Study: Finns allied with SS likely killed Jews in WWII

HELSINKI — An Israeli Holocaust historian praised authorities in Finland on Sunday for publishing a report that concluded Finnish volunteers serving with Nazi Germany’s Waffen-ss “very likely” took part in World War II atrocities, including the mass murder of Jews.

Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Center lauded the determination of the National Archives of Finland to release the findings even if doing so was “painful and uncomfortable” for Finland.

Zuroff called the decision an “example of unique and exemplary civic courage.”

Finland’s government commissioned the independent 248-page report, which was made public Friday. It said 1,408 Finnish volunteers, most of them 17 to 20 years old, served with the SS Panzer Division Wiking from 1941 to 1943.

“It is very likely that they (Finnish volunteers) participated in the killing of Jews, other civilians and prisoners of war as part of the German SS troops,” said Jussi Nuorteva, director general of the National Archives.

A significant part of the study was based on diaries kept by 76 of the Finnish SS volunteers. Eight are still alive, Nuorteva said.

Finland was invaded by Moscow in November 1939. The fighting in what became known as the Finnish-soviet Winter War lasted until March 1940, when an overwhelmed and outnumbered Finland agreed to a bitter peace treaty.

Isolated from most of Europe and fearing another Soviet attack, Finland entered an alliance with Germany, receiving weapons and other materials from Berlin.

The Finnish soldiers were not under Nazi command, and the country’s leadership was mainly motivated by a desire to take back the territories lost to the Soviet Union.

The volunteers returned to Finland after the Finnish government sensed the tide of the war had turned against the Germans. Many then served in the Finnish military until the end of World War II.