http://www.yle.fi/dokumentti/sotavangit ... 032003.pdf
Non-complete list of so far total 1029 Finnish soldier´s fate in Soviet POW camps.
Includes the name, birth place and time, rank, unit, place where person was captured, place of death (not for all men) and how he did die. Only in Finnish.
List of Finnish soldiers died in Soviet captivity
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Shake-Speer
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Shake-Speer, have you looked from http://tietokannat.mil.fi/ ?
There is online database of fallen soldiers in Finland 1939-1945. I´m not sure does they have also volunteers there, but you can look it at least.
Same words to Rokka, if you know some fallen names and their units of Ilves Divison, they are there (most likely).
There is online database of fallen soldiers in Finland 1939-1945. I´m not sure does they have also volunteers there, but you can look it at least.
Same words to Rokka, if you know some fallen names and their units of Ilves Divison, they are there (most likely).
There was apparently a small number of Swedish volunteers who became Soviet POW:s (see the last picture on page http://www.uta.fi/~titima/sotavanki_kuvagalleria.html ) but unfortunately I have no information whether any of them died in captivity.Shake-Speer wrote:Are the brave lads with Swedish names Swedish Finns/Finnish Swedes (most likely) or Swedish volounteers?
Swedis surnames are quite common in Finland, of course esp. among our Swedish-speaking minority, but I know also many such people who don't practically speak any Swedish at all - I guess one reason is that before our independecy many clercymen used their imagination to produce a surname for administrative documents (which were in Swedish) in case a Finnish person did not have a "proper" one (whoever's-son -like original Finnish names were not that practical...).
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Shake-Speer
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My Finnish vocabulary isn’t what it ought to be. And what I do know isn’t suitable for childrenIke_FI wrote:There was apparently a small number of Swedish volunteers who became Soviet POW:s (see the last picture on page http://www.uta.fi/~titima/sotavanki_kuvagalleria.html ) but unfortunately I have no information whether any of them died in captivity.
Anyway, I can guess what’s said on the page you linked to. Suomen = Finnish something, armeijan = army, ruotsalaisia = something about Sweden. So i guess the picture depict a bunch of Swedish volunteers.
Many Finns have names ending with –lainen, is that the Finnish -sson suffix?Ike_FI wrote:Swedis surnames are quite common in Finland, of course esp. among our Swedish-speaking minority, but I know also many such people who don't practically speak any Swedish at all - I guess one reason is that before our independecy many clercymen used their imagination to produce a surname for administrative documents (which were in Swedish) in case a Finnish person did not have a "proper" one (whoever's-son -like original Finnish names were not that practical...).
Why do they only know these words? :roll:Shake-Speer wrote:My Finnish vocabulary isn’t what it ought to be. And what I do know isn’t suitable for children.
Suomen armeijan ruotsalaisia = "Swedes of the Finnish Army" like you almost guessed.Shake-Speer wrote:Anyway, I can guess what’s said on the page you linked to. Suomen = Finnish something, armeijan = army, ruotsalaisia = something about Sweden. So i guess the picture depict a bunch of Swedish volunteers.
Not quite. Surnames like Virolainen [Estonian], Ruotsalainen [Swede], Suomalainen [Finn], Venäläinen [Russian] are quite common today but nearly not as common as "-sson"s in Sweden. The most used Finnish surnames are Virtanen, Korhonen, Nieminen, Mäkinen, Mäkelä, Hämäläinen (yet again -lainen/-läinen), Laine etc.Shake-Speer wrote:Many Finns have names ending with –lainen, is that the Finnish -sson suffix?
There is a historical background with all these names like anyone can guess. Lots of people changed their originally Swedish or Russian names to Finnish at the beginning of 20 Century (mostly in 1906) and again in the 1930's, mostly those who didn't speak Swedish or Russian.
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Shake-Speer
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Okay, thanks for clearing that out.Harri wrote:Why do they only know these words? :roll:Shake-Speer wrote:My Finnish vocabulary isn’t what it ought to be. And what I do know isn’t suitable for children.
