The Heretics' Hour: Finnish-Soviet Winter War 75th Anniversary
Dec. 1, 2014
Seventy-five years ago, on Nov. 30, 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Finland, thinking it could overwhelm a much smaller country by its size. But the Soviets were in for a surprise. What lessons does this short but brutal war have for us today? Included are:
- Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and secret protocol;
- How intelligence and motivation aided the Finns;
- Losses -26,000 Finnish dead or missing vs 127,000 Soviet Russian dead or missing;
- Can the Ukrainians hold off the Russians as well as the Finns did?
Plus, a closer look at Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera and his arrest and incarceration at Sachsenhausen near Berlin. Included :
- Bandera's fanatical movement veered away from sharing the same objectives as N-S Germany;
- Bandera's death in 1959 ordered by the KGB head Alexander Shelepin and Nikita Khrushchev;
- Ukrainian nationalists have been the most persevering of all, and most hated by the Russians. [1hr51min]
Image: Lieutenant Aarne Juutilainen became a national hero for his defence of Finland during the Battle of Kollaa.
Category
European History, Heretics' Hour Podcast, Russia, World War II- 811 reads
Comments
Who is interested in the
Who is interested in the Winter War should buy this book.
Stefan Scheil says in his book Fünf plus Zwei that The Winter War is a very strange chain of events. The truth about it has not yet been revealed. Major Hautamäki's book is near it I think. Scheil says that it is difficult to say who betrayed who and who was on whose side. I think that it is quite clear that the Soviets were secretly on the side of the Allies.
It was Hitler who stopped the War, and the finnish leaders knew that the promised aid from the West was nothing but a trap.
It seems that the book is not
It seems that the book is not available in english. I thought it was translated but I think it is has been not. There is an e-mail-adress. Maybe they have better knowledege about that and they can answer other questions too.
I see the link did not tell
I see the link did not tell anything about the contents. He says that Hitler sent a note to Stalin 10.2.1940 [Feb. 10] in which he asked Stalin to stop the war. 2.3.1940 [March 2] he threatened Stalin with immediate air strikes and demanded ending the war immediately. Two notes and much more he sent also to Mannerheim.
In the late 2001 or beginning of the year 2002 I watched the news on the TV. There was said that "The Secret File of Marshall Mannerheim" has been given from Sweden to Finnland. There was a man who caught a paperbag. He was asked if there was nothing new we did not know yet. The man answered there was at least some new information concerning the peace tretment of the Winter War.
The trusted scientist of the elite Heikki Ylikangas told in the newspaper some days after that there were copies of notes from Hitler to Stalin in the bag. There was also much material that the Germans had sent and which in the eyes of the professor was "a hoax".
Although there were a bitter debate over the Winter War between the professor and the doctors and especially about making the peace, nothing more was ever heard about the file. A year later Heikki Ylikangas said that he never had heard anything about "the secret file" and he had never seen the content. It was him who had just in the summer 2001 mentioned that the file was coming next year.
So the professor had revealed that the writings of Vilho Tahvanainen were indeed the truth. I think that this man from lower classes could not have faked everything and every secret service of the world is fighting against this kind of information. Every troll on the internet is defending the official truth about the aid of the west and their influence for making the peace.
Russia
Russia is a landgrabbing empire. It does this not because it needs all the land, but so that others don't have it. Instead of cultivating the vast lands Russia already has, it conquers more and more to deny others Lebensraum.
Bandera, modern Ukraine/Russia, jews, etc...
Here Carolyn, this article will interest you, it is from two days ago and mentions Bandera in it:
Right-Wing Ukrainian Leader Is (Surprise) Jewish, and (Real Surprise) Proud of It - Q&A with the Right Sector Parliamentarian Borislav Bereza:
http://tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/187217/borislav-bereza
You may find some of the comments interesting/amusing as well. I only read the thread, not far down from the top of the comments, involving one Vladimir Golstein.
Not too far unrelated:
http://www.europeanknightsproject.com/vladamir-putin-jews-zionist-young-...
I thought it comical they used the same picture of Putin four times in one article. Just saying.
Regarding Russia/Putin/jews, this is an interesting article:
November 28, 2014, "Putin's Chosen People - What’s behind the Russian president’s close relationship with an Orthodox Jewish sect?":
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2014/11/vladi...
