Einsatzkommando Finnland?

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Victor Chmara
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Einsatzkommando Finnland?

#1

Post by Victor Chmara » 18 Sep 2008, 21:27

Finnish media reports on a doctoral dissertation by Oula Silvennoinen to be defended at the University of Helsinki next week. According to it, in 1941 a German special unit called Einsatzkommando Finnland was sent to Northern Finland, where it, in co-operation with the Finnish security police, engaged in mass-murder of communists, Jews, and other "undesirables".

Here's the abstract: (https://oa.doria.fi/handle/10024/41922)

Salaiset aseveljet ["The Secret Brothers-in-arms"] deals with the relations and co-operation between Finnish and German security police authorities, the Finnish valtiollinen poliisi and the German Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) and its predecessors. The timeframe for the research stretches from the Nazi seizure of power in 1933 to the end of German-Finnish co-belligerency in 1944.

The Finnish Security Police was founded in 1919 to protect the young Finnish Republic from the Communists both in Finland and in Soviet Russia. Professional ties to German colleagues were maintained during the 1920’s, and quickly re-established after the Nazis rose to power in Germany. Typical forms of co-operation concentrated on the fight against both domestic and international Communism, a concern particularly acute in Finland because of her exposed position as a neighbour to the Soviet Union. The common enemy proved to be a powerful unifying concept. During the 1930’s the forms of co-operation developed from regular and routine exchanges of information into personal acquaintancies between the Finnish Security Police top personnel and the highest SS-leadership.

The critical period of German-Finnish security police co-operation began in 1941, as Finland joined the German assault on the Soviet Union. Together with the Finnish Security Police, the RSHA set up a previously unknown special unit, the Einsatzkommando Finnland, entrusted with the destruction of the perceived ideological and racial enemies on the northernmost part of the German Eastern Front. Joint actions in northern Finland led also members of the Finnish Security Police to become participants in mass murders of Communists and Jews. Post-war criminal investigations into war crimes cases involving former security police personnel were invariably stymied because of the absence of usually both the suspects and the evidence.

In my research I have sought to combine the evidence gathered through an exhaustive study of Finnish Security Police archival material with a wide selection of foreign sources. Important new evidence has been gathered from archives in Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Sweden and the United States. Piece by piece, it has become possible to draw a comprehensive picture of the ultimately fateful relationship of the Finnish Security Police to its mighty German colleague.


This is a shocking piece of research. I have never heard of an Eizsatzkommando Finnland before, and apparently neither has anyone else (no Google hits other than references to Silvennoinen's dissertation). According to some news reports, there was a secret concentration camp in Salla in North-Eastern Finland, where the killings took place. Those involved managed to keep all this a secret until now. I do not know if the dissertation tells what the Finnish political and military leadership knew about this.

This dissertation sheds new light on the Finnish-German alliance during the war, indicating that Finnish complicity in the Holocaust was more extensive than previously believed. The victims must have been POWs and perhaps also civilians from North-Western Russia. There has been no information on the number of victims yet.

Mikko H.
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Re: Einsatzkommando Finnland?

#2

Post by Mikko H. » 19 Sep 2008, 07:31

It's well known that Arno Anthoni, director of the Finnish security police from February 1941 to February 1944, was in close cahoots with the Gestapo leadership. It would be interesting if this study can illuminate the role of Toivo Horelli, who as minister of interior was Anthoni's immediate superior from May 1941 to March 1943. While Anthoni went out of his way during the early Continuation War to ingratiate himself with Germans, it has never been really clarified how much Horelli knew of Anthoni's doings and what he thought of them.


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Re: Einsatzkommando Finnland?

#3

Post by Phil Nix » 19 Sep 2008, 12:55

I moived it here to see if any of our SS/Police experts could comment
Phil Nix

Victor Chmara
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Re: Einsatzkommando Finnland?

