Jewish Prisoners of War
The Jewish community saw no conflict of interest in helping the Jewish prisoners of war, though at first they were careful for fear of a communist label. Their willingness to help was quite natural in the light of their own history as well. Some even had relatives among the prisoners, but hesitated to contact them (Smolar 163–164, 170).
Help from the Jewish community was 
of vital importance to the Jewish prisoners. They received food, clothing, and medical supplies. Not only material needs were taken into consideration, but prayer and other books were delivered as well, and the prisoners were visited by representatives of the congregation. This aid significantly contributed to the prisoners' survival in the difficult conditions, especially in the spring of 1942, when the lack of food was at its worst. The Red Cross accused Finland of bad treatment of prisoners, and nearly one third of all prisoners of war did die; many of them starved or froze to death (Smolar 163, 168, 170–72; Torvinen, Kadimah 136).
Bad conditions were not the only threat to the well being of the prisoners. According to Smolar, over two thousand prisoners of war were extradited to Germany – among them at least seventy Jews (173). These extraditions have been studied by Elina Sana (formerly Elina Suominen), whose book on the subject, Luovutetut – Suomen ihmisluovutukset Gestapolle, was published in November 2003.
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