Finnish prisoners of war in the Soviet Union

There were two waves of the Finnish prisoners of war in the Soviet Union during World War II: POWs during the Winter War and the Continuation War.

Winter War
Before the Winter War (1939–1940), the Soviet Union established the main camp for Finnish POW within the former monastery near Gryazovets in Vologda Oblast, Russia. The NKVD expected the war to result in many POWs and planned nine camps to handle about 25,000 men. However, over the whole of the Winter War there were only about 900 Finnish POWs, about 600 of who were placed in the Gryazivets camp. A total of 838 Finnish POWs were returned to Finland. The last party of Finns left Russia on April 20, 1940.

Continuation War
Number of Finnish prisoners of war during the Continuation War (1941–1944) is estimated from 2,377 to 3,500 persons.

Soviet and Russian views
According to the official Soviet statistics, Finland lost 2,377 men as prisoners of war, and their mortality rate was 17 percent.

According to Russian historian Viktor Konasov, 2,476 Finns were registered by NKVD, of which 1,972 were handled by POW camps with the majority handled by Camp no. 158 in Cherepovets, Vologda Oblast, and its subcamps. From all captured, 582 were captured during the Finnish offensive in 1941, 506 during 1942-1943 and 2,313 during the Soviet offensive of 1944.

Finnish historians
Finnish historians estimate the number of prisoners was around 3,500 persons, of whom five were women. The number of deceased is estimated around 1,500 persons. Approximately 2,000 persons returned home. It is estimated that the mortality rate was even 40 percent. The result is different from the Soviet statistics, where officials mainly checked only prisoners, who survived to a prisoner camp. Finnish studies have tracked individual persons and their destinies. Most common cause of deaths were hunger, cold and oppressive transportation.

In the beginning of a capture, executions of the Finnish prisoners of war were mainly done by the Soviet partisans. The partisans operated deep inside Finnish territory and they mainly executed their soldier and civilian POWs after a minor interrogation. Usually Finnish officer POWs had a chance to survive until arriving to a major interrogation in the headquarters of Soviet Karelian partisans or Karelian front, or a quarter of NKVD. After this, a Finnish POW had a much better chance to stay alive until the end of the war.

The high mortality rate of prisoners of war had objective issues, such as huge territory losses in the beginning of the war and high number of POWs. There were shortages of food and medicine, and POWs had to work in exhausting duties in labour camps. Furthermore, medical treatment was of very low standard. However, overall the treatment of Finnish POWs was humane minding the war time.

Aftermath
In 1992 a memorial monument was established at the Cherepovets cemetery, where Finnish POWs were buried.