MarketFinnish military administration in Eastern Karelia
Company Profile

Finnish military administration in Eastern Karelia

The Finnish military administration in Eastern Karelia was an interim administrative system established in those areas of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (KFSSR) of the Soviet Union which were occupied by the Finnish army during the Continuation War. The military administration was set up on 15 July 1941 and it ended during the summer of 1944. The goal of the administration was to prepare the region for eventual annexation by Finland.

Background
Finnish interest in Russian Karelia goes back to the 19th century. Eastern Karelia was seen as the cradle of Finnish culture and the ancient land of the heroic sagas of the Kalevala. The resulting book Finnlands Lebensraum ("Finland's Living Space") was published in the autumn of 1941, and was intended to legitimize Finnish claims and actions to the international audience. The Finnish expansionist aims are present in Finnish Commander-in-Chief C. G. E. Mannerheim's Order of the Day given on 10 July 1941, which was based on an earlier declaration given by him during the Finnish civil war. ==Organization==
Organization
in 1941 The military administration was established on the order of the Commander-in-Chief, and was mainly under the control of the Army, not the Finnish government. It was originally divided into three districts ("piiri"), which were further divided into sub-regions ("alue"). The military administration used exclusively Finnish-Karelian place names (Russian names are given in parentheses). List of the administrative divisions of East Karelia: • Aunus (Olonets) district • City of Äänislinna/Onegaborg (Petrozavodsk) • Aunus (Olonets) • Vitele (Vidlitsa) • Vieljärvi (Vedlozero) • Kontupohja (Kondopoga) • Munjärvi (Munozero) • Teru/Prääsä (Pryazha) • Soutjärvi (Shyoltozero) • Vaaseni (Vazhiny) • Äänisniemi (Zaonezhye) • Äänisenranta (Prionezhsky) • Maaselkä (Maselga) district • Rukajärvi (Rugozero) • Paatene (Padany) • Porajärvi (Porosozero) • Karhumäki (Medvezhyegorsk) • Repola (Reboly) • Viena (Belomorye) district • Kiestinki (Kestenga) • Uhtua (Ukhta) The Maaselkä district was abolished in late 1942. The Karhumäki, Paatene and Porajärvi sub-regions were transferred to Aunus district and the Repola and Rukajärvi sub-regions were transferred to Viena district. Headquarters The military administration was originally stationed in Mikkeli, Finland, where the general staff of the Finnish army was located. On 15 October, it was transferred to Joensuu, Finland, and finally on 15 November 1943, to Äänislinna (Petrozavodsk), KFSSR. Military Commanders (in the middle) also Major General of the Military Administration of East Karelia Johan Arajuuri (right) and lieutenant colonel Paloheimo (left), east Karelian village in the summer of 1942. The first commander of the military administration was mining counselor and CEO of Enso-Gutzeit, Lieutenant Colonel Väinö Kotilainen. Kotilainen was followed by Colonel J. V. Arajuuri from 15 June 1942 to 19 August 1943, and finally by Col Olli Paloheimo who held the position to the end of the war. On the staff of the military commander worked professor of administrative law Veli Merikoski, whose task was to ensure that the military administration functioned in accordance with international law. After the end of the Continuation War, Merikoski wrote a booklet on the military administration, describing it in an overtly positive light. During the Continuation War the "liberation" of Eastern Karelia had become the main focus point of AKS activities, and its members were highly influential in choosing the policies of the military administration in accordance with the organization's "Greater Finland" ideology. In the summer of 1941, over half of the initial higher leadership of the military administration were AKS members. ==Policies==
Policies
The long-term goal of the military administration was to make it possible for Eastern Karelia to be permanently integrated to the Finnish state after the ultimate German victory over the Soviet Union. The notable exception is Petroskoi (Petrozavodsk), which was deemed as sounding too "Russian", and was renamed Äänislinna, a literal Finnish translation of the name Onegaborg used in the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum of Abraham Ortelius. Although Finnish troops never reached Kemi (Kem) on the shores of the White Sea, this town was also to be renamed, as a town with an identical name already stood in Finnish Lapland. The new name was tentatively suggested to be Vienanlinna ("Castle of Viena"), a continuation of several Finnish cities and towns ending in suffix -linna (e.g. Hämeenlinna, Savonlinna). The Karelian population was also discouraged from giving their children Slavic names. The Finnish authorities further estimated that of the remaining 85,000, about half could be classified as "national"; that is, Karelians, Finns, Estonians, Ingrians, Vepsians and other smaller Finnic minorities considered "kindred peoples" (heimo). The majority of the population was defined as "non-national", with most being Russian or Ukrainian. The main propaganda tools of the military administration were the newspaper Vapaa Karjala ("Free Karelia") and Aunus Radio. School attendance was obligatory for 7- to 15-year-old children classified as "national" in ethnicity. The language of instruction was Finnish and the teaching had a heavy focus on Finnish nationalistic and religious themes. The central idea of this policy was to bolster anti-communist feelings among the "nationals". The Karelians of Tver, who had escaped Swedish and Lutheran rule from the County of Kexholm and Ingria after the Ingrian War and the Treaty of Stolbovo of 1617 were especially considered, However, during Stalin's purges tens of thousands of Ingrians had perished or were transferred to other parts of the Soviet Union, and in 1941 the Ingrians of Leningrad probably numbered only c. 80,000–90,000. In the autumn of 1941, Western and Central Ingria were occupied by the advancing German forces and placed under German military administration. Because Ingria was to be reserved for German colonization according to the Generalplan Ost (Ingermanland), the German and Finnish authorities agreed on a treaty which stated that Ingria was to be totally emptied of Finns and other Finnic minorities, mainly Votes and Izhorians. This treaty was implemented during March 1943 to the summer of 1944, when over 64,000 people were transferred from Ingria to Finland. The Ingrians remaining areas still under the control of the Red Army (c. 20,000–30,000) were deported to Siberia during the winter of 1942–1943. After the Moscow Armistice, some 55,000 Ingrians were repatriated to the Soviet Union, but were not allowed to return to their homes in the Leningrad Oblast before the 1950s. Around 7,000 to 8,000 Ingrians moved from Finland to Sweden to escape the Soviet authorities. Living in the Finnish camps was harsh as 4,000–7,000 of the civil prisoners died, mostly from hunger during the spring and summer of 1942 due to the failed harvest of 1941. Also segregation in education and medical care between Karelians and Russians created resentment among the Russian population. These actions made many local ethnic Russian people support the partisan attacks. ==Planned future expansion==
Planned future expansion
In a conversation held on 27 November 1941 with the Finnish Foreign Minister Witting, Hitler proposed that the new Finnish border should run from the Kola Peninsula to the Svir, and in the case Leningrad was razed to the ground as originally planned, to the River Neva. The most eastward suggestion discussed among the Finnish officer corps before the war drew the line from Nimenga in the Arkhangelsk Oblast to the Pudozhsky District on Lake Onega. Professor Gerhard von Mende (RMfdbO) had consulted Finnish far-right activist Erkki Räikkönen on Finland's "natural" eastern borders, and sent to Rosenberg a memorandum suggesting that the northeastern border between Finland and Germany should run along the Northern Dvina River () near Arkangelsk. The Kola Peninsula was to be de jure a part of Finland, but the nickel deposits of the region were to be exploited jointly with Germany. Jalmari Jaakkola estimated in Die Ostfrage Finnlands that some 200,000 Russians had to be expelled from the region, leaving the peninsula with a population of c. 20,000 Finns, Samis and Karelians. ==References==
tickerdossier.comtickerdossier.substack.com