The entire article is worth reading, but here are some highlights:
"Given that most Russians with Jewish backgrounds range from casual observers to entirely indifferent to their religion, it’s a bit unexpected that their official representatives hail from one of the more doctrinaire sects of Orthodox Judaism. You may be surprised to learn, too, that those representatives are quite close with President Vladimir Putin."
"Recent years have seen a great deal of government-supported synagogue construction, and a small but growing number of Jews are attending services.
And while there were fears after the fall of the Soviet Union that rising Russian nationalism would lead to an upsurge in anti-Semitism, that never really materialized. “After the collapse of the USSR, the number of cases of anti-Semitism have been steadily dropping on an annual basis over the last 10 years,” says Yury Kanner, head of the country’s largest secular Jewish organization, the Russian Jewish Congress."
"Ultra-nationalism is an issue in Russia as well—a controversial far-right rally was held in Moscow on Nov. 4—but when this manifests itself as racism or xenophobia, it’s more typically directed against the predominantly Muslim migrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia, perhaps because they’re far more numerous than Jews.
Whatever his many other sins, even Vladimir Putin’s harshest critics concede that he’s not an anti-Semite. As the New Republic’s Julia Ioffe notes, a number of his closest confidants, as well as the Judo teacher who served as a mentor and surrogate father, are Jews. He has personally intervened in cases of state anti-Semitism, such as an incident last year in which a teacher was charged with corruption and the prosecution used his Jewish last name as evidence. Putin labeled that “egregious,” and the conviction was overturned soon after.
Putin’s has also generally been supportive of Jewish institutions—one Jewish institution in particular. One of the more intriguing aspects of contemporary Russian Jewish life is the close relationship between the Kremlin and Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, the Hasidic sect known in the United States for its street-corner proselytizing to fellow Jews and reverence for the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson."
"Today, Lazar, who was born in Italy and educated in the United States, is Russia’s chief rabbi. He appears frequently at Putin’s side at public events, and is the leader of the Federation of Jewish Communities (known by its Russian acronym FEOR), the country’s most important Jewish organization."
"Lazar, who is sometimes referred to as “Putin’s Rabbi,” now sits on the country’s public chamber, a government-appointed oversight committee. Lazar has been nothing but appreciative, praising Putin publicly as a friend of the Jews and calling Russia “one of the safest places for Jews in Europe.”
In a story that seemed tailor-made to demonstrate the rabbi’s devotion to both his faith and his patron in the Kremlin, it was reported in June 2013 that Lazar had agreed, at Putin’s request, to attend a World War II memorial event hours away from Moscow on a Friday afternoon. When his plane was delayed and arrived back in Moscow just 10 minutes before sundown, Lazar made an eight-hour, 19-mile walk home rather than break the Sabbath. Sources close to the rabbi told the Israeli newspaper Arutz Sheva that his willingness to make the difficult journey was an “example of the special connection between Rabbi Lazar and Russia's president.”
Government support has been good for FEOR, which has restored dozens of synagogues and built Jewish community centers throughout the country. It has also gotten funding to develop the Jewish Museum, which opened in 2012 just around the corner from the organization’s Moscow headquarters.
Chabad members—a small fraction of a small religious community—have become the dominant force in Russian Jewish life. “Eighty percent of all synagogues, the rabbis are Chabad,” Rabbi Alexander Boroda, the organization’s chief spokesman, told me in an interview. “But the people who come, many are just young people who want to come and learn something about Judaism.”"
"How exactly has Chabad reached its position of influence? For one thing, it has some influential backers. The Uzbek–Israeli billionaire diamond magnate Lev Leviev was an early and enthusiastic backer of FEOR. Roman Abramovich, the billionaire investor, governor, and owner of the Chelsea soccer team, has also been a backer, donating $5 million to build the Marina Roscha Synagogue."
"Even though most Russian Jews aren’t Orthodox, Shneer says it shouldn’t be surprising that the Orthodox Chabad has taken on a leadership role in Russian Jewish life. “Chabad is evangelical Judaism,” he says. “They bring Judaism to people at whatever level they’re at. If they want to light candles, they’ll show them how to light candles. If they want to keep kosher, they’ll show them how to keep kosher. They know that 95 percent of people who attend Chabad events are not at all religiously observant. But their point is to bring a certain kind of Judaism to as many Jews as possible.”
FEOR’s Boroda argues that the approach has brought results. “More people have started going to synagogue,” he says. “We’re seeing a renaissance in Jewish life.”"