#4

Post by Victor Chmara » 20 Sep 2008, 04:05

Some new information on this from Aamulehti: (http://www.aamulehti.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/105770.shtml)

Between October 1941 and September 1942 Finnish authorities turned 520 Soviet POWs from Finnish-run POW camps over to Germans, who apparently executed them right away. The executions were mostly carried out by regular German MPs. Moreover, Finnish security police officials interrogated POWs in German camps together with Einsatzkommando Finnland officers, deciding who were going to be executed.

At least 49 out of the 520 may have been Jews. However, the reason for their execution may not have been their ethnicity. This is because all of those who were handed over to Germans were active communists, e.g. politruks. In other words, Finns helped Germans carry out the Commissar Order. However, those selected for execution from German POW camps may have included Jews and other "non-political" targets. Apparently the killings took place in Northern Finland.

Einsatzkommando Finnland was a special unit operating in Northern Norway and Northern Finland, interrogating and executing Soviet communists and "racial enemies". Gustav vom Felde commanded the unit.

Frankly, it seems that the media blew this story out of proportion. There seems to be few new revelations in the dissertation. The fact that many Soviet POWs, among them perhaps about 50 Jews, were handed over to Germans so as to be executed as active communists, has been known for many years. The involvement of the security police Valpo in selecting those to be killed in German POW camps is however new information, as is perhaps the claim that POW camps in Northern Finland were used for these killings.

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Re: Einsatzkommando Finnland?

#5

Post by Mikko H. » 20 Sep 2008, 09:49

The fact that many Soviet POWs, among them perhaps about 50 Jews, were handed over to Germans so as to be executed as active communists, has been known for many years. The involvement of the security police Valpo in selecting those to be killed in German POW camps is however new information, as is perhaps the claim that POW camps in Northern Finland were used for these killings.
Has it been established for certain that Finnish military authorities handing over the POWs knew they were going to be shot out of hand? That would be new -- and shocking -- information. It isn't exactly news that the security police used less than savory methods dealing with communists (Finnish or foreign) during the early Continuation War. But that they were so directly involved with atrocities is something worth pondering over -- especially considering how Anthoni managed to get off so lightly after the war.

Victor Chmara
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Re: Einsatzkommando Finnland?

#6

Post by Victor Chmara » 20 Sep 2008, 15:36

Mikko H. wrote:Has it been established for certain that Finnish military authorities handing over the POWs knew they were going to be shot out of hand? That would be new -- and shocking -- information. It isn't exactly news that the security police used less than savory methods dealing with communists (Finnish or foreign) during the early Continuation War. But that they were so directly involved with atrocities is something worth pondering over -- especially considering how Anthoni managed to get off so lightly after the war.
It has been previously known that Finland handed over to Germans communist activists. (For example, http://www.helsinki.fi/~hylikang/varjopuo.htm: "Miika Kallatsan systemaattisesti kerättyjen tietojen mukaan 520 poliittista vankia todella luovutettiin.") Considering that the Commissar Order had been in force from the beginning of the Operation Barbarossa, and the Soviets soon found out about its existence, Finns, fighting side by side with Germans, must have known what happened to Soviet political officers in German hands. Therefore the Finnish military surely knew what they were doing when they rounded up communist POWs for extradition.

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Re: Einsatzkommando Finnland?

#7

Post by Michael Miller » 20 Sep 2008, 16:58

Very intersting - thanks for sharing and researching this matter; yet another disturbing revelation from that war. For further info. in this connection re: Gustav vom Felde, see http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... +vom+Felde+ .

Best wishes,
~ Mike

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Re: Einsatzkommando Finnland?

#8

Post by JariL » 30 Sep 2008, 12:09

Hi,

There are some errors above that are worth correcting.

First, not all persons that Finns handed over to Germans were shot. Many of them survived the war but after considerable suffering for example in German concentration camps. How many were shot nobody knows. In this respect Finns did not hand over the prisoners to be shot but at some point they surely must have known that lives of the deported persons were not worth much in German hands.

