Leo Skurnik (28 March 1907 – 4 December 1976) was a
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
, a medical officer in the
Finnish Army
The Finnish Army ( Finnish: ''Maavoimat'', Swedish: ''Armén'') is the land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces. The Finnish Army is divided into six branches: the infantry (which includes armoured units), field artillery, anti-aircraf ...
and one of the three
Finnish Jews
The history of the Jews in Finland goes back to the 1700s. Finnish Jews are Jews who are citizens of Finland. The country is home to some 1,800 Jews, of which 1,400 live in the Greater Helsinki area and 200 in Turku. Most Jews in Finland have F ...
who were proposed to be awarded the
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia es ...
by
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
but refused to accept it.
Early life
Leo Skurnik was born in
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 U ...
,
Grand Duchy of Finland
The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecess ...
, to parents, businessman Ben-Zian Skurnik and Sarah Skurnik.
He was a descendant of one of the oldest
cantonist
Cantonists (Russian language: кантонисты; more properly: военные кантонисты, "military cantonists") were underage sons of conscripts in the Russian Empire. From 1721 on they were educated in special "canton schools" (К ...
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
families. Skurnik completed student
matriculation
Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination.
Australia
In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now ...
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
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
while pursuing a scientific career at the
University of Helsinki
The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the R ...
.
Military service and the Iron Cross
When the Pioneer Battalion 5 (later Pioneer Battalion 15) was being formed during the
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 1 ...
in the Ii garrison, Skurnik, then with the rank of medical captain, was assigned as the battalion's doctor.
Skurnik's unit was participating in the combined Finnish–German offensive from Kiestinki to
Loukhi, which was one of the costliest actions in the early phase of the
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. A ...
. The strength of the Finnish Infantry Regiment 54 had been reduced from 2,800 to 800 during the heavy fighting in August 1941, and it has been estimated that the field hospital with seven doctors where Skurnik was stationed received a hundred wounded men each day.
In September 1941, Skurnik organized the evacuation of a field hospital in heavy
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
artillery shelling near Kiestinki, saving the lives of 600 wounded men, including
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 occup ...
members.
Skurnik split the evacuees into small formations and timed their departures between the artillery barrages. The German liaison headquarters, headed by General
Waldemar Erfurth, proposed awarding the
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia es ...
to Skurnik for the effort deemed heroic, a proposal which was accepted in Berlin. However, Skurnik refused to accept the award and reportedly stated to Lieutenant General
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 participa ...
, who informed him of the decision, "My good friend, do you think I can take that kind of decoration? Tell your German colleagues that I wipe my arse with it!"
Skurnik's rebuff caused the Germans to respond with open annoyance. The two other Finnish Jews awarded with the Iron Cross, Captain
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 ...
and nurse
Dina Poljakoff, also refused the award.
Discontent with having to work with the German troops later contributed to Skurnik requesting a transfer to the
Uhtua
Kalevala (russian: Калевала; krl, Kalevala) is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Kalevalsky District in the Republic of Karelia, Russia. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 4,52 ...
front in the summer of 1942. Later in the war, he was promoted to major and fought in the
Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive and the
Lapland War
During World War II, the Lapland War ( fi , Lapin sota; sv, Lapplandskriget; german: Lapplandkrieg) saw fighting between Finland and Nazi Germany – effectively from September to November 1944 – in Finland's northernmost region, Lapland. ...
.
Finnish military history author, Colonel Wolf H. Halsti, lauded Skurnik's loyalty as surpassing a military doctor's usual duties, as Skurnik went to rescue wounded soldiers from
no man's land
No man's land is waste or unowned land or an uninhabited or desolate area that may be under dispute between parties who leave it unoccupied out of fear or uncertainty. The term was originally used to define a contested territory or a dump ...
when nobody else had the courage to do so.
Later life
After the war, Skurnik continued working as a doctor in Ii until 1947. He divorced and married another woman, Helmi Annikki Kaisto, in 1949. Afterwards, he worked as a factory doctor for Rauma-Raahe Oy, municipal doctor for
Paavola
Paavola is a former municipality of Finland, now a village in the municipality of Siikajoki. The village is located beside the Siikajoki river. Though lacking rail transport connections, the settlement does lie beside the crossroads of routes 86 ...
and
Revonlahti
Siikajoki is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the North Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of
() and covers an area of of
which
is water. The population density is
. Neighbour municipalities are Hailuoto, Liminka, Lu ...
between 1953 and 1961 and as a doctor for the
City of Oulu from 1961 until his retirement. He died in Oulu in 1976 and was buried near the waters he used to fish on Kirkkosaari island, Ii.
References
Bibliography
*
Journals
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skurnik, Leo
1907 births
1976 deaths
Physicians from Helsinki
Finnish Jews
Finnish military personnel of World War II
Finnish military doctors
20th-century Finnish physicians