Introduction
One of the great tragedies of the Second World War was the systematic persecution of Jewish people by the Nazi regime, whose final goal was no less than the destruction of Jewry in Europe. This affected Finnish Jews, too, though unlike in any other country under German influence, their rights were not tampered with in any way during the war. The position of Finnish Jews was unique in another respect as well: several hundred of them fought in the war as Germany’s comrades in arms.
Besides native Finnish Jews, there were also Jewish refugees and prisoners of war in the country. In this paper, special focus is on the fate of the refugees, who had arrived in Finland to escape Nazi persecution, but soon found themselves in a country that fought on Germany’s side. Not everyone found the shelter they were looking for.
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