Page 408 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo I

408 XXXIV Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

Impacts of Finnish wars in 1939-1945 on the people
and society

JARL KRONLuND

PrOlOgue
During the Second World War Finland fought three wars: the Winter War from November
1939 to March 1940 and the Continuation War from June 1941 to September 1944 against
the Soviet Union, and the Lapland War from September 1944 to end of April 1945 against
the German troops over there.
A lot of fictive and non-fictive books have been written about these wars. The latest one
1
was published in mid-August 2008 . Solely on the basis of the literature one may assume
that these wars have left divergent impacts on the population.
This study deals with the civilians on the home-front, especially women and children and
their fates. Those who were on the fronts are examined in this connection only from the point
of view of the influence their fates had on their co-citizens and society. The question is how
did society and especially its members feel and cope with the phenomenons caused by the
wars?

nature Of the wars
Before the Winter War the inhabitants of the cities, mostly women and children were
evacuated to the countryside as early as in October 1939 as well as some 100 000 people
from the Carelian Isthmus. At a point when it seemed that there would not be a war, people
moved back to their homes. On the morning of 30 of November, when schoolchildren were
th
in their classes and the working day had just started, the inhabitants of Helsinki and some
other cities woke up to the bare truth: the Soviet bombers dropping their cargoes over the
city. These raids caused the first civilian losses.
In the middle of the chaos caused by burning and houses crashing down, people were
hit by fear. In the afternoon Helsinki railway station was full of people trying to go back to
the countryside to find shelter from the bombings of the towns. This was a clear border in-
between the old and new warfare: now the resisting power of the whole nation was put on
st
trial. on the 1 of December 1939 the Finnish newspapers told to the citizens that the country
had been declared to state of war .
2
The outlook of the vicinity changed: windows were covered with sand bags or board
fences and during night time with curtains to prevent the lights to be seen from outside and
the bomb shelters became familiar. The whole mental atmosphere was changed: some people
were in panic, some feared for their relatives, others for the future of the country.
the Winter War was a short one, and in this war the Finnish people was almost united in

1 Sodassa koettua, volume 3, 2008.
2 Helsingin Sanomat and Uusi Suomi on 1 of December 1939.
st