Suomen armeijan ruotsalaisia = "Swedes of the Finnish Army" like you almost guessed.Shake-Speer wrote:Anyway, I can guess what’s said on the page you linked to. Suomen = Finnish something, armeijan = army, ruotsalaisia = something about Sweden. So i guess the picture depict a bunch of Swedish volunteers.
Not quite. Surnames like Virolainen [Estonian], Ruotsalainen [Swede], Suomalainen [Finn], Venäläinen [Russian] are quite common today but nearly not as common as "-sson"s in Sweden. The most used Finnish surnames are Virtanen, Korhonen, Nieminen, Mäkinen, Mäkelä, Hämäläinen (yet again -lainen/-läinen), Laine etc.Shake-Speer wrote:Many Finns have names ending with –lainen, is that the Finnish -sson suffix?
There is a historical background with all these names like anyone can guess. Lots of people changed their originally Swedish or Russian names to Finnish at the beginning of 20 Century (mostly in 1906) and again in the 1930's, mostly those who didn't speak Swedish or Russian.
Some elementary Finnish:
Among the Finnish surnames, there is traditionally some regional difference in the way a name is derived. In Western Finland, surnames often have the suffix -la or -lä, while in Eastern Finland -nen is more common.
For example, the word "mäki" (hill) would produce as surname Mäkelä in Western Finland, and Eastern Finland it would become Mäkinen; "niemi" (cape) would accordingly produce either Niemelä or Nieminen; "järvi" (lake) would produce Järvelä or Järvinen, "Pekka" (the forename corresponding Peter) would produce Pekkala / Pekkanen, etc.
Originally Finnish words, as well as names, never contain any of the following letters: b, c, f, q, w, x, z, or å, and the d and g only occur in bent forms of certain words.
Thinking of prominent Finnish soldiers, one could immediately see that for example the Generals Oesch, Lagus, or Heinrichs have surnames which originate from elsewhere, as well as (the Fighter Ace) Hans Wind. Mannerheim only has letters appearing in Finnish, but Finnish words just never end in an "m".
During the early 1900's there was national awakening of the Finns as a nation with an identity of its own, and it was then both generally encouraged and popular to change "foreign" surnames to Finnish.
Among the Finnish surnames, there is traditionally some regional difference in the way a name is derived. In Western Finland, surnames often have the suffix -la or -lä, while in Eastern Finland -nen is more common.
For example, the word "mäki" (hill) would produce as surname Mäkelä in Western Finland, and Eastern Finland it would become Mäkinen; "niemi" (cape) would accordingly produce either Niemelä or Nieminen; "järvi" (lake) would produce Järvelä or Järvinen, "Pekka" (the forename corresponding Peter) would produce Pekkala / Pekkanen, etc.
Originally Finnish words, as well as names, never contain any of the following letters: b, c, f, q, w, x, z, or å, and the d and g only occur in bent forms of certain words.
Thinking of prominent Finnish soldiers, one could immediately see that for example the Generals Oesch, Lagus, or Heinrichs have surnames which originate from elsewhere, as well as (the Fighter Ace) Hans Wind. Mannerheim only has letters appearing in Finnish, but Finnish words just never end in an "m".
During the early 1900's there was national awakening of the Finns as a nation with an identity of its own, and it was then both generally encouraged and popular to change "foreign" surnames to Finnish.
What about letter "w"? W (in Finland this is "double v", not "double u") was used instead of normal "v". Examples: Wihuri, Wirtanen...hmononen wrote:Originally Finnish words, as well as names, never contain any of the following letters: b, c, f, q, w, x, z, or å, and the d and g only occur in bent forms of certain words.
Also the city of "Viipuri" (although it is not a surname) was sometimes written in form "Wiipuri" before the war and especially at the beginning of 20th Century. Actually this is due to a fact that both letters are announced in a similar way in Finnish language.
