Final Solution″ plan concerning the
Jews of Finland.
Gestapo asked them to be handed over to the German authorities, which Anthoni reacted positively. He made a verbal agreement on expelling all German refugees Finland saw as ″unwanted element″. The agreement also included Russian POWs of Jewish origin.
Although the Finnish government refused transferring its own Jewish citizens, Anthoni's trip caused a mass deportation of ″disagreeable aliens″ in June 1942. Among the deported were two German-born Jews.
The matter was also discussed on
Heinrich Himmler's visit to Finland in the late summer of 1942. The Minister of Interior Toivo Horelli and Anthony soon made a classified decision on the deportation of 27 refugees, of whom 8 were Jews. On 8 November 1942, the deported were shipped to the
Estonian capital
Tallinn and handed over to the Gestapo. According to the documents found in the Estonian state archives, the Jews were killed just two days later.
The intention was to deport all Jewish refugees but the plan was revealed. After the intervention of the
Social Democratic
Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...
cabinet members
Väinö Tanner and
K.-A. Fagerholm
Karl-August Fagerholm (31 December 1901, in Siuntio – 22 May 1984, in Helsinki) was Speaker of Parliament and three times Prime Minister of Finland (1948–50, 1956–57, and 1958–59). Fagerholm became one of the leading politicia ...
the deportations were stopped.
In late 1942, Anthoni asked Horelli to make a requisition for awarding the
SS commander
Martin Sandberger with the
Order of the White Rose of Finland. Sandberger was the commander of the Sicherheitspolizei and
Sicherheitsdienst in Estonia.
After the war
As it was clear that Germany was going to lose the war, Anthoni was dismissed in March 1944. After the
Moscow Armistice, he fled to
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
but was soon returned. Anthoni was arrested in the
Ostrobothnian village of
Rautio in April 1945, and put into
preventive detention.
Anthoni never faced the Finnish
war-responsibility trials
The war-responsibility trials in Finland ( fi, Sotasyyllisyysoikeudenkäynti, sv, Krigsansvarighetsprocessen) were trials of the Finnish wartime leaders held responsible for "definitely influencing Finland in getting into a war with the Soviet ...
.
Poland and the
Western Allies wanted Anthoni, Horelli and the State Police officer
Ari Kauhanen to be included on the list of war criminals, but the
Soviet Union never made a claim to the Finnish government. This was most likely because the Soviets focused on persons who had committed war crimes against their citizens.
In early 1948, Anthoni was put in trial for misconduct.
He was accused of the transfer of 76 German refugees to the Gestapo in 1942–1943.
Anthoni claimed having no idea of what would happen to the Jews, and told that the deported were chosen by Horelli.
In reality, Horelli had given Anthoni a complete freedom to make decisions on his own.
As the
Allied Commission
Following the termination of hostilities in World War II, the Allies were in control of the defeated Axis countries. Anticipating the defeat of Germany and Japan, they had already set up the European Advisory Commission and a proposed Far Easter ...
left Finland in May 1948, Anthoni was released. The case went to the
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
which dismissed the indictment in February 1949. Anthoni was only given an admonition for negligent misconduct.
Anthoni worked his last years as a lawyer for the mineral company
Oy Lohja Ab, owned by the prominent Finnish Nazi
Petter Forsström
Petter Teodor Forsström (7 November 1877 Särkisalo - 13 November 1967 Lohja) was a Finnish industrialist, Vuorineuvos and the father of the Lohja lime industry. Forsström worked as Lohjan Kalkkitehdas Oy's (Lohja Lime Factory Ltd) managing dire ...
. He died at the
Malmi Hospital in
Helsinki.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anthoni, Arno
1900 births
1961 deaths
People from Uusimaa Province (Grand Duchy of Finland)
University of Helsinki alumni
Finnish people of World War II
Antisemitism in Finland
Holocaust perpetrators
Refugees in Finland
20th-century Finnish lawyers