Tag Archives: USSR

The Liberation of Krakow

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Below are two fragments from chapter 7 of the book «1945. The Red Army’s Blitzkrieg» by Valentin Aleksandrovich Runov, which we initially presented at our Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”.

Contrast the following testimony to how Anglo-Americans treated Dortmund, Dresden, Prague, Königsberg, Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki and more….

Wawel castle and its cathedral

Writer Boris Polevoy shared his impressions of his stay in Krakow on the first day of its liberation:

Yes, it is fortunate that this city was saved. We were driving through medieval streets, and the guide was telling us: the fifteenth century, the sixteenth century, the eighteenth century.

— Please, stop here.

We went out, and the teacher solemnly declared:

— This is the tenth century. The chapel of Felix and Adauctus (https://wawel.krakow.pl/en/exhibition-constant/the-lost-wawel-1). The pearl of Europe.

And indeed, one could admire the example of magnificent architecture. The architecture is strict and at the same time peculiar, unique. The building would definitely be flying, aiming at the sky.

Then the old man took us to some kind of cathedral. We could hear our footsteps somewhere ahead of us, and the echo diligently duplicated our voices, as if responding to us from somewhere under the dome. Excellent sculptures were looking at us, but the guide kept leading us forward, not letting us stop.
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“The World Was Saved By The Soviet Soldier” interactive project

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“The World Was Saved By The Soviet Soldier” is an interactive project that was launched back in 2021 by the “Immortal Regiment” portal.

“As of late, more and more publications, the authors of which reshape historical events of the Second World War, appear in foreign media. We must not forget our common history and must stand together against all attempts to rewrite it. One can only resist with reasoned truth.

Videos created for the project are meant to depict how Europe was liberated from fascism.”

All film-related materials translated by Putinger’s Cat. We present the 30 episodes in the rough chronological order of the events.

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CHINA

China was attacked by Japan even before the official beginning of WWII, with the war raging between July 7, 1937 and September 9, 1945.


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Raw video on YouTube

POLAND (Part 1)

World War II began on September 1st, 1939, when Hitler invaded Poland. After the Red Army liberated Poland in 1945, the Soviet Union took an active part in bringing Poland back from ruin.


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“Их традиции” – Илья Эренбург, 1944

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Илья Эренбург был военным корреспондентом и публицистом, и его слова стали одним из самых мощных интеллектуальных орудий в борьбе с нацизмом. Его тексты укрепляли волю к сопротивлению, вселяли надежду и формировали нравственное самосознание того времени. Его вклад в победу до сих пор считается неотъемлемой частью исторического и культурного наследия.

Казалось бы, все статьи, написанные Ильей Эренбургом, должны быть известны и описаны. Действительно, на сайте Военной Литературы есть хронологический список его произведений военного времени.

И все же в датском издании произведений Ильи Эренбурга от 1944 года мы наткнулись на название, которого не было в списке. Да и основной текст (переведенный с датского на русский) не появился бы ни в одной антологии. Мыыпедставляем вашему вниманию: “Их традиции”, переведенные с датского обратно на русский.

По-фашистки – “победитель”, а по-нашему – грабитель
Карикатура Дмитрия Моора на военную тематику, одна из многих, представленных на цифровой выставке библиотеки имени Некрасова “Художники победы”.

Их традиции

Передо мной письмо, написанное лейтенантом Рудольфом Шакертом. Посмотрите, что хочет сказать этот немецкий офицер, который находится в госпитале за линией фронта:

“Ты поймешь меня, дорогой Эрнст, моё сердце вот-вот разорвется. Пока ты сидел на крайнем севере, я сражался за Крым. Там погибли мои лучшие друзья. Со школьных лет мы помним, что земля, которая пила немецкую кровь, – это немецкая земля, но, по-видимому, Крым скоро будет эвакуирован. Ханс Тильт говорит только об одном — он не может вынести эвакуации Житомира. Я утешаю себя одним: мы завоевали эти земли своей кровью, кровью лучших, и даже если из-за предательских действий плутократов мы проиграем эту войну, Германия никогда не забудет, что ее дети были на Украине и в Севастополе. Волгу можно назвать походом, но Украина и Крым – это завоевания. Если я пройду через это, я расскажу Отто о садах Крыма, и он будет мечтать о том времени, когда вырастет и сможет вернуть утраченное. У меня такое чувство, что началась столетняя война; возможно, будут паузы, но мы добьемся своего…”

