the road. The Finns took them outside the village and abandoned them. Almost every evening there were three horses carrying out dead prisoners of war. Finnish fascists often took prisoners of war
shot or beaten to death. One day one of the prisoners of war tried to escape, but he was detained. This man was beaten with a rubber truncheon so that all his skin burst, and he a short time died. In December 1942, we found prisoner of war Ivan Safonov dead naked in a cement warehouse. The Nazis killed him because he could not go to work.
The culprits of the mass extermination of Soviet prisoners of war are the head of the camp, Sergeant Tikkanen, who often personally shot, beat and tortured prisoners of war, a forest foreman named Virta, and others.
All these executioners went to Finland and forcibly took the remnants of the prisoners of war with them.”
July 21, 1944
IN PYAZHIYEVA SELGA
In the village of Pyazhieva Selge, liberated by our units, there was a camp for Soviet prisoners of war. In one of the barracks the following letter was found to the soldiers of the Red Army, which was forwarded to the editor by senior sergeant Korobeinikov:
“Hello, dear comrades. The sufferers of Pyazhieva Selga are writing to you. This is the third year now that we have enemies around us. I would like to describe in blood everything that we had to endure. Again we see terrible scenes of executions and beatings. All this was here in the camp.
For a person who has experienced the torments of captivity in the damned Suomi, hell with all its torments is not terrible. The Finns “put people on a hot stove, leveled the line of exhausted people with the help of a burst from a machine gun.
A wound on an arm or leg is considered our greatest happiness; it sometimes gives relief from back-breaking work, for which you get nothing except a beating. But it’s a disaster if the illness is internal. Such patients were dragged out of the barracks into the cold by the arms and legs and driven into the forest with blows. There were cases when the unfortunate people no longer got up from the ground.
I have to finish the letter so as not to arouse suspicion among the Finns. Comrades, dear, dear ones, help out the few survivors. We cannot escape from captivity. All attempts to escape so far have ended in execution. And since the front moved, we have been sitting hopelessly behind the wire, under heavy guard. We hope for you and are waiting for you, dear comrades!”
Red Army newspaper “For the glory of the Motherland” for August 2, 1944.
Silantiev, wounded in the leg, was captured by the Finns. After a successful escape, he said:
“On the cold, rainy days of November, prisoners were kept under open air. The week dragged on so painfully. Then one group was transferred to a prisoner of war camp on the Shuya River. Here everyone was housed in dilapidated barns.
Early in the morning, when a half-drunk Finnish corporal with two soldiers appeared in the barn, all the prisoners were raised from the ground with blows from the butts and ordered to line up. Those who could not rise were pulled out of the barn and, amid the laughter and screams of the guard soldiers crowding outside, they were finished off with bayonets.
Those who remained were stripped of their Red Army uniforms, boots and all their belongings were taken away. In exchange, they gave us shabby rags and sent us to work laying roads, digging ditches, and carrying huge stones. Waist-deep cold water, in the mud they were forced to work fifteen hours a day. The food consisted of one black dry Finnish biscuit weighing 100 grams, and several spoons of lukewarm slop.
The hard labor regime—15 hours of exhausting labor in unbearable conditions—is observed daily. When the working day ended and the prisoners were driven to the barracks, the guards arranged “entertainment” for themselves before going to bed. A corporal stood at the entrance to the barracks and took roll call. Everyone who was called out had to come to the door. He had to crawl back to his place on all fours. Those who did not obey were beaten with rifle butts and rods. Swearing and screams from the guards, beatings and other abuses accompanied every step of the Russian prisoners.
Winter came. In forty-degree frosts and snowstorms, prisoners were driven to work in shabby clothes, which were issued in November. The food remained the same, with the only difference that often instead of flatbreads they gave a handful of flour with bran and a mug hot water. They slept on an earthen floor, on rotten straw, in dirt and cramped conditions.
During the whole winter we were never taken to the bathhouse. There was not a day when one of the prisoners did not die in the camp. They died from disease, from beatings from the overseer, from a bayonet blow from some Shutskor man who did not like the expression on the prisoner’s face. They died from exhaustion and the abuse of fascist executioners.
One day, the prisoner Belikov turned to the officer with a complaint about one of the guards. In the bitter frost, he took away from him the rag with which Belikov had wrapped his hands instead of mittens. The officer called the soldier over, told him about the complaint and ordered him to immediately “apologize” to the prisoner. They forced the translator to translate all this to the entire group of prisoners. They listened, not believing their ears. When the grinning officer finished this next mockery, he repeated the order to the soldier to “apologize,” and the soldier, swinging his hand, hit Belikov in the temple with the butt of his weapon so that he fell down dead.
Among the prisoners of war there were also Karelians. At first, the Finnish bandits tried to flirt with them. They were appointed as elders, requiring them to act as overseers and spies. But not a single Karelian wanted to be a traitor, and soon they suffered the same fate as the rest of the prisoners. They were treated with the same bestial cruelty as the Russians, they were mocked in the same way, beaten in the same way.