Thanks to Harri for pointing this out: the spelling of written Finnish regarding the use of V or W used to be different in the old times (up to the 1800's - early 1900's), so this is an exception to the main rule of current spelling. If there is a particular reason to emphasize a long tradition or "ancient" roots, "W" may even be favoured. Indeed, for example in a name of a business enterprise, "Wiipuri" sounds established longer ago compared to "Viipuri".
There are also family names that can be written with the old-fashioned manner: "Wuori" (vuori = mountain), "Wirta" (virta = stream), "Wihuri" (vihuri = gale), etc.
Finnish surnames quite often refer to features of terrain, and the suffix -la or -lä (in Western Finland) and -nen or -lainen/-läinen (in Eastern Finland) can be understood as referring to "the one who lives at ..." this place.
Vuorela or Vuorinen would thus be "he who lives by the mountain", Niemelä or Nieminen would live in the cape (=niemi), Mäkelä or Mäkinen would live on the hill (=mäki), Järvelä or Järvinen by the lake (=järvi), Lahtela or Lahtinen by the bay (=lahti), etc.
But there are also plenty of Finnish names with no obvious meaning, they are just names.
There are also family names that can be written with the old-fashioned manner: "Wuori" (vuori = mountain), "Wirta" (virta = stream), "Wihuri" (vihuri = gale), etc.
Finnish surnames quite often refer to features of terrain, and the suffix -la or -lä (in Western Finland) and -nen or -lainen/-läinen (in Eastern Finland) can be understood as referring to "the one who lives at ..." this place.
Vuorela or Vuorinen would thus be "he who lives by the mountain", Niemelä or Nieminen would live in the cape (=niemi), Mäkelä or Mäkinen would live on the hill (=mäki), Järvelä or Järvinen by the lake (=järvi), Lahtela or Lahtinen by the bay (=lahti), etc.
But there are also plenty of Finnish names with no obvious meaning, they are just names.
Actually many traditional Finnish surnames are names or the houses or farms which may symbolize their location or sometimes even owners' character (personality or look). For example Tarkka [sharp or precise], Valpas [wakeful], Isotalo [big house], Alatalo [lower house], Mäkitalo [house on the hill], Suuripää [large head], Kärpänen [fly] etc.
(Note to Finns: Naulapäätä en viitsinyt kääntää... :roll:
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(Note to Finns: Naulapäätä en viitsinyt kääntää... :roll:
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Last edited by Harri on 21 Apr 2003, 19:20, edited 1 time in total.
volunteers
I don`t know, was I checking it too fast or this list is not complete...There was JR200- Estonian volunteers, and some of them definitely were captured by soviets...
Peeter, it´s not complete list of died soldiers. I don´t know how Estonian volunteers were rated; were they counted as Finnish casualties or to some foreign volunteer list in this list (I haven´t heard about such list however). And how did Soviets rate them; were they counted as Estonian troops or Finnish ones?
I think the reason Estonians are missing is due to period between 1944 - 1992 (?). Finnish people for sure appreciate(d) Estonian soldiers.
JR 200 was not the only unit where Estonians served. There were lots of them also in Separate Battalion 4 (LRP), Chief HQ Radio Battalion and Air Force Radio Battalion (radio intelligence) and in various supply units like in Motor Car Repair Shop 5 [Autokorjaamo V].
About 400 mainly former Estonian merchant fleet sailors served in Finnish Navy. For example Lt. L. Loodus was the 1st Officer and later in the summer 1944 Chief of gun boat Karjala.
JR 200 was not the only unit where Estonians served. There were lots of them also in Separate Battalion 4 (LRP), Chief HQ Radio Battalion and Air Force Radio Battalion (radio intelligence) and in various supply units like in Motor Car Repair Shop 5 [Autokorjaamo V].
About 400 mainly former Estonian merchant fleet sailors served in Finnish Navy. For example Lt. L. Loodus was the 1st Officer and later in the summer 1944 Chief of gun boat Karjala.