"No, Molotov!" - Finnish propaganda during the Second World War
Initially, there was no specialized propaganda department in the Finnish army. This kind of work was done by the Ministry of the Press. Only in 1934 was the Ministry of Defense Information Center (Sanomakeskus) established.
Between 1937 and 1939, he organized refresher courses for a total of 68 professional journalists who were trained in collecting information and highlighting the duties of military units of military units.
Participants in the first refresher courses created their own organization called the Propaganda Union, which on a voluntary basis became part of Finland’s national defense. At the end of 1938, both of these organizations were transformed into a state information center, which then with 11.10.1939 was transformed into a State Council for the collection and delivery of domestic and international information.
His main tasks included maintaining civilian information and propaganda aimed at a potential adversary. At the same time, the information center itself was removed from the State Council and renamed the Department of Information of the Ministry of Defense.
He just focused on military propaganda. The new propaganda department of the High High Command compiled official reports on military events. He was responsible for the production of propaganda materials, films, the publication of a number of newspapers, as well as distribution News.
Most of the Finnish caricaturists got political instructors
During the Winter War, the Finnish Supreme Headquarters, as well as the management of propaganda, did not have its own propaganda unit, in the style of German propaganda companies at the front. Campaign materials directly entered the troops and distributed by order of the commanders of the divisions.
Nevertheless, the number of leaflets issued, as well as newspapers for the Red Army, was quite significant and they were effectively used against the Red Army fighters, facilitating their transfer to captivity.
At the end of the "Winter War", the activities of the Office were curtailed.
The need for them again became urgent in 1941. The head of the propaganda department of the Finnish general staff captain (major with 8.10.42) K. Lehmus proposed a serious reorganization of the administration.
In April 1941, he visited Germany to learn about the Nazi methods of introducing propaganda. The new organization was inspired by the German likeness, but it was a very compact purely Finnish organization.
The State Information Center resumed operations in June 1941. The word "propaganda" because of the actions of the 7 Political Administration of the Red Army received a very negative label in Finland, having a meaning only of gross and false information and its further use was discontinued.
For the Soviet pilots who surrendered to the Finnish army with their aircraft, the Finns offered 10 thousand dollars and free travel to any country in the world.
The Propaganda Department and all propaganda departments have been renamed since the end of June 1941. The renamed information detachment of the Supreme General Staff was responsible for official reports, photographs, films, leaflets directed towards the enemy, as well as education and entertainment of their own troops and censorship of field mail. By analogy with the German propaganda companies, Information Companies were created.
Information companies were organized as follows:
The total number of 40 or 41 people. From 7 to 10 units of various cars, to 15 motorcycles, bicycles.
In the Information Detachment of the Supreme General Staff there were two information officers in the Karelian Army. They acted as liaison officers and coordinated information campaigns. The third in information technology was Major G. Waselius, an officer assigned to communicate with Dietl's mountain corps in Lapland, from the summer of 1941 to the beginning of the 1942 of the year.
All these companies compiled written reports, newsletters, photographs, film plots, organized film screenings on the front lines, distributed campaign leaflets and agitated Soviet troops through loudspeakers.
For the distribution of leaflets, agitmins, propaganda shells of various systems were used, both royal and German, and supplied to the Finnish army by various European countries as part of assistance during the Winter War. To the maximum, the few air force forces were also involved.
Most of the Finnish leaflets are written in the correct Russian, with a fair amount of artistry, which in principle is not surprising. The backbone of the first information department was white emigrants, mostly former officers of the Russian army.
An example is to give an example of Major General Severin Dobrovolsky (1881-1946). After the defeat of the whites, Severin Tsezarevich moved to Finland, to Vyborg, where he was active in the field of Russian emigration. He was a member of the board of the Union of Labor Intelligentsia of the Vyborg province. Cultural and educational society and the secretary of the committee of Russian organizations in Finland to assist the starving in Russia.
Dobrovolsky was also known as a lecturer who spoke in Finnish cities and towns where Russians lived: Vyborg, Helsinki, Terioki (Zelenogorsk), Kuokkala (Repino), Kello-chaff (Komarovo) and others. During the “winter war” Dobrovolsky was forced to live in Helsinki and the Finnish city of Hamina near Vyborg. He worked in the propaganda department of the Finnish army, composing texts of anti-Soviet leaflets and published articles and appeals in anti-Soviet newspapers. After Germany attacked the USSR, Dobrovolsky joined the Russian propaganda department of the Finnish State Council, where he wrote anti-communist articles for the foreign press and collaborated with the Northern Word newspaper for prisoners of war.
On the night of 20 on 21 on April 1945, General Dobrovolsky was arrested by order of the Minister of the Interior of Finland communist Yrjö Leino, who made this decision at the request of the Soviet Control Commission. In total, 20 people were arrested (10 Finnish citizens, 9 people with “Nansen passports” and one former Soviet prisoner of war), according to the Soviet side, “perpetrators of war crimes who carried out espionage and terrorist activities against the Soviet Union on the instructions of the Germans”. All 20 prisoners were immediately extradited to the USSR and imprisoned in Lubyanka.
In deciding on the arrest and extradition, Leino acted in circumvention of the country's president, K. G. Mannerheim, and the prime minister, Yu. K. Paasikivi. After Finland’s top government officials were notified of the incident, there were no more such issues.
25 November 1945, General Dobrovolsky was convicted by a military tribunal of the Moscow Military District under Article 58-4 of the Criminal Code to be shot. According to the memoirs of the prisoners, he refused to file a petition for clemency. The officer was shot 26 January 1946 of the year.