Я прошу читателей задуматься над письмом Шакерта. Он не одинок в мечтах о новых войнах: таких немцев много. Недостаточно того, что мы прогоним немцев. Мы также должны отправиться в Германию. Это необходимо для судьбы будущих поколений. Мы должны отучить немцев от многого — и этого не добьёшься проповедями и речами.
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“Their Traditions” – By Ilya Ehrenburg, 1944

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Ilya Ehrenburg, as a war correspondent and publicist, his words became one of the most powerful intellectual weapons in the fight against Nazism. His texts strengthened the will to resist, gave hope, and shaped the moral self-understanding of the time. His contribution to the victory is still considered an indispensable part of the historical and cultural heritage.

It would seem that all the articles, written by Ilya Ehrenburg would be known and annotated. Indeed, there is a chronological list of his War-time works at the Military Literature site.

And yet, in a Danish edition of Ilya Ehrenburg’s works from 1944 we came across a title, not listed anywhere. Nor would the body of the text (translated to Russian) would come up in any anthologies. so here it is: “Their Traditions”, translated by BATS to English from Danish, and first published at our Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”. In the next post we will also re-translate the publication back to Russian, to bring back this lost, but found article.

In fascist-speak it’s ‘a victor’, while in ours, it’s ‘a robber’
A War-time caricature by Dmitry Moor, one of many on display at the digital exhibition of the Nekrasov library, “The Artists of Victory”.

Their Traditions

In front of me is a letter written by Lieutenant Rudolf Schackert. See here what this German officer, who is in a hospital behind the front, has to say:

“You will understand me, dear Ernst, my heart is about to burst. While you were sitting in the high north, I was fighting for the Crimea. My best friends were killed there. We remember from school days that land that has drunk German blood is German land, but apparently the Crimea will soon be evacuated. Hans Tilt speaks of only one thing — he cannot bear the evacuation of Zhitomir. I console myself with one thing: we have claimed these lands with our blood, the blood of the best, and even if the treacherous actions of the plutocrats should cause us to lose this war, Germany will never forget that her children were in Ukraine and Sevastopol. The Volga can be described as a campaign, but Ukraine and Crimea are conquests. If I get through it, I’ll tell Otto about the gardens of Crimea, and he will dream of the time when he grows up and can win back what was lost. I have a feeling that a 100 Years’ War has begun; there’ll probably be pauses, but we’ll get there…”

I ask readers to think about Schackert’s letter. He’s not alone in dreaming of new wars: there are many such Germans. It is not enough that we chase the Germans out. We must also go to Germany. It is necessary for the fate of future generations. We must wean the Germans off a lot — and that will not be achieved with sermons and speeches.
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The anniversary of Ilya Ehrenburg

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135 years ago, on January 26, 1891, the Russian and Soviet poet Ilya Ehrenburg was born. We translated at out Telegram channel a commemorative post by the Russian Embassy in Germany.

Ilya Ehrenburg among army newspaper staff, August 1, 1943. Photo by Sergey Loskutov

🖋 Ilya Ehrenburg has gone down in Russian and Soviet history as a writer, poet, journalist, war reporter, and photographer. His words became one of the most powerful weapons in the fight against Nazism. His contribution to the victory is rightly considered an inseparable part of the heroic heritage of our people.

🖋 Ehrenburg was born in Kiev in 1891 and spent part of his youth between Russia and Europe. He lived, among other places, in Paris and Berlin, where he exchanged ideas with artists and writers of European modernism.

🖋 As a writer, Ehrenburg created novels, essays, and memoirs that became important testimonies of their era. Works such as “The Unusual Adventures of Julio Jurenito,” which paints a multifaceted, mosaic-like picture of life in Europe and Russia during the First World War and the Revolution, or his autobiographical memoirs “People, Years, Life” combine literary form with political analysis and personal experience.

🖋 Particularly influential was Ehrenburg’s role during the Second World War. As a war correspondent and publicist, his words became one of the most powerful intellectual weapons in the fight against Nazism. His texts strengthened the will to resist, gave hope, and shaped the moral self-understanding of the time. His contribution to the victory is still considered an indispensable part of the historical and cultural heritage.