With a group of other prisoners we were driven to the Pyazhieva Selga camp. Here the work turned out to be even harder, the guards even more vicious. For every slow movement - a blow with an iron rod, for every word spoken to a comrade - a beating, for the slightest failure to complete a given “lesson” - deprivation of food. Here the cooks “entertained” themselves, handing out a thin, stinking stew once a day. Everyone who approached the kitchen with a mug received a blow to the forehead with a spoon.”
DEATH CAMP IN MEDVEZHYEGORSK
Outskirts of Medvezhyegorsk. On the opposite side of the city, in the area of the sanatorium and military camp, the battle is still going on. And it’s already quiet here. A huge camp stretched out in front of us—Russian prisoners of war languished here, Soviet people were killed and tortured here.
Two high fences, “densely intertwined with barbed wire, separated the prisoners of war from the outside world. The Finns spent many, many tons of wire on this camp.
Here is a separate barrack. Around him is a fence twice as tall as a man, braided with barbed wire. There are several more rows of wire behind the fence. This is a camp within a camp itself. There are small dungeons in the barracks. Soviet people were tortured and killed here.
Barbed wire at every step. It is intertwined with barracks and cells, paths and latrines. Wire and solid iron bars on the windows. Wire in the kitchen, in the “dining room”, where they fed rotten potato peels. Wire everywhere!
There's a stench coming from the barracks. Long rows of completely naked and dirty bunks. Here, in incredible cramped conditions and painful conditions, the Soviet people languished. But now there is no one. We are looking for evidence of this terrible life. It cannot be that our people will not report anything about themselves. And we find it.
Here on the dirty bunks, in the gap between the boards, a small piece of paper sticks out. It is written in blood and tears:
“Dear Russian brothers! We are driven away from Medvezhka under escort in an unknown direction. Russian prisoners..."
Turn over the sheet. Continuation of the note. I can make out: “Avenge, dear ones, for us: Orlov, Alekseev, Nikitin, Yunov, Kulnuskin.
Leningrad, Mokhovaya, building 45, apt. 13".
This is obviously the address of one of those who were taken into slavery.
In another chamber, where there is not a ray of light, we find an old envelope. It says:
“Petrozavodsk region, Medvezhyegorsk. Russian prisoner of war Fyodor Ivanovich Popov lived here in captivity, 1942, December 16.”
In the dungeon, where the death row prisoners apparently awaited their terrible fate, the following inscription was preserved on the doors:
“I couldn’t bear the torment and killed the sergeant major. The Finns tortured me. This is where he lived and was sentenced to death for the murder of a sergeant major. Nikolai Kashirin."
We go around camera by camera. Here is one of them in the basement. A ray of light does not penetrate into it. The ceiling and walls are covered with barbed wire. This is a solitary confinement cell.
The torment and suffering of Russian prisoners of war knew no bounds. The Finns put the “disobedient” in chains. Here they lie - shackles for shackling hands and feet.
Mannerheim's scoundrels killed and hanged Russian prisoners of war. They built a mobile gallows for this. She appeared in one place or another in the Medvezhyegorsk region. Our officers Captain A.M., Krylasov, Captain L.I. Melentyev, Lieutenant V.A. Lukin discovered this gallows in the workers' village of Pindushi.
We did not see a single martyr from this camp.
All are stolen. Only things, documents and furnishings tell how our brothers languished in Finnish captivity.
Major L. Saksonov
IN LAKHTI, KEM AND FOREST CAMPS
Divnich Ivan Fedorovich, a native of the village of Yaroslavka, North Kazakhstan region, said on April 21, 1943:
During the six-month period of my stay in Finnish captivity, I visited three camps: Lakhtinsky transit camp, Kemsky and Lesnoy, located 300 kilometers north of the mountains. Rovaniemi on the Petsam Railway.
In the Lakhtinsky transit camp, prisoners of war were housed in a car garage. This garage was not heated at all; people slept on damp ground.
Prisoners of war were not allowed to go to the bathhouse at all, as a result of which we had a lot of lice. In the Kem camp, prisoners of war were housed in a cold barracks and slept on bare bunks in three tiers.
In winter, Finnish soldiers, despite the fact that it was already cold in the prisoners of war quarters, opened the barrack doors wide open and kept them open for about two to three hours. As a result of such actions, sick prisoners of war died, and healthy ones fell ill and subsequently also died. It was so cold in the barracks that the prisoners of war had no way to dry their foot wraps.
In the Forest camp, prisoners of war huddled in a small forest hut. In all the camps I named, the premises for prisoners of war were kept in terrible unsanitary conditions. The linen was not changed. Prisoners of war were starved. Only 250 grams of bread were issued per day, and even that was mixed with sawdust.
In all these camps there was forced labor. People worked 16 hours a day. Everyone was forced to work, including the exhausted and barefoot prisoners of war. There was not a single day when one of the prisoners of war was not beaten. Prisoners of war were subjected to excruciating torture and shot without any guilt. In winter, exhausted people were thrown out into the snow, where they froze, and then special funeral teams created by the Finns at each camp stripped them naked and buried them in a trench. There was no medical assistance for prisoners of war.
Soviet people in Finnish captivity were doomed to starvation. Things sometimes got to the point where hungry people ate corpses secretly from the camp administration. This was the case in November 1941 in the Kem prisoner of war camp.
