Finland and the Holocost, The Rescue of Finland's Jews

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Hannu Rautkallio earned his Ph.D. from the University of Helsinki. His studies have dealt with Finnish relations with Germany and Russia in 1917-1918 as well as with international affairs consequent to World War II.

Dr. Rautkallio was a Visiting Scholar at Georgetown University in 1979-1980, during which time he was also a Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies. From 1972-1983 Dr. Rautkallio served as president of the Found- ation for Higher Education in Finland, where he worked to promote cultural and scientific ex- changes between Finland and the United States. In addition to scholarly studies, he has contributed numerous articles to both Finnish and foreign magazines and newspapers. Dr. Rautkallio served on the faculty of Tampere Uni- versity in Finland; in 1987 he received a Ful- bright Award to teach at the University of Min nesota in Duluth.

The story of Finland and the Holocaust is not widely known, yet it marks one of the most inspiring passages in the record of the Second World War and the Holocaust.

Hannu Rautkallio writes, "That Finland escaped being drawn into the arena of Nazi racial politics was due to the unambiguous stance taken by the Finnish government as well as individual Finnish officials: there was no inclination on the part of the Finns even to discuss the matter of extra- dition on ethnic grounds..."

At a ceremony held in Helsinki's synagogue on Finland's Independence Day in 1944, Marshall Mannerheim, the Finnish leader, was praised for the "firm stand" he had taken "in the fatal hour for Finnish Jewry." The Marshall replied "I have done nothing more than what every person with a true sense of justice would be duty-bound to do.'

This comment reflects the conception held by almost the entire Finnish people regarding the country's Jewish population. The Germans were quite aware of the public outcry that would have been raised if so much as a hint had been given of any coercive action against native Finnish Jews. Finland was one of the few European countries in which anti-Semitism simply did not exist. After the war the World Jewish Congress praised the Finns for the fact that no persecution of Jews had taken place in Finland during the war, even though the country had been subjected to severe pressure while being a co-belligerent of the Third Reich.

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