|
Leo Skurnik
Leo Skurnik (28 March 1907 – 4 December 1976) was a Finnish physician, a medical officer in the Finnish Army and one of the three Finnish Jews who were proposed to be awarded the Iron Cross by Nazi Germany during World War II but refused to accept it. Early life Leo Skurnik was born in Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland, to parents, businessman Ben-Zian Skurnik and Sarah Skurnik. He was a descendant of one of the oldest cantonist Jewish families. Skurnik completed student matriculation in 1927 and became a Licentiate of Medicine in 1937. He married Lempi Irene Laukka in 1939 and started working as the municipal doctor of Ii. He had moved to Ii after he faced antisemitism while pursuing a scientific career at the University of Helsinki. Military service and the Iron Cross When the Pioneer Battalion 5 (later Pioneer Battalion 15) was being formed during the Interim Peace in the Ii garrison, Skurnik, then with the rank of medical captain, was assigned as the battalion's doctor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The Helsinki urban area, city's urban area has a population of , making it by far the List of urban areas in Finland by population, most populous urban area in Finland as well as the country's most important center for politics, education, finance, culture, and research; while Tampere in the Pirkanmaa region, located to the north from Helsinki, is the second largest urban area in Finland. Helsinki is located north of Tallinn, Estonia, east of Stockholm, Sweden, and west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. It has History of Helsinki, close historical ties with these three cities. Together with the cities of Espoo, Vantaa, and Kauniainen (and surrounding commuter towns, including the eastern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matriculation Exam (Finland)
The Finnish Matriculation Examination (Finnish ''ylioppilastutkinto'', Swedish ''studentexamen'') is the matriculation examination taken at the end of secondary education to qualify for entry into university. In practice, the test also constitutes the high school's final exam(s), although there is a separate diploma on graduating from high school, based not on the exam, but on the grades of individual courses. Since 1919, the test has been arranged by a national body, the Matriculation Examination Board. Before that, the administration of the test was the responsibility of the University of Helsinki. Under a previous law, successful completion entitled one to enroll as a university student, initially without the need for an entrance exam (hence "matriculation"). Although the legal requirement has been lifted, matriculation without completing the test is still an exception. The universities are now free to arrange their own entrance examinations in addition to considering scores fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Salomon Klass
Salomon Klass (17 April 1907 – 22 March 1985) was a captain in the Finnish Army, a company commander and one of the three Finnish Jews who were nominated to be awarded the Iron Cross by Nazi Germany during World War II, all of whom refused to accept it. He was also a Zionist and volunteered for service in Palestine before the war. Early life Salomon Klass was born to a family of eight children in Helsinki, Finland, in 1907. His father was Jerechmiel Klass, a store owner, and his mother was Bassja Braine Klass. The family had moved from Latvia to Finland between 1899 and 1901. Klass joined the voluntary right-wing White Guard militia and received his military training there. He rose to the rank of company commander, but was forced to transfer to a different unit after rising antisemitism in 1933. He served in that unit until leaving for Palestine in 1935. He lived four years in Palestine, fighting for the underground Etzel resistance movement against British rule. Author ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hjalmar Siilasvuo
Hjalmar Fridolf Siilasvuo (born Hjalmar Fridolf Strömberg, 18 March 1892 – 11 January 1947) was a Finnish lieutenant general ( fi, kenraaliluutnantti, link=no), a knight of the Mannerheim Cross and a member of the Jäger Movement. He participated in the Eastern Front of World War I, the Finnish Civil War, the Winter War, Continuation War and the Lapland War. Early life Hjalmar Fridolf Siilasvuo was born as Hjalmar Fridolf Strömberg on 18 March 1892 in Helsinki to newspaper reporter Frans Strömberg and Hulda Röman. He graduated as an ylioppilas in 1911 from Svenska normallyceum i Helsingfors and began to study law. During his studies, he became involved in the Jäger Movement, which aimed at sending Finnish volunteers to receive military training in Germany. As a member of the movement, Siilavuo left for Germany in early 1915. While in Germany, the Finnish volunteers formed the 27th Royal Prussian Jäger Battalion, fighting for the Imperial German Army on the Eastern Front ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waldemar Erfurth