🖋 After the war, Ehrenburg advocated for understanding, peace, and cultural dialogue. He was a voice against antisemitism, against new enemy images, and for the right to remember. Of particular significance was the “Black Book” about the genocide of Soviet Jews, which he co-edited with Vasily Grossman and was the first major documentation of the Shoah.

🖋 In 1954, Ehrenburg also wrote the story “Thaw,” which was published in the magazine “Znamya” and gave its name to an entire era of Soviet history.

Debunking the myth that “The West industrialised the USSR”

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“The West industrialised the USSR” – another propaganda slogan that confuses trade with exploitation. Russian Baza Telegram channel scrutinises it and breaks it down.

Concessions had nothing to do with Stalin’s industrialisation!

👉 Concessions were deals where foreign companies came into the USSR, used its resources, like fish, forests, and gold, made big money, and gave the country almost nothing in return.

Foreign concessions were a product of the New economic Policy (NEP) era of the early-to-mid 1920s, under Lenin.

But when Stalin came to power and recognised them for what they were – legalised looting – he shut them down fast.

By 1931, nearly all foreign concessions were terminated or nationalised.

Because they were predatory, unprofitable, and violated national sovereignty.

Still think it wasn’t legalised looting? Take a look:

‼️ Fishing concessions – Foreign companies fished in Soviet waters, exported the catch, and kept up to 85% of the profits. The USSR got scraps in return.

‼️Timber deals – Western firms were given access to vast Russian forests. They clear-cut massive areas, caused environmental damage, and left behind only token fixed payments.

‼️Lena Goldfields concession – A British company ran gold mines in Siberia, made millions, and treated Soviet workers as cheap, expendable labour.

‼️Oil concessions – Foreign companies were allowed to drill and export Soviet oil with little oversight, often paying far less than market value while shipping profits abroad.

‼️Mining rights in the Urals and Central Asia – Western firms extracted coal, copper, and rare metals under contracts that gave them near-complete control of operations and revenue. Local workers endured the risks; foreigners took the profits.

By the early 1930s, Stalin had seen enough – most were shut down or nationalised.

Stalin’s industrialisation was built through trade, not concessions.

In the 1930s, the USSR bought what it needed: Equipment, designs, factory blueprints from the U.S. (Ford, Albert Kahn), Germany, Britain, Italy, and others. It paid in gold, grain, and hard currency.

These were strict commercial contracts, not Western gifts.

No one “helped” the USSR. It paid dearly, often for outdated or overpriced tech.
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The Forgotten Victory Parade of the Allies on September 7, 1945

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The allied forces of the Anti-Hitler Coalition held a parade in honour of the end of the Second World War. Parade taken by Soviet troops in Chief Marshal Georgy Zhukov, the commander of the 3rd U.S. Army General George Patton, the British General Robertson and French General Marie-Pierre Kœnig.

The parade was almost cancelled due to General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery declining the invitations shortly before the parade, but at Iosif Stalin’s insistence, took place anyway.

It is known as a “forgotten parade”, as it was mentioned in only a few Western sources, and only showed once in the USSR. The forces of four Allies also participated in another Berlin parade several months later, on the Charlottenburger Chaussee, in front of the Brandenburg Gate, on the first anniversary of the German surrender on 8 May 1946, in the Berlin Victory Parade of 1946. This parade was connected to the inauguration of the Soviet War Memorial at Tiergarten. Soviet troops were not present at the much more widely known in the West London Victory Celebrations of 1946.


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Raw video source on YouTube.
We presented this translation first at our Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”.

Word to Georgy Zhukov, “Recollections and Reflections”, volume 2, 1974 edition, translation from 1985, page 427-428

By common agreement the salute was to be taken by the Commanders-in-Chief of the Soviet, US, British and French Forces.

All arms of the land forces participated in the Berlin Parade. It was decided not to call in the air forces and navies as they were considerable distances away from Berlin.

The appointed date was approaching. The Soviet troops carried out a thorough preparation. We sought to invite to this parade primarily those soldiers, NCOs, officers and generals who had displayed particular gallantry in the storming of Berlin and particularly its main strongholds of resistance — the Reichstag and the Imperial Chancellery. Everything was going on according to our agreement with the Allies.

But on the very eve of the parade, we were suddenly informed that for a number of reasons the Commanders-in-Chief of the Allied Forces could not come to Berlin for the Victory Parade, and had authorised their generals to attend.