The son of General Dobrovolsky, Severin, took an active part in the activities of the emigrant youth organization "Link". In 1945, some of the leaders of the “Link” were among those issued by the USSR, but Severin Dobrovolsky Jr. avoided this fate.
Between 1937 and 1939, he organized refresher courses for a total of 68 professional journalists who were trained in collecting information and highlighting the duties of military units of military units.
Participants in the first refresher courses created their own organization called the Propaganda Union, which on a voluntary basis became part of Finland’s national defense. At the end of 1938, both of these organizations were transformed into a state information center, which then with 11.10.1939 was transformed into a State Council for the collection and delivery of domestic and international information.
His main tasks included maintaining civilian information and propaganda aimed at a potential adversary. At the same time, the information center itself was removed from the State Council and renamed the Department of Information of the Ministry of Defense.
He just focused on military propaganda. The new propaganda department of the High High Command compiled official reports on military events. He was responsible for the production of propaganda materials, films, the publication of a number of newspapers, as well as distribution News.
Most of the Finnish caricaturists got political instructors
During the Winter War, the Finnish Supreme Headquarters, as well as the management of propaganda, did not have its own propaganda unit, in the style of German propaganda companies at the front. Campaign materials directly entered the troops and distributed by order of the commanders of the divisions.
Nevertheless, the number of leaflets issued, as well as newspapers for the Red Army, was quite significant and they were effectively used against the Red Army fighters, facilitating their transfer to captivity.
At the end of the "Winter War", the activities of the Office were curtailed.
The need for them again became urgent in 1941. The head of the propaganda department of the Finnish general staff captain (major with 8.10.42) K. Lehmus proposed a serious reorganization of the administration.
In April 1941, he visited Germany to learn about the Nazi methods of introducing propaganda. The new organization was inspired by the German likeness, but it was a very compact purely Finnish organization.
The State Information Center resumed operations in June 1941. The word "propaganda" because of the actions of the 7 Political Administration of the Red Army received a very negative label in Finland, having a meaning only of gross and false information and its further use was discontinued.
For the Soviet pilots who surrendered to the Finnish army with their aircraft, the Finns offered 10 thousand dollars and free travel to any country in the world.
The Propaganda Department and all propaganda departments have been renamed since the end of June 1941. The renamed information detachment of the Supreme General Staff was responsible for official reports, photographs, films, leaflets directed towards the enemy, as well as education and entertainment of their own troops and censorship of field mail. By analogy with the German propaganda companies, Information Companies were created.
Information companies were organized as follows:
The total number of 40 or 41 people. From 7 to 10 units of various cars, to 15 motorcycles, bicycles.
In the Information Detachment of the Supreme General Staff there were two information officers in the Karelian Army. They acted as liaison officers and coordinated information campaigns. The third in information technology was Major G. Waselius, an officer assigned to communicate with Dietl's mountain corps in Lapland, from the summer of 1941 to the beginning of the 1942 of the year.
All these companies compiled written reports, newsletters, photographs, film plots, organized film screenings on the front lines, distributed campaign leaflets and agitated Soviet troops through loudspeakers.
For the distribution of leaflets, agitmins, propaganda shells of various systems were used, both royal and German, and supplied to the Finnish army by various European countries as part of assistance during the Winter War. To the maximum, the few air force forces were also involved.
Most of the Finnish leaflets are written in the correct Russian, with a fair amount of artistry, which in principle is not surprising. The backbone of the first information department was white emigrants, mostly former officers of the Russian army.
An example is to give an example of Major General Severin Dobrovolsky (1881-1946). After the defeat of the whites, Severin Tsezarevich moved to Finland, to Vyborg, where he was active in the field of Russian emigration. He was a member of the board of the Union of Labor Intelligentsia of the Vyborg province. Cultural and educational society and the secretary of the committee of Russian organizations in Finland to assist the starving in Russia.
Dobrovolsky was also known as a lecturer who spoke in Finnish cities and towns where Russians lived: Vyborg, Helsinki, Terioki (Zelenogorsk), Kuokkala (Repino), Kello-chaff (Komarovo) and others. During the “winter war” Dobrovolsky was forced to live in Helsinki and the Finnish city of Hamina near Vyborg. He worked in the propaganda department of the Finnish army, composing texts of anti-Soviet leaflets and published articles and appeals in anti-Soviet newspapers. After Germany attacked the USSR, Dobrovolsky joined the Russian propaganda department of the Finnish State Council, where he wrote anti-communist articles for the foreign press and collaborated with the Northern Word newspaper for prisoners of war.
On the night of 20 on 21 on April 1945, General Dobrovolsky was arrested by order of the Minister of the Interior of Finland communist Yrjö Leino, who made this decision at the request of the Soviet Control Commission. In total, 20 people were arrested (10 Finnish citizens, 9 people with “Nansen passports” and one former Soviet prisoner of war), according to the Soviet side, “perpetrators of war crimes who carried out espionage and terrorist activities against the Soviet Union on the instructions of the Germans”. All 20 prisoners were immediately extradited to the USSR and imprisoned in Lubyanka.
In deciding on the arrest and extradition, Leino acted in circumvention of the country's president, K. G. Mannerheim, and the prime minister, Yu. K. Paasikivi. After Finland’s top government officials were notified of the incident, there were no more such issues.
25 November 1945, General Dobrovolsky was convicted by a military tribunal of the Moscow Military District under Article 58-4 of the Criminal Code to be shot. According to the memoirs of the prisoners, he refused to file a petition for clemency. The officer was shot 26 January 1946 of the year.
The son of General Dobrovolsky, Severin, took an active part in the activities of the emigrant youth organization "Link". In 1945, some of the leaders of the “Link” were among those issued by the USSR, but Severin Dobrovolsky Jr. avoided this fate.
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