Bodies in Lappeenranta mass grave date back to 19th century

No signs of violent death - secret wartime execution rumours prove false

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The 13 bodies exhumed from a mass grave found at the Huhtiniemi camping ground in Lappeenranta in the southeast of Finland were probably buried already in the 19th century.
      Studies of the mass grave are still under way, but the group of experts examining the graves do not now believe that the bodies were those of wartime deserters executed in the summer of 1944.
     
The mass grave was found during excavations in October aimed at investigating claims of secret courts-martial that were said to have taken place during the Continuation War. There had been reports of Finnish soldiers, possibly numbering in the hundreds, who had been sentenced to death in the summer of 1944 as Finns retreated from positions in what is now Russian Karelia.
      In addition to skeletons, dozens of other objects were found in the graves, and these have been studied at the Finnish National Museum. They are believed to date back to the 1800s.
      The artefacts include bone buttons as well as pendants, most of which are linked with the Orthodox faith. Two of the pendants suggest a Roman Catholic origin.
     
"They form a unified whole which predates 1944", says Aki Arponen of the Finnish National Board of Antiquities.
      Examination of the bones and teeth suggest that the bodies are those of men aged 20 to 40. There are no signs of injury or violent death.
      The skeletons are to undergo radiocarbon dating which will take place next year.
     
The origin of the bodies remains a mystery. Anu Talka, an expert in Lappeenranta history of the 19th century, says that there are countless possible explanations, and that certainty might never be attained.
      Lappeenranta was an important garrison city for the Russian Army in the 19th century, with large numbers of military personnel. One possible cause of death might have been cholera, as epidemics were fairly common under the poor hygiene that prevailed at the time.
      "The grave could suggest an epidemic, in which there were so many victims that coffins were not available for all of them", Talka ponders.
      She says that it is possible that the Roman Catholic objects found in the grave suggest that there were Catholics among the soldiers.
     
The National Bureau of Investigation has decided to terminate its own enquiries into the matter, as it has been established that the bodies are not linked with events of the Continuation War. The investigation is continuing under the direction of the University of Helsinki.
      The researchers already have a plan to continue the excavations, and Mika Lavento feels that the study is worth continuing.
      So far, the excavations have been funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, and the state has set aside EUR 100,000 for the studies in next year’s national budget.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Orthodox regalia found in Huhtiniemi graves (1.11.2006)
  New tipoffs on locations of more possible wartime mass graves (24.10.2006)
  Remains of 11 men found in mass grave in southeastern Finland (18.10.2006)

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