The Continuation War. The first prisoners
Continuation War
The number of Soviet prisoners of war during the Continuation War (1941-1944) was around 64,000. Most of them were captured in 1941 (56,000 persons). The first Soviet POWs were taken in June 1941 and were transferred to reserve prisons in Karvia, Köyliö, Huittinen and Pelso (a village in modern-day municipality of Vaala).
Soon Finnish administration realized that the number of POWs was much higher than initially estimated, and established 32 new Prison Camps in 1941-1944. However, all of them were not used at the same time as POWs were used as a Labor Force in different projects around the country.
The Finns did not pay much attention to the living conditions of the Soviet POWs at the beginning of the war, as the war was expected to be of short duration. The quantity and quality of the camp staff was very low, as the more qualified men were at the front. It was not until the middle of 1942 that the quantity and quality of the camp staff was improved. There was a shortage of labor in Finland and the authorities assigned POWs to forest and agricultural work, as well as the construction of fortification lines. Some Soviet officers cooperated with the Finnish authorities and were released from prison by the end of the war.
Finnic prisoners who were captured on the fronts or transferred by Germany were separated from other Soviet POWs. At the end of 1942 volunteers could join the Finnish Battalion Heimopataljoona 3, which consisted of Finnic peoples such as Karelians, Ingrian Finns, Votes and Veps.
Prisoner exchange with Germany
About 2,600-2,800 Soviet prisoners of war were handed over to the Germans in exchange for roughly 2,200 Finnish prisoners of war held by the Germans. Most of the prisoners transferred to Germany (about 2,000) joined the Russian Liberation Army. The rest, Mostly Army and political officials (among them a name-based estimation of 74 Jews) died in Nazi concentration camps.
Sometimes these handovers were demanded in return for arms or food.
Deaths
Most of the deaths among Soviet POWs, 16,136, occurred in the ten-month period from December 1941 to September 1942. Prisoners died due to bad camp conditions and shelter, and health care. About a thousand POWs, 5 percent of total fatalities, were shot, primarily in Escape attempts. Food was particularly scarce in 1942 in Finland due to bad harvest. Punishment for Escape attempts or serious violations of camp rules included solitary confinement and execution. Out of 64,188 Soviet POWs, from 18,318 to 19,085 died in Finnish prisoner of war Camps.
In 1942, the number of prisoner deaths had a negative effect on Finland's international Reputation. The Finnish government decided to improve living conditions and allowed prisoners to work outside their Camps.
The hostilities between Finland and the Soviet Union ceased in September 1944, and the first Soviet POWs were handed over to the Soviet Union on 15 October 1944. The transfer was completed by the next month. Some of the POWs escaped during the transport, and some of them were unwilling to return to the Soviet Union. Furthermore, Finland handed over 2,546 German POWs from the Lapland War to the Soviet Union.
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After the Continuation War, Finland handed over all Soviet and German prisoners of war in accordance with the 10th article of the Moscow Armistice. Furthermore, the article also stipulated the return of all Soviet nationals who were deported to Finland during the Continuation War. This meant that Finland also had to hand over all those who moved to Finland voluntarily, as well as those who fought in the ranks of the Finnish army against the Soviet union, though some had Finnish citizenship.
The return to the Soviet Union was in many cases fatal for these people, as some of them were executed as traitors at the Soviet train station at Vyborg and some died in harsh camp conditions in Siberia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union they were allowed to return to Finland.
Some of the Soviet prisoners of war co-operated with the Finns during the war. Before the end of the war all related Finnish archives, including interrogation documents relating to co-operating prisoners, were destroyed; and these POWs' destinations after the war are uncertain.
Some of them were secretly transported by Finnish army personnel to Sweden and some continued on as far as the United States. The highest ranking Soviet prisoner of war was Major General Vladimir Kirpichnikov, who returned to the Soviet Union. He was tried, convicted of high treason, and executed in 1950.
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Jatkosodan aikana suomalaiset vangitsivat 64 000 sotilasta, joista lähes 30 prosenttia menehtyi. Korkea-arvoisin suomalaisten kiinni ottama sotavanki oli kenraalimajuri Vladimir Kirpitšnikov.
Jatkosodan aikana suomalaisilla sotavankileireillä sai surmansa arviolta 20 000 vangittua puna-armeijan sotilasta. Kansallisarkiston tietokannan mukaan surmansa sai 19 085 vankia, mutta dosentti Antti Kujala arvioi kirjassaan Vankisurmat oikeammaksi luvuksi 22 000 henkilöä.
Useimmat kuolivat sairauksiin, mutta ammuttuja oli yli 5 prosenttia eli 1 019 vankia. Määrä on kansainvälisesti vertaillen korkea. Tämän lisäksi noin 200 vankia ammuttiin ennen kuin heidät oli kirjattu vangeiksi. Syynä oli "ryssäviha", heikko kuri, elintarvikkeiden puute ja vartijoiden mielenterveysongelmat. Surmia ei yleensä organisoitu komentoportaasta, vaan väkivalta oli satunnaisempaa.
Suomen korkeimman oikeuden käsittelemissä jutuissa surmattiin rintaman takana 500 sotavankia ja rintamalla 181. Kaikki niistä eivät johtaneet tuomioon tai edes syytteeseen. Sodan jälkeen 213 henkilöä tuomittiin korkeimmassa oikeudessa sotavankisurmista. Heistä täyttä ymmärrystä vailla olleiksi todettiin 22 miestä.
Jatkosodan aikana Suomen Päämajan alainen valvontaosasto luovutti runsaat 500 kuulusteluissa kommunisteiksi tai juutalaisiksi paljastunutta suomalaisten sotavankia saksalaisille, jotka ilmeisesti välittömästi surmasivat nämä.
Turvallisuuspoliisi Valpo taas luovutti Saksan valtaamilta alueilta kotoisin olevia henkilöitä saksalaisille palautettavaksi kotimaihinsa, huolimatta siitä että saksalaisten tiedettiin surmaavan vankeja. Osa näistä luovutetuista oli sotavankeja.
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Jatkosodan aikana saksalaisjoukoilla oli Pohjois-Suomessa noin sata sotavankileiriä ja 30 000 neuvostoliittolaista sotavankia. Einsatzkommando Finnland -erikoisyksikkö oli perustettu erottelemaan sotavangeista ei-toivotut ainekset - lähinnä kommunistit ja juutalaiset, jotka sen jälkeen surmattiin.
Suomen Valtiollisen poliisin (Valpo I) etsivät työskentelivät erikoisyksikön alaisuudessa vuosina 1941–1942 kahdella vankileirillä kuulustelijoina ja tulkkeina. Kuulustelutietojen perusteella saksalaiset ampuivat osan vangeista.
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prisoners handle cannons
Vangit mukautuvat kovin pian uuteen elämäänsä. Nauru ja laulu heräävät jo toisena vankeuspäivänä. Oikealla oleva vanki ei ole 500 vangin leirin ihmeellisin mies siksi, että hän on hammaslääkäri, vaan siksi, että hänellä on mukanaan kello ja kotonaan polkupyörä. Pitkäranta 1941.08.01
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The prisoners will adapt very soon to their new lives.
Laughter and song awaken another day of imprisonment.
The right-hand prisoner is not the wondrous man of 500 prison camps because he is a dentist, but because he has a clock with him and at home his bicycle. Pitkäranta 1941.08.01
two female soldiers, maybe nurses..
soviet nurse binds the wounds
the wounded will rest
the prisoner has found his own horn
soviet choir singing practice, the next day after the capture
blow away the chaff...