I immediately put a telephone call through to Stalin. He heard my report and said:

“They want to belittle the political importance of the parade of troops of the anti-Hitler coalition countries. Just wait, they’ll be up to something else next. Ignore the refusal of the Allies and take the salute yourself, all the more so, as we have more rights to do it than they.”

The parade of troops in Berlin was held on September 7, 1945, exactly at the appointed time. Participating were the Soviet troops which had stormed Berlin, and American, British and French troops which were stationed in Berlin in order to carry out occupation duties in the western sectors of Berlin set aside for them.

After reviewing the troops drawn up for the march-past, I made a speech noting the historic merits of the Soviet forces and the Allied Expeditionary Forces.

The Soviet infantry, tanks and artillery marched in impeccable order. A particularly memorable impression was made by our tanks and self-propelled artillery. Among the Allied troops the best-drilled were the British.

About 20,000 Berliners gathered to see the Parade. It was a ceremony symbolising the victory of the anti-Hitler coalition over the bloodthirsty fascist aggression.

And so, the parade became forgotten, pushed out of mind.

In the West, because celebrating the Victory on September 7 drove home the point that it was Socialism that won the battle over its mortal enemy — Fascism, the tool of Imperialism. As Zhukov had said, the West would not forgive USSR for liberating it — it already commenced a new war on the USSR, and this reminder did not fit into the plans.

As for the USSR, it chose to forget that parade for different reasons, one of them being the contempt that the West showed.

The feat of a Russian partisan: how to single-handedly blow up 600 Wehrmacht soldiers

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While we recall the manifestations of Nazism – past and present – let us not forget those, who fought against the Nazis, both at the front and behind enemy lines. The recounting of their feat makes for an inspiring reading!

Below, is our translation of an article by Alexander Neukropny at TopCor.ru. The article was published in 2020 for the 75th anniversary of the Victory over Nazism.

If you imagine the history of the Great Patriotic War in the form of a book, then it will probably be a huge folio in a luxurious cover, gilded and intricately decorated. Inside, anyone who opens it will find not only smooth lines and beautifully designed illustrations, but also huge gaps, mercilessly retouched and rewritten many times, or even “torn out with to the core” pages and entire chapters.

Alas, despite the titanic work of entire generations of both professional historians and amateur searchers (often much more efficient, and, most importantly, impartial and objective in their work), despite the truly reverent and caring attitude of most of our fellow citizens towards the Great Patriotic War, its chronicle still gapes with “white spots”. Forgotten exploits, unrecognised heroes, battles and skirmishes that remained unknown, each of which should serve as an example of the highest courage and steadfastness of the defenders of our Motherland… Sometimes even the brightest episodes of a great epic find themselves in a completely undeserved “shadow”, which some immediately begin to try to fill up with their own vile fabrications. We will recall one of these episodes today.

Odessa resident from Gorlovka

Meet Konstantin Alexandrovich Chekhovich. A Soviet partisan who could rightfully have been awarded the title of “The most efficient saboteur of the Great Patriotic War”. It is no joke to send to hell in one fell swoop, at the very least, a battalion of Nazi scum, or even one and a half (according to various estimates, this Wehrmacht combat unit could number from 500 to 600 units of personnel), and in addition, several dozen representatives of senior and senior commanders, who belonged not only to ordinary army personnel, but also to Nazi intelligence and counterintelligence!
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Forgotten History – The Moscow Negotiations of 1939

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On September 30, we remembered the 1938 agreement between Britain, France, Italy and Germany to dismember and abandon Czechoslovakia, and we commented on this Munich Betrayal connecting it to the start of World War II. In August of 1939, the USSR had no other way, but to sign a non-aggression agreement with Germany.

However, in March-April of 1939, the USSR still tried to prevent the looming War, trying to talk sense into Britain, Poland and France, in order to jointly reign in German militarism.

The following material from FKT – Geschichte der Sowjetunion (History of the Soviet Union) is about that attempt (first translated at our Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”).

Forgotten History – The Moscow Negotiations of 1939

❓ Was there a chance to prevent the outbreak of the Second World War?

Yes, and not just one. The last such chance was the trilateral negotiations between the Soviet Union, France, and Britain. They were initiated in April 1939 by the government of the USSR.

