A Brief History Thanks To Scandinavia educates about T h a n k s T o s c andinavia, a n i n s T i T u T e o f a J c of Jews in Finland efforts to save Jews during World War II. Our goal is to make sure thee truth is heard Finland formed a part of the Swedish empire and never forgotten. Every year, dozens of from the Middle Ages until 1809, when it was Scandinavian educators and students are annexed by the Russian Empire and constituted awarded grants that enable them to study a grand duchy. During the period of Swedish Finland’s Story in the United States, Israel, and Europe. rule, Jews had not been permitted to settle in the country. The first Jews to do so were sol- Such is the message of courage and human- diers in the Russian army, who were permitted ity that our generation and every generation to to stay after completing their military service, come should hold dear to their hearts. in accordance with a statute issued by Emperor Laurie Netter Sprayregen, President Alexander II in 1858. By the beginning of the 20th For more information, contact: century there were approximately one thousand Jews living in Finland. Rebecca Neuwirth, Executive Director Thanks To Scandinavia In 1918, one year after the collapse of the Rus- 165 East 56th Street sian empire and after Finland had declared her New York, NY 10022 independence, Jews in Finland were granted Tel (212) 891-1403 civil rights. Earlier attempts to achieve this goal Fax (212) 891-1415 were defeated either by domestic opposition or [email protected] by the Russian government. www.ThanksToScandinavia.org Today, the size of the Finnish Jewish community Thanks To Scandinavia is an institute of AJC is about 1,500, mostly concentrated around the (www.ajc.org). capital, Helsinki. They have a synagogue, a Jew- ish school, and a lively social scene. Text and research by Dr. Simo Muir and Dr. Oula Silvennoinen, to whom we are Finland aligned itself with Nazi Germany to very grateful. regain territory it had lost to the Soviet Union. In keeping with this localized perspective, the Finnish Jewish Archives/National Archives of Finland. primary war for Finland from 1941-1944 was the Continuation War, not the larger conflict that be- Memorial Day at the Jewish Cemetery in Helsinki came known as World War II. Nevertheless Fin- land did ally itself with the Nazi regime, which was responsible for some of the most horrific Even though Finland had a military alliance crimes known to mankind. with Germany, the Finns succeeded in protecting Does this new dimension complicate our ability to make clear judgements about history? their Jewish compatriots. How does that fact that some Finnish Jews Questions served in the Finnish army, which was fighting alongside the Nazi army, add to the complex picture of the period? Finnish Jewish Archives/National Archives of Finland. Sissi Seleste (second from left) worked in the entertainment squads of the Finnish army. The swastika had been adopted by the Finnish air force in 1918. Finland Finland, though a cobelligerent of Germany, refused to 1933 Finland protects its Jews deliver the 1945 Finnish Jewish Norway community for Between January 30, 1933, when Finland, which gained independence Svärd. Ironically, Jews in the ranks Upon the outbreak of war against the Norway’s resis- Hitler’s “Final tance movement Adolf Hitler became chancellor of in 1917, was a neighbor of the Soviet of the Finnish army were fighting on Soviet Union in 1941, Jewish refugees Solution.” Union. Relations between democratic the same side as Nazi Germany. But it in Finland were interned, meaning that courageously defied Germany, and May 8, 1945, when Finland and the Soviet dictatorship was not generally viewed that way in they were sent to country parishes the German occupa- tion and the Quisling Germany surrendered and the were uneasy throughout the interwar Finland, where the conflict tended to away form the capital. Some of the government, and war in Europe came to a close, period. In 1939, the Soviet Union at- be perceived as one between Finland males were also conscripted for labor, was able to rescue tacked Finland hoping to annex her into and the Soviet Union only. The Jews in working to build roads and fortifica- half of its Jewish European Jewry was virtually an- the Soviet empire, as outlined in the Na- the service of Finland saw themselves tions. The security police deported a population. nihilated. Six million Jewish men, zi-Soviet pact. The ensuing Winter War as fighting for their homeland, not for total of 12 Jews, as unwanted aliens, women, and children were mur- lasted from November 1939 through Hitler. into German-controlled areas, and March 1940. Although Finland managed most were eventually deported to dered, and some three million Complicating matters further, were Nazi to prevent the Soviets from taking over plans for extermination of the Jews. At Auschwitz and killed. A public outcry, more were uprooted from their the country, the Finns had to concede the Wannsee conference in January noted in both the Swedish and Finnish homes. large tracts of territory. Around 400,000 1942, a planning meeting for the Holo- press in late 1942, seems to have ended Finns living in the annexed region were caust, it was agreed that the small Nor- these deportations of individual Jews. Soon after Hitler took power in settled elsewhere in the country. dic Jewish communities would be left Nevertheless, the security police The possibility of rectifying the situation alone temporarily. Thus Germany never saw the Jewish refugees as useless Sweden Germany, all Jewish businesses Risking Nazi retaliation, arose when Germany made overtures made an official request to the Finnish mouths to feed as well as security neutral Sweden, later in the war, were boycotted, Jews were for- to Finland in 1940 in preparation for her government to hand over its Jews. Nei- risks, and pressed for their removal provided sanctuary for Jews bidden to practice law, fired from assault upon the Soviet Union. Finland ther did the Finnish legislature pass any from Finland. By late 1942 a plan was escaping from Denmark, agreed to join the coming German of- discriminatory legislation affecting the drawn up to send the foreign Jews to civil service jobs, and forced to Norway, and other European fensive in order to win back the lost status of Jewish Finns. Sweden, which, in 1944, did receive countries. leave school. The Germans ex- territories. Finnish forces advanced into SS head Heinrich Himmler, who was in a few hundred of them. As a group, panded eastward, taking over the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941, charge of the practical arrangements then, the foreign Jews residing in Fin- initiating what is known in Finland as land were not made victims of the Ho- Austria, Czechoslovakia and Po- for disposing of the Jews, apparently Denmark the Continuation War of 1941–44. put out informal feelers to the politi- locaust, even though some authorities Although occupied by the land. This placed the great popu- Germans, Denmark saved During the course of the war the Finnish cal leadership of Finland, sounding out clearly took the view that they should lation centers of European Jewry be ejected from the country. nearly all of its Jewish army captured Soviet soldiers, some of Finnish willingness to join in the Final population from the Nazis. within the Nazi grasp. Ultimately, whom were Jewish. Finland also had Solution. In the summer of 1942, Prime The Fate of Jewish its own Jewish community number- Minister Johan Rangell rebuffed the the Nazis implemented a cruelly Prisoners of War ing about 2,000, most of them citizens. overtures, saying, “There is no Jewish During the course of the Continuation efficient program of systematized In addition, there were a few hundred question in Finland.” War, Finland took some 70,000 Soviet mass murder. Jewish refugees living in Finland, and facilitate their use as labor. The The Finns suspected them of being prisoners of war, among them over 700 mainly from the Central European states The Fate of Jewish Jewish community of Finland help active communists. Their most likely Refugees in Finland Jews. Prisoners experienced severe At the time, Jews in the Nordic occupied by Germany. What happened Jewish prisoners-of-war by sending fate in German hands was execution. conditions in Finnish prisoner-of-war them food and clothing. This reduced Among this group were 47 persons The Holocaust to these disparate groups of Jews dur- The few hundred refugees in Finland countries received uncommon camps, where the death rate climbed ing this period? from countries that fell to the Nazis were the death rate among Jewish prison- identified as Jews. to over 30 percent during the winter of levels of support and protection. foreigners, and therefore Finnish au- ers to under 20 percent. While high, it Despite the pressures of the war The Fate of 1941 through summer of 1942, due to What happened to the Jews of thorities considered them a liability. And was markedly lower than among the and the alliance with Nazi Germany, Finnish Jews since anti-Semitism was not unknown malnutrition and disease. ethnic Russians. Finland is one of the most ex- Finland remained a democracy, and Like all other able-bodied males, Finn- in Finland, their Jewishness made them The Finnish military authorities adopt- Finnish military authorities also deliv- important sectors of civic society traordinary chapters in that story. ish Jews were subject to conscription. doubly suspect. The Finnish security ed the German method of separating ered over 500 Soviet prisoners of war continued to function.