World War II Childern Evacuations: Finland (1939-44)

Finish children World War II evacuees
Figure 1.--Here we see Finnish children which we believe had just arrived in Sweden, probably Stockholm. One of the reasons for evacuating the children was not only sfety, bit also the greater availbility of food and medecine in Sweden. The children seem to be enjoying their meal. Notice tht the children are getting all the milk they can drink. Milk in Finland was stritly rationed. The Swedes did not let in many refugees. An exception was the Finns and reflected a sense of Nordic solidarity and the historic ties with Finland. There is a caption, but all we can make out is the date. Click on the image to see the inscription.

The Finns conducted a series of evacuations during World War II, some specifically gor the children. The Finns sent an estimated 70,000-80,000 children to safety, mostly to neighboring children. Denmark took about 4,000 of the children children and Norwy a smaller anount. The number is not exact because many parents made private arrngements. Most of the children were sent as part of an officially effort adminidstered by the Centre of Nordic Help. An estimated 15,000 children were sent privately. Most were younger children under 10 years of age. We are not sure why thus was or if Centre discouraged arrangements for older children. It may be that the oldr children resisted evacution or that the younger children were seen as importnt to move to safety. One report estimates that some 60 percent of the children came from blue collar homes. We are not sire how to interpret this. One would think that this would be the rough proprtion of the population. Some children were evacuated more than once as there were periods of relative peace during which some of the children returned to their parents in Finland. The first evacuations were organized during the Winter War, but the largest numbers occured during the Continuation War. Quite a nunber of the children never retuned.

Overview

The Finns participated in a serries of of evacuations during World War II, most specifically for the children. The Finns sent an estimated 70,000-80,000 children, mostly to neighboring countries, primarily Sweden. Sweden ininitiated most of the exchanges. The Finns were somewhat reluctant with concerns over safety. Denmark took about 4,000 of the children children and Norway a smaller anount. Of course Denmark and Norway were occuoied by the Germans. The number is not exact because many parents made private arrangements. Many of the children children were evacuated as part of an officially effort adminidstered by the Centre of Nordic Help. We have been uable to find much information on the Nordic Centre. We think that homes were found for most of the children that the parents signed up for evacuation. In addition to the Centre of Nordic Help, an estimated 15,000 children were sent privately. Precise numbers are difficulkr to obtain bcausequiye a number of children made more than one trip. Most were younger children under 10 years of age. We are not sure why thus was or if Centre discouraged arrangements for older children. It may be that the older children resisted evacution or that the younger children were seen as importnt to move to safety. They were more sucetablr to health prbles from food shortage and the lack of medicine than older children and adults. One report estimates that some 60 percent of the children came from blue collar homes. We are not sure how to interpret this. One would think that this would be the rough proportion of the population. The majority of Finnish war children were cared for in privte homes. [Korppi-Tommola and Sgm] There were also camps and orphanages. [Paksuniemi]

Winter War (1939-40)

The Finns first began evacuating children during the Winter War when the Soviets invaded Finland. The Finns evacuated border reas and them the area ceded to the Soviet Union. This was entire families and not just children. Virtually no Finns wanted to live in the Soviet Union. There was another aspect of the Winter War evacutions, especially as the Red Air Force began bombing Helsinki and other Finish cities. The first wave of Finnish war evacuee chidren came during the Winter War. The Finns began evacuating children from the cities to sympathetic Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Norway and Denmark). Here the fear was both air raids as well as the danger that the whole country would be overrun by the Soviet colosus. For a time it looked like the Soviets might occupy all of Finland. And given Soviet brutality toward the Karlian/Ingrian Finns left in the Soviet Union after World War I and toward the Poles in occupied Poland (1939), the Finns had real reason to fear life under Soviet control. Finland bordered on Sweden and the Sweedes took in many Finnish children. The Sweeds were unwilling to risk war with the Soviet Union, but were moved by the plight of the Finns.