In the camps I indicated, there was a mass extermination of Soviet prisoners of war.
One day in November 1941, in the Kem camp, a team of prisoners of war was working near the kitchen, sawing and cutting firewood. I was also a part of this brigade. During our work, one Finnish woman came out of the kitchen, apparently working in the kitchen, approached the guard and, taking his rifle, took aim and shot at the working prisoners of war. As a result, one of the prisoners of war was killed and the second was seriously wounded. Seeing the result of the shot, the woman laughed, returned the rifle to the guard and went into the same room from which she had come.
In the same camp in December 1941, a prisoner of war named Abram, Finnish soldiers, by (order of the camp commander) for unknown reasons, took all the prisoners of war out in front of the line, stripped them naked, laid them face down on a wooden trestle bed, covered them with a wet sheet and then with steamed rods struck twenty times. During the beating, the camp commander looked at his watch. The blows were delivered strictly on time. One blow was struck every minute. After the beating, the Finnish soldier kicked the prisoner of war off the top-chan and, in an unconscious state, dragged him into the barracks, where he died a few hours later.
In the first half of January 1942, in the Kem camp, prisoner of war Timofeev (a resident of the city of Leningrad) was taken out of the barracks alive and laid on the snow, where he froze. Every night the Finns carried up to 10-45 exhausted and sick prisoners of war out into the snow.
In January, two prisoners of war, whose names I don’t know, were beaten in front of the line for attempting to escape. After the beating, the Finnish soldiers threw the prisoners of war onto a car and took them outside the camp area, where they shot them. But, however, one of them was only seriously wounded and brought back to the camp.
The wounded Red Army soldier suffered for two days without any help, and then died.
At the end of January 1942, I was personally beaten because I could not go to work without shoes. After the beating, the Finnish soldiers suggested that I wrap my legs in rags and immediately go to work. I was forced to go out like this to saw wood.
In the Kem camp, at the end of January 1942, prisoner of war Gerzmala was shot. The reason for his execution was that he took potato peels from a garbage pit for himself.
The head of the Forest camp, drunk, entered the room where the prisoners of war lived and opened fire on them with a pistol. As a result of such exercises, he killed one of the prisoners of war, and seriously wounded the second, named Semyon. In August 1941, in the Lakhtinsky transit camp, Finnish soldiers, by order of the camp commander, went around the barracks, and sick prisoners of war were thrown face down from their bunks, and then doused with water, saying: “bring us to consciousness.”
All these atrocities against prisoners of war were carried out with the knowledge and on the orders of the camp commanders.”
IN THE CAMP NEAR THE TOWN OF PITKÄRANTA
Red Army soldier Sergei Pavlovich Terentyev, who escaped from Finnish captivity, spoke about the unbearable suffering of Soviet prisoners of war who languished in a camp near the city of Pitkäranta.
“In this camp,” said Terentyev, “wounded Red Army soldiers are kept. They are not provided with any medical care. All prisoners of war are forced
work 14-16 hours a day. The prisoners were harnessed to plows and forced to plow the land. We were given a mug of flour soup per day. Finnish executioners came up with a terrible torture for us. They surrounded the prisoner with barbed wire and dragged him along the ground. Every day the corpses of tortured Soviet soldiers are taken out of the camp.
Three prisoners of war, due to extreme exhaustion, could not go to work. The camp administration lined up all the prisoners of war. Three exhausted Red Army soldiers were brought and laid on boards in front of everyone. After that, each of them was given 50 blows with rods and thrown into the basement. The next day they were buried in the ground.”
CAMP IN THE VILLAGE OF SEMYON-NAVOLOK
A resident of the village of Semyon-Navolok, Vidlitsky village council, Olonetsky district, Zakharov I. G. said:
“200 Red Army prisoners of war were brought to the camp, some of them were wounded.
There was no medical care for the wounded, the bandages were made of dirty rags and bled, the prisoners were fed with uncleaned, half-frozen potatoes, 300 grams per person, and biscuits, with 30% paper mixed into the flour. The prisoners slept on bare floors and were tortured every day.
Over the course of 2 years, 125 out of 200 people died from torture, overwork, hunger and cold. The Finns took the remaining 75 people with them; those who tried to rest - the Finns beat them with whips, and those who fell from exhaustion were shot by the Finns.”
A resident of the village of Semyon-Navolok, M. I. Nikolaevskaya, said:
“In March 1944, the Finns brought about 50 dogs to the camp group. On the second day, a Finnish soldier led 2 prisoners of war behind a wire fence, and the second Finnish soldier released five dogs, which attacked the captured Red Army soldiers and began to tear their clothes. The unfortunate prisoners of war had nothing to defend themselves with, and there was no one to help them. |
In the book “The Fates of Prisoners of War - Soviet Prisoners of War in Finland in 1941-1944.” The reasons for the high mortality rate in Finnish prisoner of war camps are explored. Researcher Mirkka Danielsbakka argues that the Finnish authorities did not aim to exterminate prisoners of war, as happened, for example, in Nazi Germany, but, nevertheless, the starvation of the soldiers who surrendered was the result of the actions of those responsible for the conditions in the camps.
Basic information about Soviet prisoners of war in Finland 1941-1944.
- About 67 thousand Soviet soldiers were captured, most of them in the first months of the war
- More than 20 thousand Red Army soldiers died in Finnish captivity
- The mortality rate in Finnish camps was about 31%
- For comparison, 30-60% of Soviet prisoners of war died in German camps, 35-45% of German prisoners of war died in Soviet camps, the mortality rate of Finnish soldiers in Soviet camps was 32%, 0.15% of German prisoners of war died in American camps, and in British camps, the mortality rate of German prisoners was 0.03%
- In Finland there were 2 organizational camps (in Nastola near Lahti and in Naarajärvi near Pieksämäki) and camps numbered 1-24
- There were special camps for officers, political peoples related to the Finns and for prisoners considered dangerous
- The camps were located in all regions of the country, as well as in the occupied territories of Karelia, with the exception of Lapland, where the Germans had their camps
- Over 10 thousand prisoners worked on farms in October 1942
- Beginning in 1943, most prisoners worked on farms, first in the summer, then year-round.
Young Finnish historians are actively working to eliminate the “blank spots” of Finnish history. The topic of Soviet prisoners of war has been studied quite well, but until recently no comprehensive academic study has been written on this topic.
During the war of 1941-1944, which in Finland is called the “Continuation War” (the name implies that the war of 41-44 is a logical continuation of the Winter War unleashed by the USSR in 1939), about 67 thousand Red soldiers were captured in Finland Army. About one in three of them, that is, over 20 thousand people, died in Finnish camps - a figure comparable to the mortality rate in German, Soviet and Japanese prisoner of war camps.
But Finland during the war years was not a totalitarian country, like Nazi Germany or the communist USSR, but a Western democracy. How then did it happen that the losses among prisoners were so great?
The young Finnish historian Mirkka Danielsbakka is looking for the answer to this question. In her recent book, The Fates of Prisoners of War - Soviet Prisoners of War 1941-1944, (Tammi 2016), she states that Finland tried to comply with international legal standards regarding the treatment of prisoners of war, and prisoners who ended up on Finnish farms generally survived , and many even recalled with warmth and gratitude the time spent on Finnish peasant farms. Nevertheless, starvation became the fate of many Soviet soldiers who surrendered.
The obvious contradiction between the memories of contemporaries about the good treatment of prisoners of war and the irrefutable fact of high mortality was the main impetus for Danielsbakk to write first his doctoral dissertation, and then a popular science book.
“I was very interested in the phenomenon that could be called “evil that happens without anyone’s intention” or “unintentional evil,” as opposed to the evil that took place in Hitler’s Germany or the Soviet Union,” says Danielsbacka.
As she writes in her book, in Finland no one denies the fact of high mortality among Soviet prisoners of war, but there is still no word on the reasons for this phenomenon consensus. Debate continues as to whether this was a tragic coincidence or the result of deliberate policy.
According to Danielsbakk, there is no simple and unambiguous answer to this question. She argues that the Finnish authorities did not set out to exterminate prisoners of war, as was the case, for example, in Nazi Germany, but, nevertheless, the starvation deaths of soldiers who surrendered were the result of the actions of those responsible for the conditions in the camps.
The central research question could be formulated as follows: “What was the “path to evil” for those who allowed such a large number of deaths in prisoner of war camps?
Psychosocial factor influenced high mortality
Traditionally, when discussing the high mortality rate in Finnish camps, factors such as food shortages during the first war winter of 1941-1942 are mentioned, as well as the unpreparedness of the Finnish authorities for such a large number prisoners.Danielsbacka does not deny this, but she also draws attention to such factors of human existence that are difficult to measure and specify, such as psychology, biology and sociology of man, his tendency to self-deception and categorization. All this contributed to the fact that the attitude towards the prisoners became inhumane, and they began to be viewed not as unfortunate neighbors deserving compassion, but as a dehumanized mass.
Prisoners of war, Rautjärvi station, August 4, 1941. Photo: SA-kuva
According to Danielsbakk, it is war that is the environment that removes from a person the usual restrictions of generally accepted moral norms and pushes him to actions that he did not plan. It is war that turns an ordinary “normal person” into a cruel punisher who is capable of contemplating the suffering of another with indifference and even with gloating.
Why then was there not such a high mortality rate among prisoners of war in the camps in the UK and the USA, where those responsible for the conditions in the camps were also operating in war conditions?
– The way prisoners were treated on Finnish farms is comparable to the treatment of prisoners in similar conditions, for example, in the UK. There is no big difference here. But in Finland, unlike Britain, there was an extremely negative attitude towards Russians, the so-called hatred of Russians, “ryssäviha”. In this regard, Russia was an “enemy of convenience” for Finland, and it was easy for military propaganda to create an enemy image. The fact that the prisoners were viewed as a mass reduced the degree of empathy for them, and this is where the impact of the environment clearly shows, says Danielsbakka.
