Finns / Jews

[George Lepre]

Many documentaries say that Stalin knew that Hitler would attack sooner or later, but he wanted to buy time, and was not expecting it at June 1941.

Please leave the conspiracy theories out of the forum. They have nothing to do with foreign volunteers.

Thank you.

[Helmut Von Moltke]

sorry, but i was replying to an off topic discussion, won't happen again.

[Nordwind]

Is it not true that "Finnish Jews" fought side by side with their non-Jewish brothers in arms (with the Germans) against the Russians?

Is it not also true that the Germans wanted the Finns to "address" their Jewish situation but did not, sparing the lives of many Jews residing in Finland?

If I remember correctly, although the Finnish Jewish polulation was small, the number surviving the war was near 100%.

Its true.Finnish Jews fought in Finnish Army just like all other soldiers.3 Finnish Jew soldiers were even awarded with EK I but all declined of this award.


http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/mo ... ystory.htm
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jso ... nland.html
lhttp://www.uta.fi/FAST/FIN/HIST/tv-jews.html

Cheers/Juha[/

Thanks!

Yes its true

[panzermahn]

Hi J. P. Slovjanski,

The number of Soviet POWs taken is irrelevant as far as German obligations to keep them alive are concerned. One man or ten million - German obligations to keep them alive were the same.

And so what if Stalin regarded and treated them as traitors? This doesn't in any way lessen German responsibility to keep them alive

And do you really think that Soviet air strikes killed a significant proportion Soviet POWs? If this killed all the Soviet POWs who died in German hands, it would have finished of at least twice as many people as the entire Western Allied strategic bomber offensive.

Cheer,

Sid.

Hi Sid,

The Soviets are not signatory to the 1929 Geneva Convention on POWs so technically, Germany had no legal responsibility of taking care of Soviet POWs .

Beevor wrote that Uncle Dzugashvilli ordered every Soviet soldier taken as POW by the Germans are subjected to interrogation by NKVD once they were 'liberated'.

However numerous anecdotes and photographs tell us of a typical German soldier's (even from the so-called Waffen SS fascist beasts) kindness for a simple typical Russian soldier who is not a Bolshevik.

But despite those anecdotes, no one can deny that Russian soldiers suffered extreme brutality in German POW camps especially during the 1941-1942 especially those captured by the German 6th Army under command of Field Marshal von Reichenau who foolishly gave orders to mistreat captured Soviet soldiers and even to shoot Russian gunwomen who surrendered. (Beevor, Stalingrad, 1998)

However, the situation for Russian soldiers captured by units commanded by old-school Prussian commanders were not that extreme. Far-sighted German commanders like von Manstein, Oskar Niedemayer, Hans-Gunther Seraphim were prepared (even behind the Fuehrer's back) to raise anti-Bolshevik units from captured Soviet troops (especially those from non-Russian ethnicities).

After the destruction of the German 6th Army in 1942, numerous German generals and officers began to realised that their struggle is for Europe and Germany and actively seeks the cooperation of captured Soviet troops in fighting the Bolshevik disease that is engulfing Europe and the world. This is why the heroic and courageous Cossacks, Armenians, Georgians, Caucasians, Kalymucks, Azeris, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians and even anti-Bolshevik Russians joined their comrades from all over Europe from the Iberian peninsula to the Aurora lights of Scandinavia to fight to the very end from the endless steppe of Russia to the smoking ruins of Berlin.

Panzermahn

[Tero T]

In the history of WWII Finland does not fit neatly when categorized by Historians . How many Axis leaders were ever put onto a U.S postage stamp.? Only one and that was Mannerheim. When it comes to the Jewish issue, as mentioned the Jewish population was left untouched . Some 15 or refugees were returned to Germany at one point in the war. Of these most were exterminated in the death camps. It is interesting that in this world we often hear the term " if only we saved one life then it was worth it". Finland saved many Jewish lives by the actions of its government. But interesting that when this is discussed the few non Finnish residents that were sent back to Germany is held up by some as "proof" Finland was anti-semitic. I have known one Finnish Jewish war veteran and he has always been a proud Finn and proud of Finland and its leaders in those turbulent times . I have also done displays in a predominantly Jewish area of Toronto and it was interesting to see the reactions from the people. Some were in disbelief and thought it was some Nazi ruse. But most were genuinely interested and totally oblivious to the facts that are commonly portrayed on so called history channels . Now CSI has become a history channel favorite. It is also interesting that the Finnish history never makes it onto those channels. Why? I don't know but it is almost as if the Finnish history is viewed as a Nazi sympathetic film by rubes that do not know history. I contacted the History Channel here in Toronto ,on behalf of Emmy award winning producer Ben Strout for his excellent film "Fire and Ice" . No apparent interest at all.

Another interesting note about the Finnish Jewish soldiers was that they did not hide their Jewishness while in service. Those who promote the "Finland as Nazi sympathizer" theme believe that those Jews changed their names to hide their Jewish names and that those who did fight fought only during the Winter War and not during the Continuation war with Germany. Wrong again. I have all the photos of the Finnish Jews who fought and died for their beloved Finland in both these wars. One of the highest attrition rates when one considers their cultural ethnicity.
Here are some links . When I figure out how to send photos on this forum I will fire off a couple.

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... highlight=

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... highlight=







Regards Tero Tuononen Toronto