Waldemar Erfurth (4 August 1879 – 2 May 1971) was a German general of infantry, writer, and liaison officer to Finland during World War II Erfurth was born in Berlin. He had served in World War I, winning the Iron Cross 1st Class and the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern. After the War he continued service in the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic. During the Second World War he was a liaison officer in the Finnish headquarters 1941–44. He wrote a book about the Murmansk railroad and a war journal from 1944. He died in Tübingen. Awards and decorations * Iron Cross of 1914, 1st and 2nd class * Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords (7 November 1916) * Prussian Service Cross Award * Bavarian Military Merit Order, 3rd class with Swords * Knight's Cross, First Class of the Order of Albrecht with Swords * Military Merit Cross, 2nd class (Mecklenburg-Schwerin) * War Merit Cross, 2nd class (Brunswick) * Hanseatic Cross of Lubeck ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occupied and unoccupied lands. The grew from three regiments to over 38 division (military), divisions during World War II, and served alongside the German Army (Wehrmacht), German Army (''Heer''), ''Ordnungspolizei'' (uniformed police) and other security units. Originally, it was under the control of the (SS operational command office) beneath Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS. With the start of World War II, tactical control was exercised by the (OKW, "High Command of the Armed Forces"), with some units being subordinated to (Command Staff Reichsführer-SS) directly under Himmler's control. Initially, in keeping with the racial policy of Nazi Germany, membership was open only to people of Germanic origin (so-called "Nazi racial theor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national republics; in practice, both its government and its economy were highly centralized until its final years. It was a one-party state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, with the city of Moscow serving as its capital as well as that of its largest and most populous republic: the Russian SFSR. Other major cities included Leningrad (Russian SFSR), Kiev (Ukrainian SSR), Minsk ( Byelorussian SSR), Tashkent (Uzbek SSR), Alma-Ata (Kazakh SSR), and Novosibirsk (Russian SFSR). It was the largest country in the world, covering over and spanning eleven time zones. The country's roots lay in the October Revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Russian Provisional Government ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seura
''Seura'' is a Finnish magazine published 49 issues per year in Helsinki, Finland and has been in circulation since 1934. History and profile The first issue of ''Seura'' was published in 1934 by Yhtyneet Kuvalehdet. A sample issue was published in the previous year. The magazine is part of the Otava Group and its publisher is Otavamedia. The magazine targets family-oriented women in their 40s or older and is published 49 issues per year. The headquarters of the magazine is in Helsinki. ''Seura'' mostly covers articles on education, parenting, health issues, food, travelling, and world affairs. It lost its market share to magazines that concentrate on celebrity gossip. Jari Lindholm was appointed as editor-in-chief in September 2004 to regain market share. Lindholm resigned on 14 April 2006 after failing to improve circulation. The current editor-in-chief is Erkki Meriluoto. On 15 April 2005 ''Seura'' printed a story about Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen's and Minister of Cultu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Continuation War
The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. According to Finnish historian Olli Vehviläinen, the term 'Continuation War' was created at the start of the conflict by the Finnish government, to justify the invasion to the population as a continuation of the defensive Winter War and separate from the German war effort. He titled the chapter addressing the issue in his book as "Finland's War of Retaliation". Vehviläinen asserted that the reality of that claim changed when the Finnish forces crossed the 1939 frontier and started annexation operations. The US Library of Congress catalogue also lists the variants War of Retribution and War of Continuation (see authority control)., group="Note" In Soviet historiography, the war was called the Finnish Front of the Great Patriotic War.. Alter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loukhi
Loukhi (russian: Лоухи; krl, Louhi) is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Loukhsky District in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located on the shore of Lake Panovo, north of Petrozavodsk, the capital of the republic. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 4,772. History It was founded in 1912–1914 due to the construction of a railroad. Urban-type settlement status was granted to it in 1944. In 1978, Korean Air Lines Flight 902 was forced to land at the nearby Lake Korpiyarvi after being attacked by Soviet aircraft. Administrative and municipal status Within the framework of administrative divisions, Loukhi serves as the administrative center of Loukhsky District Loukhsky District (russian: Ло́ухский райо́н; krl, Louhen piiri) is an administrative district (raion), one of the fifteen in the Republic of Karelia, Russia.Constitution of the Republic of Karelia It is located in the north of th ..., of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interim Peace
The Interim Peace ( fi, Välirauha, sv, Mellanfreden) was a short period in the history of Finland during the Second World War. The term is used for the time between the Winter War and the Continuation War, lasting a little over 15 months, from 13 March 1940 to 24 June 1941. The Moscow Peace Treaty was signed by Finland and the Soviet Union on 12 March 1940 and it ended the 105-day Winter War. In the aftermath of the Winter War, both the Soviet Union and Finland were preparing for a new war while the Soviets pressured the Finns politically. In early 1940 Finland sued for an alliance with Sweden but both the Soviet Union and Germany opposed it. In April, Germany occupied Denmark and Norway. In June the Soviet Union occupied the Baltic states. The next year, Finland negotiated their participation in the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union. Background The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the Winter War The 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact clarified Soviet–German relations and enab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.png "Click for more on -> Interim Peace")