Finns resentful over Swedish author's claims of Nazi sympathies in war

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The Swedish history enthusiast and journalist Henrik Arnstad's recent book about the Swedish wartime foreign minister Christian Günther has become a cause of annoyance in Finland.
      In his book, as well as in two opinion columns written this autumn, Arnstad says that Finland keeps quiet and lies about its relationship with Nazi Germany during the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union from 1941-1944. Arnstad is of the opinion that with its expansion endeavours, Finland eagerly supported Germany's aggressive war tactics and that Finland carried out ethnic cleansing, for example, by allowing 3,000 Russians to starve to death.
      "Finland was the only western democracy that voluntarily joined forces with Nazi Germany", Arnstad wrote in the Swedish daily Svenska Dagblad last week, and added that Finland is keeping quiet about this.
     
Arnstad also dismisses the notion that Finland and its armed forces would have protected Sweden. "With their opportunistic and criminal aggressive war tactics the Finnish leaders caused security policy risks to Sweden. The convicted Finnish war criminals, such as Risto Ryti, are to be considered accountable for this."
      Arnstad's aggressive article was a response to Secretary of State Pertti Torstila of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, who criticised Arnstad's book in a speech he gave in Sweden a couple of weeks ago. Torstila described Arnstad's book as "a sad example of lack of historical perspective".
      "I am shocked by Torstila's reaction. It is not common that a Ministry for Foreign Affairs should react to a foreign book. It annoyed me, and I offered my opinion column to a paper", Arnstad commented from his small Stockholm office, from where he supports himself with various Internet projects.
     
In his speech, Torstila said that Finland ran out of choices between the two opposing superpowers. Arnstad sees the situation in more simple terms. Finland's joining forces with Hitler was more reprehensible than, for example, Great Britain's alliance with the Soviet Union. He argues that Finland should have remained outside the later conflict, or should at least have confined itself to taking back the territory lost after the Winter War of 1939-40.
      According to Finnish historian Markku Jokisipilä, Arnstad presents notions that have been discussed in Finland since the 1960s. "I wonder if Arnstad is at all familiar with the debate that has taken place within the Finnish history research on the subject", Jokisipilä ponders.
      "No, I am not", Arnstad admits.
      "The entire spat has a distinct smell of formaldehyde to it. Both parties are presenting arguments that have not been relevant in the past 20 years", Jokisipilä concludes, in reference to the fact that Arnstad's comments are no different from those presented by the left in Finland in the 1960s and 1970s, while Torstila's response only reinforces the idea of "official Finland" still adhereing to the old "driftwood" theory of the Continuation War.


Links:
  Wikipedia: Continuation War

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