Figure 1.--These Finnish children were killed by Soviet partisans at Seitajärvi, a small village in Finnish Lapland during 1942. The bodies of the children have been laid out on the grass. Discussion of the mass murders of Finnish civilians until recentky has been off-limits in Finland because of fear of Soviet reprisal. Finlandizatiin involved no public criticsm of th Soviet Union. During the war itself, the authorities even went so far as to order those who knew of the cross-border attacks on Finnish villages to keep their silence.
Source: 'PUOLUSTUSVOIMAT (Picture Archive of the Finnish Defence Forces) published in 2006 in Helsingin Sanomat.
The Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) committed the most horrendous and systematic war crimes in history, not only modern history, but all of history. They committed atrocities that most people assumed had long been outlawed by civilized states. Here the worse perpetrators were Germany and Japan. Italian conduct could be brutal, but never approached the extremes of either NAZI Germany or Imperial Japan for which slavery and mass murder was a primary war goal. There were a range of contributing factors. They included NAZI and Japanese race theory, a desire for 'living space' and resources that justified the murder of the people living on the desired land. There was also the militaristic indoctrination that promoted the terrorization,and murder of conquered peoples and prisoners of war. As a result, unlike previous modern wars, it was civilians not soldiers who perished in the largest numbers. And much of the killing was planned, not the result of accidental deaths as a result of military operations. The NAZIs created actual killing plans: the Holocaust, the Hunger Plan, Generalplan Ost among others. The Japanese were less organized, but killing operations and famines still led to some 20 million deaths. Even before the details and full extent of Axis war crimes were known, Axis brutality was well understood. The Soviet Union for nearly 2 years was a NAZI ally and helped launch the War by invading Poland. The Soviets committed the same kind of rimes most commonly associated with the NAZIs, but without the Jewish mania. And like the NAZIs these actions were committed at the direction of its government. The major difference was that the greatest killing programs and slave labor brutalities were committed against the Soviet people, not conquered people--although there was a great deal of this as well. The crimes committed included launching wars of aggression, mass murder, genocide of civilians, murder of prisoners of war, and brutal repression of conquered people.
NAZI criminality is often described as war crimes. The killing was not limited to the War, but the great bulk of the killing did take place during the War--but often not part of military operations. There were actual war crimes, but the most horrendous crimes were killing civilians that were not a threat and had nothing to do with the war. German military successes early in the War put the NAZIs in a position to carry out these crimes and the killing was conducted during the War. And not all of the killing was done by NAZI organizations. The Wehrmacht was involved as well doctors and nurses in civilian hospitals and health facilities. The ultimate authority for these actions, however was the NAZI government installed by Reich Führer Adolf Hitler. The most serious war crimes was the mistreatment and murder of POWs. Here there was a distinction between POWs in the East and West. Not only did huge numbers of Russian and Polish POWs perish, but large numbers of prisoners were executed as a result of the Commissar and Commando Orders. Both prisoners and and civilians were killed as a result of the Reprisal order. The NAZI engineered Holocaust of the Jews is the best documented example of mass murder in history. This is because the NAZIs lost World War II and the copious records they took along with the testimony of individuals conducting the Holocaust and their surviving victims have left us with a chilling historical record. The NAZI Holocaust succeeded in killing about 6 million Jews. This was not the largest instance of mass murder in history, but is perhaps the most horrific because of the way the SS industrialized the killing process. Another 6 million non-Jews perished, mostly Eastern Europeans. Many perished as a result of the NAZI slave and forced labor programs to support the war effort. Less well understood is the fact that if the NAZIs had succeeded in would have been only the first chapter in a terrifying re-engineering of the Human race. High on the NAZI list of untermench were the Slavs of Eastern Europe. The NAZIs killed many more people than Jews in their preliminary efforts to build a new German empire in the Occupied East. There was also the Lebensborn program aimed at children. In all the NAZIs probably killed more than 20 million people. The NAZI penchant for killing was such that they killed millions of people who could have assisted in their war effort. And as a result, before the Allies destroyed German industry in the strategic bombing campaign, there was a severe labor shortage in the Reich. The subject of NAZI war crimes does not address the crimes committed in Germany against Germans. Here again, children were one of the main targets. The domestic programs were outgrowths of the German eugenics movement and included the Hereditary Health Courts and sterilization program. Here the most horrendous undertaking was the T-4 Program.
