Seminar marks 70th anniversary of end of Winter War

President considers political statement on war guilt trials

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President Tarja Halonen said on Saturday that the war years that Finland endured remain a defining aspect of Finnish identity.
      Speaking at Finland’s House of the Estates at a seminar marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the Winter War of 1939/40, the President said that the Winter War has remained in the international consciousness as an amazing survival story.
     
Also at the seminar, Halonen promised to consider drafting a political statement on the “war guilt” trial that took place in 1946, under terms of the peace agreement that ended the Continuation War.
      She said that she would first examine a report on the matter drafted by the Ministry of Justice.
      Halonen said on Saturday that so far she has only seen what has been written on the matter in the Finnish media. She also emphasised that the trial, in which a number of Finnish wartime leaders were given prison sentences for actions leading to war between Finland and the Soviet Union, was political in nature, and that it did not deprive those convicted of their honour.
      A working group set up by the Ministry of Justice proposed that Finnish leaders should give a statement on the trials.
     
Punishing those considered guilty of causing the war was a part of the interim peace treaty that ended the Continuation War of 1941-44, and holding such a trial in Finland was generally seen as preferable to allowing the Soviet Union to hold the process according to its own legal practices.
      Minister of Justice Tuija Brax (Green) does not see a need for any kind of a court process to overturn the sentences handed down in the trial.
      She said that it would be preferable for the President or Prime Minister to give a statement recognising that the trial was held in violation of the principles of the rule of law.
     
Political historian Markku Jokisipilä says that the significance of such a political statement is not quite clear, noting that on the political level, the state has already denounced the trials.
      “President Martti Ahtisaari stated already ten years ago that the sentences were political”, Jokisipilä says.
     
Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) said that no rehabilitation of those convicted in the trial is necessary, as they never lost their honour in the eyes of the Finnish people.
      “I believe that the next of kin of those who were sentenced have felt already some time ago that there is no need for a restoration of honour”, Vanhanen said.
      Like Halonen, Vanhanen sees the trial as a political process, which had its background in international politics. He added that a broad political understanding prevails on this in Finland.
      “In Finland, our system has not included attempts to fix situations in retrospect”, Vanhanen said.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  What if the Winter War broke out now? (6.3.2010)
  American Finnophile Gordon F. Sander writes book on Winter War (13.2.2010)
  Seventy years ago, bombs were falling on Helsinki - anniversary of outbreak of Winter War (30.11.2009)

See also:
  Finnish wartime leaders on trial for "war guilt" 60 years ago (28.10.2005)

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