The Moscow negotiations, or rather their failure, marked a definitive end to the last possibility of preserving peace in Europe.

A brief summary before we go into details

🔽Background

Basically, the start of the Second World War was already preordained in 1935 when Hitler refused to comply with the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles. This event took place on March 16, 1935.

Germany embarked on a consistent course of militarisation. The European countries, victors of the First World War, were content with half-hearted “protests.” The peaceful and naive Western democracies sincerely believed, according to many liberals, that the reorganised and rearmed Reich army would only participate in battles “around the harvest.”

Then followed the transfer of the Saar and Rhine regions to Hitler—of course, the USSR was blamed—the Anschluss of Austria, and finally the signing of the Munich Agreement. As a result, Czechoslovakia ceased to exist.

🔽Start of the negotiations

By early 1939, even the indigenous people of the Tuamotu Islands knew that a major war in Europe was inevitable. This was also clear to the leadership of the USSR.

No state wants to wage war alone. A government’s foreign policy is always aimed at finding allies. The Soviet Union was no exception.

Under the conditions of the escalating Polish-German conflict, the USSR proposed to Poland’s allies, namely England and France, to conclude a joint treaty to protect the Polish state. This format is referred to in historical terminology as Stalin’s “system of collective security.”

On March 18, 1939, People’s Commissar Litvinov proposed through the British ambassador in Moscow to convene a conference of six countries: USSR, England, France, Romania, Poland, and Turkey. The goal of the conference was a joint agreement to prevent the expansion of German aggression. England refused, calling the proposal “premature” and suggested limiting it to a declaration.

❗️Against all odds, the Soviet government managed to organise trilateral negotiations. These began in April 1939. England proposed to the USSR to give Poland unilateral guarantees in case of German aggression. The Soviet Union insisted on signing an official treaty between the countries.

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Facts about the Munich Conspiracy of September 30, 1938

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The material is from Russian MFA Telegram channel, where one can also watch a short facta newsreel.

After a short fact-list from the Telegram post, we re-blog the in-depth version from the MFA’s Telegraph blog.

On September 30, 1938, the leaders of Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and France signed an agreement in Munich on the German annexation of the Sudetenland, an industrial region of Czechoslovakia where ethnic Germans made up 90 percent of the population. Czechoslovakia had not been invited to the talks; it was presented with the fact that its sovereign territory must be ceded to Nazi Germany as a fait accompli.

This disgraceful pact between the Western powers and Nazi Germany went down in history as the “Munich Conspiracy” or the “Munich Betrayal”.

FACTS:

▪️ Following the signing of the agreement between the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy in Munich, German troops crossed Czechoslovakia’s border on October 1 and occupied the entire area of the Sudetenland by October 10.

▪️ The Soviet Union was ready to defend Czechoslovakia, but the Soviet Army had to obtain permission to pass through Poland or Romania. Warsaw, which was interested in getting part of Czechoslovakia’s territory for itself, adamantly refused to support Prague against Germany and prohibited possible flights of Soviet aircraft to render aid to the Czechoslovak army. Romania made every effort to slow down the process as much as possible.

▪️ The Munich Betrayal crowned the Western powers’ policy of appeasing the aggressor. Hoping to avoid a conflict with the Third Reich, they tried to satisfy its growing territorial claims at the expense of Eastern and Central European countries.

▪️ As the world witnessed the collapse of the Versailles-Washington system of international relations that existed at the time, many countries began to cooperate with the Third Reich and fell into its sphere of influence.

▪️The Czechoslovakia crisis became a prologue to the bloodiest conflict in the history of humanity, demonstrating what underhanded plotting and reliance on countries’ selfish interests can lead to, i.e. paved the way to World War II.

The Munich Betrayal

On September 30, 1938, the leaders of the United Kingdom (Neville Chamberlain), France (Edouard Daladier), Germany (Adolf Hitler) and Italy (Benito Mussolini) signed an agreement in Munich sanctioning the beginning of annexation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany. This crowned the appeasement policy which made a big war inevitable.