Italian Atrocities
Italian forces committed war crimes before and during World War II. Before the War there were atrocities perpetrated during the Pacification of Libya !910s-20s), the invasion of Ethiopian (1935), Spanish Civil War (1936-39). There were also atrocities committed during World War II. The atrocities committed before the War need to be divided between the 1920s and 30s. Italians were very brutal in Libya after sizing bit from the Ottomans (1911). Especially after Mussolini seized power, the level of brutality escalated, including the use of chemical weapons (1923). The British also use poison gas at the time against Afghans, but the Italian use seems more directed at civilians. By the 1930s the level of Italian atrocities escalated, using chemical weapons in Ethiopia and bombing Spanish cities during the Spanish Civil War. There were also a range of atrocities during World War II, mostly in the Balkans. The Italians attacked Greece, but were driven back (1940). After the successful German invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece (1941), the Italians were given an extensive occupation zone in Greece Slovenia, Bosnia, and Croatia. Most of the Italian atrocities occurred here, primarily in the effort to suppress partisans. The Italians in the Balkans did not target Jews like the NAZIS. We do not yet have information on Italian conduct in the Soviet Union (1941-42). Italian atrocities were an order of magnitude below that of the Germans because the killing of civilians was not a primary war goal as it was for the Germans. Italian authorities after the War did not pursue major war crimes trials. American and British authorities did not press the issue, primarily out of concern for the possibility of a Communist seizure of power.
The atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers defy the cognitive abilities of the human mind. It is difficult to believe that any nation could have carried out the barbarities perpetrated, mostly on innocent civilians. Japanese war crimes were not only unimaginably brutal and widespread, but they are without precedent even in Japanese history. Some of the atrocities were official Japanese war policy. Many others were ordered by local commanders or committed by individual soldiers. NAZI war crimes and depravity are better known, but the Japanese in some ways were even more barbaric than the NAZIs if that can be imagined. Despite 8 years of War, there were no Chinese POWs to liberate--they had all been murdered. Japan in sharp contrast to Germany did not and does not today admit the full extent of its responsibility for launching World War II and the brutality of their soldiers during the War. Many Japanese attempt to hide the extent of their country's war crimes. Some claim that the decision to go to war was forced upon Japan. For the most part the Japanese prefer to view their country as a victim of the War. Japanese school children are largely taught briefly about the War with text books and school ceremonies that focus on the atomic bombs. The treatment by Japanese text books approved by the Ministry of Education has been a recurring issue affecting relations with China, Korea, and other countries occupied by the Japanese during the War. Virtually unknown to the Japanese people are the war crimes perpetrated against their own people. The list of Japanese atrocities and war crimes is very long, involving the deaths of millions, mostly innocent civilians. The list in its entirety is too long to list here, but we need to mention some of the most grievous atrocities committed by the Imperial armed forces.
The Soviet Union for nearly 2 years was a NAZI ally and helped launch the War by invading Poland. The Soviets committed the same kind of rimes most commonly associated with the NAZIs, but without the Jewish mania. And like the NAZIs these actions were committed at the direction of its government. The major difference was that the greatest killing programs and slave labor brutalities were committed against the Soviet people, not conquered people--although there was a great deal of this as well. The crimes committed included launching wars of aggression, mass murder, genocide of civilians, murder of prisoners of war, and brutal repression of conquered people. The Bolsheviks began committing terrible crimes during the Civil War (1919-21). This included creating famine in areas controlled by the Whites. War crimes and atrocities were perpetrated by not only the Red Army military formations but the various secret police organizations beginning with the Cheka. It was the NKVD during the Great Terror that killed the large numbers of people. This was ordered by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, but killing operations were authorized by Lenin during the earliest period of Soviet rule. The crimes of Stalin were superficially addressed by Khrushchev, but reported in detail by Solzhenitsyn. This brutal behavior continued after Stalin and Hitler launched World War II with the invasion of Poland and other neighboring countries. The Katyn Massacre and mass rape by troops of the Red Army are the best known atrocities, but only a small part of what occurred. Many more mass graves have been found since the War. After the War, the Allied Powers conducted the International Military Tribunal to examine war crimes committed by NAZI Germany. Soviet officials participated in the judicial processes. As a result, there was no examination of Soviet atrocities and no charges were brought against its military and government. And because they controlled Eastern Europe where massive war crimes were committed, Soviet conduct went examined and unpunished, including the atrocities committed after the War. The Soviet Government during most of the Cold war denied all charges of atrocities but finally began admitting what their forces had done including Katyn. It is very controversial in modern Russia because the Red Arm and Great Patriotic War is such an important part of Russian identity. Under President Putin, Russian authorities have returned to covering up Red Army conduct. The Russian Government regularly dismisses Soviet war crimes as a Western myth. School text books war crimes are either portrayed positively (Russian censors are very creative) or simply omitted. President Putin waffles slightly on the issue. He has acknowledged the 'horrors of Stalinism', but criticized the 'excessive demoninization of Stalin' by 'Russia's enemies'. China takes a similar approach with Mao.