Continuation War (1941-44)

The Finns understandely wanted Karelia and the other territory seized by the Soviets in the Winter War aggression (November 1939) back. It was an important part of their country with some of the most fertile farm land. In addition, there was fear that the Soviets might make additional demands or seize the entire country. This why the Finns joined the Germans at the onset of Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union (Barbarossa) (June 1941). The resulting conflict is known as the Continuation War in Finland. The Finns did not join the AXis, but became co-belgerants. There was another round of population movements associted with the Continuartion War. Initially families returned to their homes in Karelia. Again children were evacuated. The largest number of children evacuated during World War II were evacuated during the Continuation War. Many were the children of the families returning to their homes and farms in Karelia. Finland never joined the Axis or joined in the murderous NAZI axtions aainst civilians. But they became a co-belgerants. Finland became the only democracy to fight with the Axis and proved to be Germany's most effective military partner. The Finns limited their war goals to revoverling the land seized by the Soviets in the winter War--much to the duspleasure of the ermans. It was an enormos task rebuilding homes and starting up farms again in Karelia. Thus Finnish authorities thought that they could do all of this beter without the task of caring for younger children. Thus they evacuated many children under 10 years of age. The Finns evacuated a total of some 70,000 children to Sweden. These included children from both Finnish homes and Finnish-Swedish (Swedish-speaking) homes. Given the long border and the fact that Finland was once part of Sweden, there were still a number of Sedish speaking homes. They were adopted by her Swedish foster family. Smaller numbers of chilren were sent to Denmark and Norway. Than as the resurgent Red Army drove the Germans and Finns back, the Finns had to evcuate Karelia again and other areas ceeded to the Soviets. More children were evacuated as the Red army drove into Finland aain.

Returning Home

Some children were evacuated more than once as there were periods of relative peace during which some of the children returned to their parents in Finland. The first evacuations were organized during the Winter War, but the largest numbers occured during the Continuation War. One study suggest that the returnees are healthier than the children who stayed in Filand during the war, but have somewhat lower academic achievement. [Korppi-Tommola and Sgm] Many of the younger children forgot their Finnish roots. The evacuee children were quite young, almost all under 10 years of age, many much younger. This was a different age mix than the other major evacuation programs (British, German, and Japanese). The Finnish evacuees included many younger children than the other programs. And it did not include the older children abd teenagers included in the other programs, Thus many of the children lost all attachment to families in Finland and develop close attachments to their new Swedish families. The return was complicated by the very difficult economic conditions in Finland after 5-years of war. The Finns had to contend with real hardship and a wrecked economy. There was also the incertainty concerning Soviet intentions and the the future of Finland. Thus the return of many chilren was delayed. And with tese delays, in some case for several years. Connections with their Swedish families became increasingly strong and in some cases dominant. Many of the younger children had forgotten all menories of their Finnish birth families. Quite a nunber of the childten, about 15,000 or 20 percent, never retuned to Finland. [Korppi-Tommola and Sgm] They stayed with their foster families after the war, most of whom formally adopted them. There are reports thn some Finnish parents did not insist on the return of the children. Here economic conditions and the Soviet threat may have been factors. And there were also returnees who went back to Sweden in the post-War period as adults. Finland did not at first participate in the American-led post-War European economic recovery. Finland declined to participate in the American Marshal Plan, fearing Soviet reaction. This was part of what became known as Finlandization, byt te Finns manged to retain their democracy. The Soviet Union offered an alternative to the Marshall plan--the Molotov Plan. The Soviets claimed to offer subsidies and preferential tradeing. It eventually evolved into the COMECON. In actuality it became more of subsidies to the Soviets. The Finns had to exporting to the Soviets what might have earned them valuble hard currency in the West. In return they got low-quality, high cost Soviet manufactured goods. The result was that the Swedish and Finnish economies that had become cloesly linked developed very differently. Sweden like the rest of Western Europe boomed. Finns endured low wages and high unemploymnt (1950s-60s). Thus not only did some of the returned evacuee children go back to Sweden to seek jobs, but many unemployed Finnish workers did the same. (This was an option unavailale to other Eastern Europeans trapped in the Soviet Empire behind the Iron Curtain.) Here the evacuee children had an advantages. Not only did they have Swedish connections, but Swedish language skills as well. Only when the threat of Soviet intervention faded were the Finns able to orient their economy to Western Europe and participate in Western capitalis prosperity.

Sources

Korppi-Tommola, Aura and Francis Sgm. "War and children in Finland during the Second World War," Paedagogica Historica (September 2008) Vol. 44, No. 4, pp. 445-55.

Paksuniemi, Merja. "Finnish refugee children’s experiences of Swedish refugee camps during the Second World War," Migration Letters Vol. 12, No, 1 (2015).







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Created: 2:36 AM 2/7/2016
Last updated: 2:37 AM 2/7/2016