The strongly negative attitude towards the Soviet Union and the Russians, which occurred in the 20-30s, as well as during the war years in Finland, had deep roots in the history of complex relations between Finland and Russia. It reflected distrust and fear of the eastern neighbor who invaded Finland in 1939, as well as the bloody events of the civil war of 1918, negative memories of the Russification policy in the Russian Empire and so on. All this contributed to the formation of a negative image of the “Russian”, which was partially identified with the image of the terrible and vile “Bolshevik” (for the few Finnish fascists - “Jewish Bolshevik”).
At the same time, Danielsbacka recalls that harsh nationalist, xenophobic and racist ideology was not uncommon in those years. Of course, the National Socialists in Germany “succeeded” most in this matter, but such Western democracies as Great Britain and the USA also had their “pain points”. As Danielsbakka writes, for example, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill indifferently watched as “the unfortunate people of Bengal” died of hunger.
The food shortage argument doesn't quite hold up
Traditionally, food shortages have been cited as the main reason for the high mortality rate in Finnish camps. The dependence of Finland on grain and food supplies from Germany is pointed out, which used them as a tool of pressure on the Finnish authorities. Proponents of this theory will not fail to recall that the civilian population did not eat enough that winter.Mirkka Danielbakka believes that this explanation for the high mortality rate among Soviet prisoners of war is only partly correct. Largely led to high mortality hard work, to which prisoners were driven when food was poor.
Prisoners of war building dugouts, Nurmolitsy, Olonets, 26.9.41 Photo: SA-kuva
– The food shortage argument is a good argument, that’s right. Prisoners of war were the last in the food supply chain. Food shortages also affected other closed institutions, such as mental hospitals, where mortality also increased. But the Finnish authorities could influence the mortality rate, whether 10 or 30 percent of prisoners died. Malnutrition was a cause of death, but an even greater cause was hard work. The Finns generally understood this in the winter of 41-42, when prisoners began to die from complete exhaustion. For this reason, I believe that food shortage is not the only or main cause of high mortality. Yes, this was part of the reason, but if it had been the real reason, then we would have had an increase in mortality among the civilian population.
In his book, the author cites the following figures for comparison: during the war, at least 27 people (those imprisoned under criminal charges) died of hunger in Finnish prisons, and in the Nikkilä mental hospital in Sipoo alone, 739 people died, many of them from hunger. Overall, the mortality rate in municipal mental homes reached 10% during the war years.
The decision to return prisoners from farms to camps proved fatal for many during the first winter of the war.
The peak of mortality in the camps occurred at the end of 1941 - beginning of 1942. It was during this period that most prisoners were kept in camps, while before that, in the summer and autumn of 1941, and also after that, from the summer of 1942, most prisoners worked and lived on Finnish farms. The decision of the Finnish authorities in December 1941 to return prisoners from farms to camps turned out to be fatal for the prisoners. This decision was largely made due to fear of unwanted changes in the mood of front-line soldiers and the civilian population. It turns out that in the first autumn of war, the Finns began to treat prisoners of war too positively!– At the end of 1941, they began to think that the presence of prisoners of war on farms had a demoralizing effect on the mood of Finnish soldiers at the front. They were afraid of the emergence of relationships between prisoners and Finnish women, and they said with condemnation that the prisoners were treated too softly. Similar things were written, for example, in Finnish newspapers. But there was no real reason for such fear. There was no evidence of danger posed by the prisoners. Overall, it was a strange period. Already in the spring of 1942, prisoners began to be sent to farms again to help peasants with spring field work, and after that many prisoners lived on farms all year round.
Prisoners of war work on a farm, near Helsinki, October 3, 1941. Photo: SA-kuva
Already during 1942, mortality in Finnish camps began to decline sharply and never returned to previous levels. The turnaround was the result of several circumstances, says Mirkka Danielsbacka.
– The first is that the war has dragged on. When we went to war in the summer of 1941, we thought that it would end quickly, by the fall, but this did not happen. By the beginning of 1942, thoughts began to arise that the war would not end with the final defeat of the Soviet Union, and in Finland they began to prepare for a long war. The defeat of the Germans in Stalingrad was the final confirmation of this. After this, the Finns began to prepare for the future and for the fact that the Soviet Union would always be nearby. International pressure also played a role. In Finland, they began to think about how negative news would affect the country's reputation. The threat of a typhus epidemic in the spring of 1942 also played a role in improving the situation of prisoners of war. This led to the Finns refusing to move prisoners from one camp to another. After all, it was in such situations that the condition of the prisoners deteriorated sharply. Also, the change in the situation at the front, namely the transition from the offensive phase to trench warfare, and the associated sharp reduction in losses among Finnish soldiers, led to the fact that the Finns no longer thought that the enemy deserved harsh treatment, says the researcher.
A prisoner of war and a Finnish soldier play on the roof of a booth for disinfection against lice to prevent a typhus epidemic, the village of Koneva Gora, Olonets, April 19, 1942. Photo: SA-kuva
The International Red Cross also intervened in the situation in the camps in 1942. Marshal Mannerheim personally wrote a letter to the organization in early March 1942 asking for help. Even before the letter, in January 1942, prisoners received parcels from the Red Cross, which contained, in particular, food and vitamins. In the spring of that year, assistance began to flow through the organization, but it must be admitted that its volume was never significant.
