The government has pledged to investigate Finland's role in deporting prisoners of war to Nazi Germany. Both President Tarja Halonen and Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen agreed that this is a matter for the state to handle.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center believes Finland contributed to the Holocaust by handing over thousands of Soviet Jews and officers to the German Gestapo during World War II.
The Center is a well-respected US-based organisation crusading to bring war criminals of the Holocaust to justice.
The Center presented its demand for a thorough investigation in a letter to President Tarja Halonen from the centre's top Nazi-hunter, Dr. Efraim Zuroff. He wrote that while tracking down those responsible would no doubt be a painful process for the country, they had to be held accountable.
Zuroff added that only by facing what he called past mistakes could the world avoid such crimes in the future.
Book: 3,000, Not 8, Were Deported
A book published by Finnish researcher Elina Sana last week undermines Finland’s claim that during the war, only eight Jews were deported to Germany.
For many prisoners in World War II, being handed over to the Germans meant certain death. Sana’s book, The Extradited – Finland’s Deportations to the Gestapo claims that around 3,000 non-Finns were, in fact, handed over. Most of these were Soviet officers and Jewish prisoners of war.
The government has appointed historian Prof. Heikki Ylikangas to prepare a preliminary report on whether there are grounds for an in-depth investigation. His findings are due by the end of January.
YLE News, Finnish News Agency