carry a big pig eating
the prisoners are eating in the farm house, where they are at work
rye cut, and make the kuhilaat / sheafs (kuhilas = sheaf)
soup break
Barleys cut and soon made sheaves
Potato theatre
Prison coocking potatoes
Captain discusses with the prisoners
Campfire woods
6.TtusK:n sotilasvirkailija Schavikin (=Valamon munkki) kekustelee mordvalaisen vangin Andrie Voranoffin kanssa. Voranoff oli sotaväessä 20 vuorokautta ja antautui 23-vuotiaana, Suojärvi-Tsalkki 1941.09.07
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6. Info comppany's military officer Schavik (= the monk of Valamo), encounters the Mordovian prisoner Andrie Voranoff. Voranoff was a Soviet Army for 20 days and surrendered at the age of 23.
tools are sharpened
prisons wash the laundry
wash the plates
soviet cook boiling porridge
Seated soviet Prisoners who have not gotten food for four days
and they are surrendered, for this reasons.
Potato theater
Rye and barley are recodred
Nuoria suomalaisia naisia, ovat vapaaehtoisia, ja he tulevat Helsinki - Turku -Tampere, ja monet muut kaupungit, työhön maaseudulle, yhdessä vankien kanssa
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Young Finnish women are volunteers and they come from the Helsinki-Turku -Tampere, and many other cities, work in the countryside, together with the prisoners
rye recorded
the prisoners are driving tractors that can tow the cannons
lifts up and the potatoes in the basement
Skinning a dead horse
and bury
BT-7 to the train
firewood for their work
soup break in forest
at the well
The road work
Finnish prisoners (criminals) are a fortress work
car repair
Stone work
the prisoners are baking bread
american prisons, from russian karelia area
Ensimmäiset amerikkalaiset vangit Euroopan taistelu tantereella.
Kuvassa on suomalainen Jansson niminen poika joka venäläisten vankien mukana
Luutnantti Vartio ja tämä amerikassa syntynyt poika, puhuvat selvällä suomenkielellä.
Amerikkalaiset vangit yht. 22 kpl, ovat sijoitettu yhdessä heidän ase veljet, russians, kanssa samaan leiriin. Litsa 1942.07.27
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The first American prisoners on the European (battle) continent.
The photo is a Finnish boy named Jansson who is accompanied by Russian prisoners
Lieutenant Vartio and a boy born in America speak in a clear Finnish language.
American prisoners are in total. 22, they are placed together with their gun brothers, Russians, with the same camp.
Stalin's propaganda victims. Oricinal finnish. They came to create a new oasis of the Soviet Union
They are already robbed in the harbor, the families are scattered, the children are taken away and many adults executed immediately, and the rest who are forced to change Soviet Karelian forests, to do the forestry work.
They coming to Usa and Kanada.
Americans, from karelia area (finnish language peoples)
Vangit, inkeriläis-suomalaiset lukemassa suomalaisia lehtiä.
Viipuri, Sotavankileiri 6 1942.09.28
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The prisoners, the Inkerian Finns, are reading Finnish magazines.
Vyborg, War prison camp 6.
Sotavankien viihdytystoiminta. Karhumäen suunta sotavankileirin illanviettoa, jossa vangit itse suorittaa ohjelman. Soittoa, laulua, tanssia. Suojärvi 1943.02.04
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Entertainment for warriors.
The bear hill region, a war imprisoned the camp, where the prisoners perform (self) the program, and play, sing, dance.
30.1. saatuja sotavankeja on tuotu JR 52:n esikuntaan.
Vangit ovat kuuluneet rangaistuskomppaniaan, jota ryssä käytti iskujoukkona mainitun päivän hyökkäyksessä.
Hyökkäys oli verraten suurin voimin tehty ja niinpä vihollisen tappiot olivatkin kaatuneina toistasataa miestä (meidän alueellamme).
Rukajärvi, Tunkuantie 1943.01.30
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30.1. the military prisoners have been brought to Inf.R 52's headquarters.
The prisoners have been part of the punishment team, he used to serve as a crowd in the attack on that day.
The attack was comparatively the largest in the world, and so the enemy's losses were overwhelmed by a hundred men (in our region).
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