Secondly, not all those handed over were POW's. For example civilians suspected of espionage were handed over. In most cases because Germans were interested in learning more about the way Soviets had organised their espionage.Finns also handed over persons that for some other reasons were interesting from German point of view and that were not (any more) interesting from Finnish point of view. Some individuals have most likley been deported only because their face did not please whom ever made the decision.

Silvennoinen has in his book in my opinion all together neglected to think about other motives for Valpo's actions than fight against communism. He makes a very straight forward assumption that Valpo's only motive for giving assistance to Sonderkommando Finnland was to supress communism. On the other hand it must have been clear, after Anthoni and Aaltonen had met vom Felde in June 1941, that German secret police planned an operation in Finland. Officially Germans reguested intrepreteurs and a couple of detectivs from Valpo. Would any security police in the world have wanted to have an other security police operating in their own back yeard without having anything to say about the matter? Giving the personal requested gave Valpo the posibility to monitor what Germans were doing but it also connected it to the events that followed.

Regards,

Jari

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Harri
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Re: Einsatzkommando Finnland?

#9

Post by Harri » 03 Oct 2008, 23:30

JariL wrote:Silvennoinen has in his book in my opinion all together neglected to think about other motives for Valpo's actions than fight against communism. He makes a very straight forward assumption that Valpo's only motive for giving assistance to Sonderkommando Finnland was to supress communism.
During the war Valpo's main task was to fight against Soviet supported communists. Certainly members and leaders of the Valpo and some leading members in Finnish Supreme HQ (names like Eljas Erkko and Kustaa Rautsuo has been mentioned) may have had also personal missions or at least some of them have stretched their "orders" if Silvennoinen's theory is correct.

Gestapo or SD had no "free hands" to operate in Finland in the same way they operated in occupied countries like Norway. It is well known there were also Finnish officials in northern Norway (in Kirkkoniemi / Kirkenes) which indicates co-operation did take place. I have personally always wondered why Himmler visited in Finland but could this be the actual reason (not just SS "Nord")? Did Gestapo Müller or some other high Gestapo or SD members never visit in Finland or Norway during the war?

I have not red the book yet but in was told somewhere that the "study is based on the interpretation of the files of Valpo". Does this mean that no direct proves were actually found and the author has just created a "theory of his own" based somehow on Valpo's files (and other sources)?
JariL wrote:On the other hand it must have been clear, after Anthoni and Aaltonen had met vom Felde in June 1941, that German secret police planned an operation in Finland. Officially Germans reguested intrepreteurs and a couple of detectivs from Valpo. Would any security police in the world have wanted to have an other security police operating in their own back yeard without having anything to say about the matter? Giving the personal requested gave Valpo the posibility to monitor what Germans were doing but it also connected it to the events that followed.
Germans had many plans (also discussed in the forum) which can be connected to Finland but it is another question what really happened. Most of these plans never realized in the originally planned form or at all because Finns always made their own decisions.

AFAIK in Finland Germans had "operational freedom" only on certain occupied and front areas. Finnish civilian, police and military authorities were in charge elsewhere although they had no "power" over German forces and their POWs in Finland. Germans' POW and concentration camps in Finland were neither under Finnish control in any ways.

Like Jari mentioned it is rather clear that at least initially the top motive of the Finns must have been to "watch" the Germans' actions. What followed is another question: did the "moped run out of hands" for example?

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Re: Einsatzkommando Finnland?