The Treaty of Versailles of June 28, 1919, ended the First World War and put Germany in a very difficult position. Pursuant to the document, Germany lost part of its traditional lands, its army was substantially reduced, and its defence industry was in effect eradicated. The document also contained a separate requirement on the demilitarisation of the Rhineland. The terms of the Versailles peace treaty were extremely harsh, which had a catastrophic effect on the German economy. The direct consequences included the total collapse of Germany’s industry, overwhelming impoverishment of the population and disastrous hyperinflation.
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Finnish occupation of USSR during WWII in Soviet caricatures

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To conclude (for now) the topic of Finland, let us look at a few caricatures and posters, depicting Finnish actions during its invasion of the USSR. We invite everyone to explore this post at our Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden” for a comprehensive set of links on the topic of Finland and also to see the list of the articles tagged with the “Finland” tag at the Beehive.

We had already presented the first image as an illustration to The new Finnish doctrine: Ignorance, deception, and ingratitude. An Article by Dmitry Medvedev:

Death to the German-Finnish Occupiers!
This is TASS Window #11 from Leningrad, created in July of 1944 by Vasily Selivanov.
The poster shows the Finns taking Hitler’s baits of the “Greater Finland to Urals and Leningrad”. It is accompanied by a verse by K. Vysokovsky.
— I’ll take the Urals! – the bandit cried,
Accepting Hitler’s bait at face value,
The Russian “Hurra!” was then heard,
Turning the bandits into dust and feathers!
Source: Beorn And The Shieldmaiden

An Awkward Camouflage

The caricature by Boris Yefimov from 1943 shows the dual nature of how Finland positioned itself during the WWII.

The sign above the bunny reads: «Finland is a quiet, HARMLESS country!». Meanwhile, the soldier behind the snow mound is loading a gun with an artillery shell, carrying an inscription «At Leningrad». Below the picture there is the second title: «Finnish bandits ‘under cover’»
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The Moscow Armistice of September 19, 1944 between the USSR and Finland

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On September 19, 1944, the Moscow Armistice was signed between Finland and the USSR, according to which Finland recognised the validity of the peace treaty signed in Moscow in 1940 at the end of the Soviet-Finnish War.

During the Winter War, the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army defeated the Finnish armed forces. The result of the victory was the annexation of the Karelian Isthmus and part of Karelia to the USSR.

After the defeat, the Finnish nationalist government set a course for an alliance with Nazi Germany in order to recapture the lost territories in a new war and achieve the previously declared goals. By the beginning of 1941, this alliance was concluded, and covert mobilisation and preparation for war began in Finland.

By June 22, about half a million soldiers were concentrated on the border with the USSR, who went on the offensive on June 28.

In the summer of 1941, the Finns blockaded Leningrad from the north and also occupied significant territories in Karelia. After the start of the blockade of the city of Lenin, the Finnish armed forces took part in the shelling of the city and the “Road of Life”, and also built concentration camps in Karelia.

After the Battle of Moscow, the front with Finland stabilised. In 1944, the large Vyborg-Petrozavodsk offensive operation began, during which the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army defeated the Finnish forces north of Leningrad and reached the pre-war borders.

Realising the inevitability of its defeat, the Finnish government began to look for ways out of the war, and on August 25, Moscow received an official request for an armistice. On September 19, the Moscow Armistice was signed between Finland and the USSR. Finland withdrew from the war, recognised the 1940 peace treaty as valid, ceded the port of Pechenga, returned all [surviving] Soviet prisoners of war, and paid $300 million in reparations.

As a result of the armistice, Germany lost an important ally that had participated in the war against the USSR, was a source of raw materials, and provided a bridgehead for German units advancing on Leningrad and Murmansk.

Source: CPRF, translated by Beorn and The Shieldmaiden

On Historical and International Legal Accountability of Finland for the Occupation of Karelia During Great Patriotic War (WWII) (1941–1944)

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Below is a complete copy of the report by the Representative office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in Petrozavodsk, published at the site of the Russian Foreign Ministry on July 7, 2025. The report can also be downloaded as a PDF file. A summary of the report is available at the MFA’s Telegram channel.

On Historical and International Legal Accountability of Finland for the Occupation of Karelia During Great Patriotic War (WWII) (1941–1944)

Report by the Representative office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in Petrozavodsk

GENERAL INFORMATION

September 30, 2024, marked 80 years since the liberation of Karelia from Nazi and Finnish occupation forces. Given the need to reaffirm the historical truth, it is again relevant to direct the attention of the world community to the crimes committed by Finland during its occupation of Karelia from 1941 to 1944. While these atrocities were adjudicated by a Finnish court under the agreement between the USSR and Finland, the proceedings demonstrated excessive leniency towards the accused.