It is noteworthy that since the Soviet Union did not provide information about Finnish prisoners in its camps through the International Red Cross and did not allow representatives of the organization to visit them, Finland decided that there was no need to do the same on the basis of reciprocity. In general, the Soviet authorities showed no interest in helping their prisoners through the Red Cross, since under the then Soviet wartime laws it was generally considered a crime to be captured.
Secret executions of prisoners? Unlikely, say Finnish historians
But were hunger and hard work the only reason for the high mortality rate in the Finnish camps? What role did violence and illegal shootings play in this? Recently in Russia the question of possible mass secret executions of Soviet prisoners of war in Finnish-occupied Karelia was raised. The media wrote, in particular, that in the Sandarmokh forest near Medvezhyegorsk, where the secret burial places of massacre victims are located political repression 1937-38, there may also be mass graves of Soviet prisoners of war who were in Finnish captivity during the war. In Finland, this version is not considered plausible, and Mirkka Danielsbacka shares the same opinion.– It is very difficult to find reliable, accurate information about this. Researcher Antti Kujala studied the illegal executions of prisoners of war and concluded that approximately 5% of the deaths of prisoners of war were the result of such actions. This, of course, is also a lot, but much less than, for example, in Nazi Germany. There is a possibility that there were more unreported deaths than the 2-3 thousand reported in the Finnish studies, but events after the war, e.g. Supreme Court and the actions of the Allied Forces Control Commission, there is no reason to believe that there were many more violent deaths. For this reason, I consider the version of secret executions of Soviet prisoners of war in Karelia unlikely. Theoretically this is possible, but in practice it is unlikely.
Where can I find information about relatives who were captured in Finland during the war?
The POW file is currently in the National Archives. Information about relatives can be requested by e-mail: [email protected]The majority of requests are carried out on a paid basis.
Information about Soviet prisoners of war who died in captivity during the Winter War and the Continuation War and about civilians who died in the camps of eastern Karelia can be found in the virtual database created by the National Archives “The Fates of Prisoners of War and Internees in Finland in 1935-1955”. " The information is compiled in Finnish; guidance for finding information is provided on the Russian-language page of the database.
On the website of the Photo Archive of the Finnish Armed Forces SA-kuva-arkisto you can see photographs of the war years. Among them are many photos of prisoners of war. When searching, use the word sotavanki or plural sotavangit.
In the book “The Fates of Prisoners of War - Soviet Prisoners of War in Finland in 1941-1944.” The reasons for the high mortality rate in Finnish prisoner of war camps are explored. Researcher Mirkka Danielsbakka argues that the Finnish authorities did not aim to exterminate prisoners of war, as happened, for example, in Nazi Germany, but, nevertheless, the starvation of the soldiers who surrendered was the result of the actions of those responsible for the conditions in the camps.
- About 67 thousand Soviet soldiers were captured, most of them in the first months of the war
- More than 20 thousand Red Army soldiers died in Finnish captivity
- The mortality rate in Finnish camps was about 31%
- For comparison, 30-60% of Soviet prisoners of war died in German camps, 35-45% of German prisoners of war died in Soviet camps, the mortality rate of Finnish soldiers in Soviet camps was 32%, 0.15% of German prisoners of war died in American camps, and in British camps, the mortality rate of German prisoners was 0.03%
- In Finland there were 2 organizational camps (in Nastola near Lahti and in Naarajärvi near Pieksämäki) and camps numbered 1-24
- There were special camps for officers, political peoples related to the Finns and for prisoners considered dangerous
- The camps were located in all regions of the country, as well as in the occupied territories of Karelia, with the exception of Lapland, where the Germans had their camps
- Over 10 thousand prisoners worked on farms in October 1942
- Beginning in 1943, most prisoners worked on farms, first in the summer, then year-round.
Young Finnish historians are actively working to eliminate the “blank spots” of Finnish history. The topic of Soviet prisoners of war has been studied quite well, but until recently no comprehensive academic study has been written on this topic.
During the war of 1941-1944, which in Finland is called the “Continuation War” (the name implies that the war of 41-44 is a logical continuation of the Winter War unleashed by the USSR in 1939), about 67 thousand Red soldiers were captured in Finland Army. About one in three of them, that is, over 20 thousand people, died in Finnish camps - a figure comparable to the mortality rate in German, Soviet and Japanese prisoner of war camps.
But Finland during the war years was not a totalitarian country, like Nazi Germany or the communist USSR, but a Western democracy. How then did it happen that the losses among prisoners were so great?
The young Finnish historian Mirkka Danielsbakka is looking for the answer to this question. In his recently published book " The fate of prisoners of war – Soviet prisoners of war 1941-1944" (Tammi 2016) she states that Finland tried to comply with international legal standards regarding the treatment of prisoners of war, and prisoners who ended up on Finnish farms generally survived, and many even recalled their time spent in Finnish farms with warmth and gratitude. peasant farms. Nevertheless, starvation became the fate of many Soviet soldiers who surrendered.
A prisoner sweeps the street in Vyborg, September 7, 1941. Photo: SA-kuvaThe obvious contradiction between the memories of contemporaries about the good treatment of prisoners of war and the irrefutable fact of high mortality was the main impetus for Danielsbakk to write first his doctoral dissertation, and then a popular science book.
“I was very interested in the phenomenon that could be called “evil that happens without anyone’s intention” or “unintentional evil,” as opposed to the evil that took place in Hitler’s Germany or the Soviet Union,” says Danielsbacka.
As she writes in her book, in Finland no one denies the fact of high mortality among Soviet prisoners of war, but there is still no consensus on the reasons for this phenomenon. Debate continues as to whether this was a tragic coincidence or the result of deliberate policy.
According to Danielsbakk, there is no simple and unambiguous answer to this question. She argues that the Finnish authorities did not set out to exterminate prisoners of war, as was the case, for example, in Nazi Germany, but, nevertheless, the starvation deaths of soldiers who surrendered were the result of the actions of those responsible for the conditions in the camps.
The central research question could be formulated as follows: “What was the “path to evil” for those who allowed such a large number of deaths in prisoner of war camps?
Psychosocial factor influenced high mortality
Traditionally, when discussing the high mortality rate in Finnish camps, factors such as food shortages during the first war winter of 1941-1942, as well as the unpreparedness of the Finnish authorities for such a large number of prisoners, are mentioned.
Danielsbacka does not deny this, but she also draws attention to such factors of human existence that are difficult to measure and specify, such as psychology, biology and sociology of man, his tendency to self-deception and categorization. All this contributed to the fact that the attitude towards the prisoners became inhumane, and they began to be viewed not as unfortunate neighbors deserving compassion, but as a dehumanized mass.
Prisoners of war, Rautjärvi station, August 4, 1941. Photo: SA-kuva According to Danielsbakk, it is war that is the environment that removes from a person the usual restrictions of generally accepted moral norms and pushes him to actions that he did not plan. It is war that turns an ordinary “normal person” into a cruel punisher who is capable of contemplating the suffering of another with indifference and even with gloating.
Why then was there not such a high mortality rate among prisoners of war in the camps in the UK and the USA, where those responsible for the conditions in the camps were also operating in war conditions?
– The way prisoners were treated on Finnish farms is comparable to the treatment of prisoners in similar conditions, for example, in the UK. There is no big difference here. But in Finland, unlike Britain, there was an extremely negative attitude towards Russians, the so-called hatred of Russians, “ryssäviha”. In this regard, Russia was an “enemy of convenience” for Finland, and it was easy for military propaganda to create an enemy image. The fact that the prisoners were viewed as a mass reduced the degree of empathy for them, and this is where the impact of the environment clearly shows, says Danielsbakka.
The strongly negative attitude towards the Soviet Union and the Russians, which occurred in the 20-30s, as well as during the war years in Finland, had deep roots in the history of complex relations between Finland and Russia. It reflected distrust and fear of the eastern neighbor who invaded Finland in 1939, as well as the bloody events of the civil war of 1918, negative memories of the policy of Russification within the Russian Empire, and so on. All this contributed to the formation of a negative image of the “Russian”, which was partially identified with the image of the terrible and vile “Bolshevik” (for the few Finnish fascists - “Jewish Bolshevik”).
At the same time, Danielsbacka recalls that harsh nationalist, xenophobic and racist ideology was not uncommon in those years. Of course, the National Socialists in Germany “succeeded” most in this matter, but such Western democracies as Great Britain and the USA also had their “pain points”. As Danielsbakka writes, for example, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill indifferently watched as “the unfortunate people of Bengal” died of hunger.
The food shortage argument doesn't quite hold up
Traditionally, food shortages have been cited as the main reason for the high mortality rate in Finnish camps. The dependence of Finland on grain and food supplies from Germany is pointed out, which used them as a tool of pressure on the Finnish authorities. Proponents of this theory will not fail to recall that the civilian population did not eat enough that winter.
Mirkka Danielbakka believes that this explanation for the high mortality rate among Soviet prisoners of war is only partly correct. In many ways, the high mortality rate was caused by hard work, to which prisoners were forced to perform with meager food.
Prisoners of war are building dugouts, Nurmolitsy, Olonets, 26.9.41. Photo: SA-kuva – The food shortage argument is a good argument, that’s right. Prisoners of war were the last in the food supply chain. Food shortages also affected other closed institutions, such as mental hospitals, where mortality also increased. But the Finnish authorities could influence the mortality rate, whether 10 or 30 percent of prisoners died. Malnutrition was a cause of death, but an even greater cause was hard work. The Finns generally understood this in the winter of 41-42, when prisoners began to die from complete exhaustion. For this reason, I believe that food shortage is not the only or main cause of high mortality. Yes, this was part of the reason, but if it had been the real reason, then we would have had an increase in mortality among the civilian population.
In his book, the author cites the following figures for comparison: during the war, at least 27 people (those imprisoned under criminal charges) died of hunger in Finnish prisons, and in the Nikkilä mental hospital in Sipoo alone, 739 people died, many of them from hunger. Overall, the mortality rate in municipal mental homes reached 10% during the war years.
The decision to return prisoners from farms to camps proved fatal for many during the first winter of the war.