"...the Russian Jewish Congress told the news agency Interfax that “the role of anti-Semitism in modern Russia has obviously become less noticeable than in the 1990s and 2000s, when it was the principal essence of nationalistic propaganda.”"
"Russia is full of people with Jewish or partially Jewish family roots, but after decades of repression and immigration, many have little connection to the religion."
"Kanner, though, says the relative lack of interest in reform or liberal branches of Judaism shouldn’t be surprising, and is rooted in the community’s troubled history. “In Soviet times, we were Jews based on our blood. It was a nationality not a religion,” he says. “The main principle of reformism is that you can be a Jew while also being French or German or whatever. That’s why there was no basis for reformism. In Russia, you are first a Jew, then you are anything else.”"
Not new
I came across this Slate article too, but I don't think it has anything new to say. Putin's favoritism toward Chabad Lubavitch has been written up before, and I wouldn't want to use Slate as a source of anything. However, this is good:
The Jews have decided that NOW they can be French or German or Russian AS WELL AS JEW, as if it's a religion (but they don't really think that). As if the French and Germans can only be flattered that Jews will consider themselves to be one of them. Oh please, go away and just be Jews somewhere. The idea there is a Jewish German drives me up a wall.
It was Schneerson, their messiah, who said the soul of a Jew and non-Jew is not of the same "stuff", it is the difference between a human and an animal ... or worse. I don't recall exactly.
For readers, the portion relevant to Bandera:
Many of the emblems and symbols of your movement strike many people as problematic. These are World War II symbols that—
Which symbols?
—Well, let’s start with the Red and Black flag of the UPA [or Ukrainian Insurgent Army], under which you march. Under which you fight.
Great! Wonderful! You have to understand: It was not merely the representatives of the Red Army that were annihilated under the auspices of the Red and Black flag, but also fascists, as well as all those who were invading Ukrainian lands. The Red and Black flag of the UPA represented the fight for an independent Ukraine. Do you know the three classic principles that [Stepan] Bandera postulated in relation to all the national minorities living in Ukraine?
No, I don’t.
He said: “If you help me, reach out your hand to help me create a free Ukraine, you are my brother.” He also added, “However, if you don’t help me, do not reach out your hand to help me, but neither do you hinder me, you can live here. There is enough room here and you can live here.” That was his classic phrase, “There is room here.” But, the conclusion: “If you hinder the process, stick spokes in the wheel, then you are an enemy and you need to be destroyed.” So, it is all very simple.
For my ideological brothers in the movement I am much more Ukrainian than an ethnic Ukrainian like [Ukrainian Communist Party leader Petro] Symonenko. When we speak, for example about Bandera, I was too once one of those who thought, having imbibed Soviet propaganda, that he was a fascist. But I was able to read many books and to think and figure out the truth: that this was a man who spent much of the war inside of a German internment camp. That he was liquidated by Soviet, rather than Nazi, intelligence agents.
Yes, I agree with you
I read the article at Tablet Mag and found it pretty enlightening. I didn't find time to reply, and don't really have a reply either. But it's interesting.
Interesting show
Thanks Carolyn, that helps put's Bandera's relationship to N-S Germany in a better perspective.
The Saker is another who also likes to label the neo-Nazi organisations, supposedly behind all the violence and killing in Ukraine as "Banderites" and the post-coup Ukraine under what he claims is "US sponsored occupation" (but which others say was Russian sponsored) - "Banderstan".
The impression I get is that original goal of the Russians was to get Putin's gal Yulia Tymoshenko elected, but that this backfired when she did not do well in the polls.
One thing that did baffle me though at the start of the Ukrainian conflict is how so many have come out in unison in supporting Ukrainian's Svoboda party as a legitimate nationalist party.
With so many claims of political parties being funded by either the CIA or KGB, I'm not sure I see any justification for believing that Svoboda is the real deal. Or am I missing something?
I think you are spot on that it is the same old Soviet Union, behaving in the same way it always has.
The so-called "collapse" was phoney and intended to make the West lower her defences and to bring in Western aid, money and technology. Western companies also developed Russia's energy infrastructure in this period I believe, which Russia is now using against the West.
Putin's alleged "coup" was also phony, but with some good propaganda he has sucked many well meaning patriots into supporting him against America's interests, which is precisely what the "still"-Communists want.
Confirmation on Bessarabia deal
On tonight's "Hitler's Table Talk" program (12-4), the Fuehrer explained why he gave up Bessarabia to the Soviet demands in 1940 (and this would apply to Lithuania too). He said: