I have been asked at least one hundred times about the situation of the Jews in Finland during World War II. I have been asked by what means were the Jews of Finland saved, who saved them, how was it possible that I as a Jew fought with the Germans. To answer these kinds of questions, we must examine the situation of Finland before, during and after World War II and it is only in that context that we can understand what happened or what did not happen.
In some ways, Finland was a unique case. Finland was the only country on the continent of Europe, which participated in the Second World War and was not occupied by Germany or by the Soviet Union. It was the only country which was able throughout the Second World War, of those participating in the War, to maintain its democratic system intact. The reasons why this was possible could be summarized: first we fought when we had to fight and we were successful in defending our country against the Soviet invasion in 1939/40 during the winter and again in the second phase of our war against the Soviet Union in 1941-44. We were successful in the sense that the Finnish defense was strong enough to require from the Soviet Union such great forces that they could not be made available without depriving the Soviet Union the possibility of carrying out more important projects in other parts of the world. In a way, this is an example or lesson which shows that in a conflict between a small nation with the sole aim of survival and a great power with many different commitments and aims and purposes the balance of power can not be calculated solely in arithmetic terms.
The second reason why Finland survived during and after the War, was that they stopped the fighting in time and we adjusted our policy to the realities, the new realities, of power that emerged at the end of the Second World War.
Having defended our independence by military means; after the War, we kept our independence by political and diplomatic means. The third and equally important reason, why Finland survived, in my view, was the vitality of Finnish democracy. In the 30’s, the larger part of Europe was in the hands of authoritarian dictatorships like Germany under Hitler, Italy under Mussolini and Franco in Spain. There were only a very few countries which retained their democratic system; the Nordic (Scandinavian) countries, Holland, Britain, of course; even in France, at one time, democracy was on very shaky ground.
We maintained our democratic values in our democratic system of government.
Also, during the second part of our war 1941-44, when Finland seized upon the opportunity offered by the German invasion of Russia to try to recover the territories that had been lost during the winter war. We were able to maintain these values and this system of government. Also, during the post-War period during the Cold War, when Finland of necessity of the power structure of Europe maintained friendly relationships with the Soviet Union. This brings me now to the question, which I am supposed to answer today, the question of why the Jews of Finland were able to survive, not only to survive, but to continue to live a normal life during those years. The answer to that is very simple: the reason was that Finland maintained a democratic system. The Finnish Jews were citizens of a democracy; citizens who have equal rights with all others of that country; equal rights and equal freedoms. There never was a meeting of the Finnish government to decide what to do about the Jews; the question simply did not arise. The Jews were citizens like all others with equal rights and also equal duties. By equal duties, I mean above all during those years, service in the army. When the Soviet Union invaded Finland in December 1939, the Finnish Jews, like all those who could, joined the army and fought against the enemy. In fact, the small Jewish community of two to three thousand contributed more- a higher proportion- to the army than the Finnish people as a whole. Also, the casualties suffered by Jewish soldiers were, in proportion, higher. If there had been, and I think there were, some Finns, who before the War had some suspicions and doubts about the loyalties of Finnish citizens, these were dispelled by the Finnish soldiers, who fought in that war against the Russians. Then, we come to the question what was the Jewish reaction to the continuation wars, what we call the second phase, when Germany had invaded Russia and we tried to recapture the territories that had been unjustly taken away from Finland.
Again, it was taken for granted- there was never any doubt in our minds- of course, we had to continue to do our duty as Finnish citizens and join the army. We had not switched sides; some people in the West later said that Finland switched sides, no Finland did not switch sides.
Germany switched sides. Germany was on the Soviet side in 1939 and at that time the Western world was on the Finnish side. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union, then the Western world turned against Germany and we went on continuing, shall we say, our private war at the same time. There was no alliance between Finland and Germany. There was cooperation between the high command between the two armies, but that was not a political alliance. There was never any attempt by the Germans to persecute Jewish citizens. In fact, our democracy survived the pressures of that period. There is one blot on the Finnish record. In October 1942, when German power in Europe was at its height, Finnish police officials made a deal with their German counterparts, to deliver a number of refugees, who had come to Finland seeking asylum, mostly from Germany and Austria, not all of them Jews, but many of them Jews. They gave them up without the knowledge of the government. It was revealed to the government, which put a stop to that. Unfortunately, five Jews and three family members of those five had already been delivered to the Germans. There was a strong protest, strong criticism, of the government and the authorities for that act. Quite recently actually, in a memorial ceremony our Prime Minister made an official apology for that criminal act that had occurred.
Now let me conclude with a few personal remarks. In 1939, I was too young to join the army. I was 16, when the Soviets invaded Finland. My brother, who was four years older, was already in the army at that time and fought in the field artillery. He fortunately returned alive. Eighteen months later, when the second phase started, I was 18 years old and I joined the army and I spent three years until the armistice agreement in 1944 on the front facing Leningrad. I must say, in that period I never felt any discrimination or persecution from any side from the commissioned officers or young officers. At the end of the war, I was lucky enough to come home without any problems.
When I returned to myparent’s home, my father told me, “We owe a great deal to this country.” I did not understand what he meant. I had been at the front. I had not heard much news. I did not know what was going on in Europe, but I understood what he meant, when I became aware of the catastrophe that had happened to the European Jews at that time. We did really owe a great deal to Finland. Thank you.