The peak of mortality in the camps occurred at the end of 1941 - beginning of 1942. It was during this period that most prisoners were kept in camps, while before that, in the summer and autumn of 1941, and also after that, from the summer of 1942, most prisoners worked and lived on Finnish farms. The decision of the Finnish authorities in December 1941 to return prisoners from farms to camps turned out to be fatal for the prisoners. This decision was largely made due to fear of unwanted changes in the mood of front-line soldiers and the civilian population. It turns out that in the first autumn of war, the Finns began to treat prisoners of war too positively!
– At the end of 1941, they began to think that the presence of prisoners of war on farms had a demoralizing effect on the mood of Finnish soldiers at the front. They were afraid of the emergence of relationships between prisoners and Finnish women, and they said with condemnation that the prisoners were treated too softly. Similar things were written, for example, in Finnish newspapers. But there was no real reason for such fear. There was no evidence of danger posed by the prisoners. Overall, it was a strange period. Already in the spring of 1942, prisoners began to be sent to farms again to help peasants with spring field work, and after that many prisoners lived on farms all year round.
Prisoners of war working on a farm, near Helsinki, 10/3/1941. Photo: SA-kuva Already during 1942, mortality in Finnish camps began to decline sharply and never returned to previous levels. The turnaround was the result of several circumstances, says Mirkka Danielsbacka.
– The first is that the war has dragged on. When we went to war in the summer of 1941, we thought that it would end quickly, by the fall, but this did not happen. By the beginning of 1942, thoughts began to arise that the war would not end with the final defeat of the Soviet Union, and in Finland they began to prepare for a long war. The defeat of the Germans in Stalingrad was the final confirmation of this. After this, the Finns began to prepare for the future and for the fact that the Soviet Union would always be nearby. International pressure also played a role. In Finland, they began to think about how negative news would affect the country's reputation. The threat of a typhus epidemic in the spring of 1942 also played a role in improving the situation of prisoners of war. This led to the Finns refusing to move prisoners from one camp to another. After all, it was in such situations that the condition of the prisoners deteriorated sharply. Also, the change in the situation at the front, namely the transition from the offensive phase to trench warfare, and the associated sharp reduction in losses among Finnish soldiers, led to the fact that the Finns no longer thought that the enemy deserved harsh treatment, says the researcher.
A prisoner of war and a Finnish soldier play on the roof of a booth for disinfection against lice to prevent a typhus epidemic, the village of Koneva Gora, Olonets, April 19, 1942. Photo: SA-kuva The International Red Cross also intervened in the situation in the camps in 1942. Marshal Mannerheim personally wrote a letter to the organization in early March 1942 asking for help. Even before the letter, in January 1942, prisoners received parcels from the Red Cross, which contained, in particular, food and vitamins. In the spring of that year, assistance began to flow through the organization, but it must be admitted that its volume was never significant.
It is noteworthy that since the Soviet Union did not provide information about Finnish prisoners in its camps through the International Red Cross and did not allow representatives of the organization to visit them, Finland decided that there was no need to do the same on the basis of reciprocity. In general, the Soviet authorities showed no interest in helping their prisoners through the Red Cross, since under the then Soviet wartime laws it was generally considered a crime to be captured.
Secret executions of prisoners? Unlikely, say Finnish historians
But were hunger and hard work the only reason for the high mortality rate in the Finnish camps? What role did violence and illegal shootings play in this? Recently in Russia the question of possible mass secret executions of Soviet prisoners of war in Finnish-occupied Karelia was raised. The media wrote, in particular, that in the Sandarmokh forest near Medvezhyegorsk, where there are secret graves of victims of mass political repressions of 1937-38, there may also be mass graves of Soviet prisoners of war who were in Finnish captivity during the war. In Finland, this version is not considered plausible, and Mirkka Danielsbacka shares the same opinion.
– It is very difficult to find reliable, accurate information about this. Researcher Antti Kujala studied the illegal executions of prisoners of war and concluded that approximately 5% of the deaths of prisoners of war were the result of such actions. This, of course, is also a lot, but much less than, for example, in Nazi Germany. There is a possibility that there were more unreported deaths than the 2-3 thousand reported in the Finnish studies, but post-war events, such as the Supreme Court verdicts and the actions of the Allied Forces Control Commission, do not suggest that there were many more violent deaths . For this reason, I consider the version of secret executions of Soviet prisoners of war in Karelia unlikely. Theoretically this is possible, but in practice it is unlikely.
Where can I find information about relatives who were captured in Finland during the war?
The POW file is currently in the National Archives. Information about relatives can be requested by email: [email protected]
The majority of requests are carried out on a paid basis.
Information about Soviet prisoners of war who died in captivity during the Winter War and the Continuation War and about civilians who died in the camps of eastern Karelia can be found in the virtual database created by the National Archives “The Fates of Prisoners of War and Internees in Finland in 1935-1955.” » . The information is compiled in Finnish; guidance for finding information is provided on the Russian-language page of the database.
On the website of the Photo Archive of the Finnish Armed Forces SA-kuva-arkisto you can see photographs of the war years. Among them are many photos of prisoners of war. When searching, use the word sotavanki or plural sotavangit.