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Dina Poljakoff
Dina Poljakoff (1919–2005) was a Finnish nurse. Despite being Jewish, she was offered the Iron Cross by Nazi Germany during World War II. A native of Finland, Poljakoff was studying dentistry before the outbreak of World War II. During the war, she worked as a nurse for Lotta Svärd, an auxiliary organization associated with the White Guard. She served in the front lines of combat during World War II alongside German military units. She was not the only Jewish nurse to perform such service; her cousin, Chaje Steinbock, also worked as a nurse and accumulated a scrapbook of heartfelt messages of thanks from German soldiers who had been under her care. Poljakoff made quite an impression on her German patients, to the point that she was nominated for the Iron Cross. She was one of three Finnish Jews to be offered the award; like the other two (Leo Skurnik and Salomon Klass), she did not accept the award. Unlike the other two, she did not ask for her name to be withdrawn from t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lotta Svärd
Lotta Svärd () was a Finnish voluntary auxiliary paramilitary organisation for women. Formed originally in 1918, it had a large membership undertaking volunteer social work in the 1920s and 1930s. It was formed to support the White Guard. During the Second World War, it mobilized to replace men conscripted into the army. It served in hospitals, at air raid warning positions, and other auxiliary tasks in close cooperation with the army. The women were officially unarmed except for an antiaircraft battery in 1944. Virtanen argues that, their "accountability to the nation took a masculine and military form in public, but had a private, feminine side to it including features like caring, helping and loving." The organisation was suppressed by the government after the war. Name The name comes from a poem by Johan Ludvig Runeberg. Part of a large and famous book, ''The Tales of Ensign Stål'', the poem described a fictional woman named Lotta Svärd. According to the poem, a Finnis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