On August 1, 2024, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Karelia ruled on the application of the Prosecutor of the Republic of Karelia to establish a fact of legal significance. The Court recognised crimes committed by Nazi occupation forces and Finnish occupation authorities and troops on the territory of the Karelo-Finnish SSR during the Great Patriotic War (WWII) (1941-1944) as war crimes and crimes against humanity. These crimes, defined in the Charter of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal (August 8, 1945) and affirmed by UN General Assembly Resolutions 3(I) (February 13, 1946) and 95 (I) (December 11, 1946), were perpetrated against at least 86,000 Soviet citizens. The victims comprised civilians and prisoners of war serving in the Red Army (the armed forces of the USSR). Furthermore, the Court recognised these acts as genocide against national, ethnic, and racial groups representing the population of the USSR – the peoples of the Soviet Union. This genocide formed part of a plan by Nazi Germany and its ally, Finland, to expel and exterminate the entire local population of the occupied Soviet territories to colonise the land.

The evidence presented to the court confirmed that the occupiers systematically tortured civilians and prisoners of war. This included subjecting them to forced labour under brutal conditions, physical beatings, the prolonged denial of medical care, and confinement in inhumane concentration camp conditions. Collective punishment was routinely applied to civilians and prisoners of war for even minor acts of disobedience. Based on evidence presented during hearings, the court established that over 26,000 civilians and prisoners of war perished during the occupation. These deaths resulted from execution, torture, starvation, and disease. Furthermore, the occupiers deliberately destroyed cities, villages, and industrial and agricultural infrastructure. The total economic and infrastructural damage inflicted upon the region, adjusted for inflation to current rouble values, exceeds 20 trillion roubles[1].

Considering the ruling of the Supreme Court, this report provides a legal assessment of Finland’s conduct during World War II. The documented violations include violations of international treaties, crimes against peace, the implementation of a brutal policy in the occupied territories, which entailed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide, ethnic segregation, cruel treatment of non-Finno-Ugric population and prisoners of war.
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Finnish Face of Fascism, an RT Documentary

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During World War II, Finland became Germany’s strategic ally on the Eastern Front and fought against the Soviet Union. From 1941 to 1944 the Finnish army controlled Karelia, one of the republics of the Soviet Union. Nazi ideas thrived among the Finnish leadership, who developed a theory of racial superiority. According to this theory the Karelia population has been divided into two parts: the privileged Karelians and Finnis, and the Russians. Ethnic Russians were doomed to starvation and working to death. Though almost 80 years have passed since Finnish concentration camp survivors were liberated, the perpetrators of these crimes still go unpunished.


Backup at Rumble.

A short history of Finnish-Russian relations

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A cornerstone in the official Finnish Russomania, is the claim that Russia wants to consume the whole of Finland.

Our subscriber came across a historic step-by-step summary demonstrating the absolute inconsistency of such an accusation, which we published in a two-part post at “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”:

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They didn’t, at any point from 1809-1947. That is the hallucination that Finns have, that Russia wants their lands.

In 1945 Roosevelt insisted that Finland gives up all the territories that Soviet Union had suggested in negotiations of 1938 with Finland, just to secure their second largest city against Finnish aggression, with Nazi Germany alliance and their troops in Finland.

Remember, the secret clause in the Molotov-Rittentrop agreement dictated that Finland belonged to Soviet Union sphere of influence. That there is not to be German troops etc in there. And what did Germans and Finns do? Exactly the opposite!

As well, Finland was the country for Nazi Germany’s submarine design and research, that is why Finland had own submarines as it did the designs for Nazi Germany, that was denied having submarines according to WWI peace treaty. So having it in Finland made it possible to circumnavigate those treaty limitations.

The Soviet Union had all the legitimate reasons to worry about the Finnish agenda and objectives, seeing what Finns did in 5 years after getting independence from Soviet Union.

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The main attraction of Helsinki – Alexander II and the Cathedral, St Nicholas’s Church. Photo by Beorn, 2016.

🔹 Russia formed Finland in 1809 by defining its borders for the first time in history, when Sweden lost their eastern territory to Russia.

🔹 Russia gave Finns their language, by making Finnish the official language in the country, before that you only had Swedish language for everything.
And no, Russia didn’t even demand Russian language be used.
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