#10

Post by Juha Tompuri » 04 Oct 2008, 07:54

Harri wrote:I have not red the book yet but in was told somewhere that the "study is based on the interpretation of the files of Valpo". Does this mean that no direct proves were actually found and the author has just created a "theory of his own" based somehow on Valpo's files (and other sources)?
That caught my eye too:
Tutkimus perustuu etsivän keskuspoliisin ja valtiollisen poliisin arkiston analyysille.
https://oa.doria.fi/handle/10024/41922
Also interesting is to know from where the author had found the name Einsatzkommando Finnland ... or is it too based on his analysis.

http://www.hs.fi/kirjat/artikkeli/Aseve ... SI1VS044d2
JariL wrote:First, not all persons that Finns handed over to Germans were shot. Many of them survived the war but after considerable suffering for example in German concentration camps. How many were shot nobody knows. In this respect Finns did not hand over the prisoners to be shot but at some point they surely must have known that lives of the deported persons were not worth much in German hands.
Weren't the deported Soviet POW's part of the POW exhange program between Finland and Germany?

BTW there operated another Einsatzkommando too in Finland. It killed Soviets in Sothern Finland in close co-operation with Finns...

Regards, Juha

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Re: Einsatzkommando Finnland?

#11

Post by Juha Tompuri » 04 Oct 2008, 21:53

Very strange about the Sivennoinen research/analysis is that according to a newspaper article about his book, the Germans build up two POW camps in the north: Stalag 309 in Salla, USSR and another one, Stalag 322 in Elvenes, Norway
kesäkuun aikana Berliinissä päätettiin, että itärintaman pohjoisosaan oli muuallakin noudatettavan käytännön mukaisesti perustettava saksalaisia sotavankileirejä.

Niitä perustettiin kaksi: Stammlager (Stalag) 309 Sallaan nykyisen Venäjän alueelle ja Stalag 322 Elvenesiin miehitettyyn Norjaan.
Yksi kuulustelijoista oli Veikko Heinonen. Hänen tilannekatsauksensa kesäkuun lopulta 1941 oli Silvennoiselle kenties tärkein yksittäinen asiakirja, kun hän selvitti, millaista yhteistyö oikeasti oli ollut.

Heinosen katsaus käsittelee Sallan vankileirin, Stalag 309:n, sotavankien lukumäärää.

"Vaarallisten vankien 'karsinassa' (politrukki- ja juutalaisleirissä) puhutaan yleensä hyvin vähän, mutta viimeisten päivien aikana on ollut aivan hiljaista. (Sieltä kun muuan lähti tuntemattomalle matkalle, nim. Wolkoff). Samoin on nyt laita aliupseerileirin, jonka vahvuus nykyisin 89, sillä sieltähän erotettiin kolme vankia. Isossa leirissä on taas yleensä oltu tyytyväisiä, koska siellä saa silloin tällöin ruokaa 'santsatakin'", Heinonen kirjoitti.

Heinonen lienee ollut laveasanainen mies, sillä hän lisäsi raporttiinsa enemmänkin kuin oli tapana: "Ehdokkaita likvidointia varten on tällä hetkellä aliupseerileirissä kaksi ja politrukkileirissä yksi. Heidän kohtalonsa on jo selvä ja tapahtunee asian lopullinen ratkaisu näinä päivinä."
http://www.hs.fi/kirjat/artikkeli/Aseve ... SI1VS044d2

Then there is a mention of the most important single document of Silvennoinen study: a review of one of the Finnish interrogators, Veikko Heinonen.
Heinonen there describes about the Stalag 309 and the amount of POW's there, mentioning there being comissars, jews, 89 NCO's and a "big camp" ( privates? , JT)
The review is mentioned to have been from late June 1941.
At that time not even the attack towards Salla had been started.


Regards, Juha

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Re: Einsatzkommando Finnland?

#12

Post by Mikko H. » 07 Oct 2008, 12:42

The review is mentioned to have been from late June 1941.
At that time not even the attack towards Salla had been started.
Just today Helsingin Sanomat ran a correction stating that the review should have been dated September 1941, not June.

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Re: Einsatzkommando Finnland?

#13

Post by Juha Tompuri » 08 Oct 2008, 20:20

Mikko H. wrote:Just today Helsingin Sanomat ran a correction stating that the review should have been dated September 1941, not June.
:)
Thanks for the information.

Regards, Juha

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