"Finland's Jews - 'We did not help the Germans. We had" Topic

… a common enemy'.

"In September 1941, a medical officer performed a deed so heroic he was awarded an Iron Cross by the German high command. With little regard for his own safety, and in the face of heavy Soviet shelling, Major Leo Skurnik, a district doctor who had once fostered ambitions of becoming a concert pianist, organised the evacuation of a field hospital on the Finnish-Russian border, saving the lives of more than 600 men, including members of the SS.

Skurnik was far from the only soldier to be awarded the Iron Cross during the Second World War. More than four million people received the decoration. But there was one fact about him that makes the recommendation remarkable: he was Jewish. And Skurnik was not the only Jew fighting on the side of the Germans. More than 300 found themselves in league with the Nazis when Finland, who had a mutual enemy in the Soviet Union, joined the war in June 1941…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Got to love this comment:
"When Heinrich Himmler, the architect of the Final Solution, visited Finland in August 1942 and asked the prime minister Jukka Rangell about the "Jewish Question", Rangell replied: "We do not have a Jewish Question.""

To our shame Finland did hand over 8 German jewish refugees in 1942.

In addition to these 520 Russian prisoners of war (of political background) were handed over to Germans, among these were 39 jews (based on the names it has been estimated that the number actually was 74).

Al in all extremely small numbers compared to what happened in other countries but still spineless and shameful.

Jewish with Iron Cross in WW2 is something you don't read everyday… (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

I recommend "The Naval War in the Baltic 1941-1945" by Poul Grooss. The title of the book is a bit of a misnomer, as Grooss covers a far greater scope than simply naval matters (although that is the main feature of the book). In short, Finland found itself in an extremely delicate situation vis a vis Germany – desperately in need of a strong ally and supporter against the Soviets on one hand; very reluctant to succumb to German pressure on ideological issues on the other hand.

Quite an interesting political/diplomatic story to say the least.

B

I suppose the Finns could have just rolled over and let the Soviets assimilate them as they did with the Baltics and later the post-WWII Warsaw Pact.

Absent that, fighting them was the only option and the Axis the only other force available to team up with.

Frankly any of the post-war victims of Communism could cast the same aspersions on the Western Allies with even more justification due to the enormous quantities of war materiel provided by them for the Soviets. Helping the Soviets could be said to ultimately have led to the deaths of more people than died at the hands of the Nazis.

This comes back to assigning blood guilt to all Germans for the atrocities of the Nazis.

Interestingly in the northern Karelia region the German units were actually under Finnish command.

Tango, none of the Finnish jews accepted the iron cross. So they aren't jews with iron cross, but there are jews who didn't accept the iron cross they were awarded.

But I'm pretty sure that there are plenty of jewish iron cross recipients from WWI…

BTW did you know that apparently the one and only instance when a Soviet strategic offensive has been halted was in Karelia in 1944.

Even if we got some not so insignificant help from the Germans, I think that earns our country some bragging rights…

Thanks!… I was not aware of that…

Amicalement
Armand

Lonkka1Actual – IMO, Finland's bragging rights also rest upon the fact that, so far as I know, it was the only defeated/subdued/surrendered nation (apart from Austria perhaps) that the USSR declined to attempt to subsume into its communist orbit at the end of the war. I think that the stout resistance displayed by the Finns in defense of their homeland deterred Soviet ambitions.

B