Они так веселы потому что вырвались к счастливой жизни (They Are So Cheerful Because They Broke Free to a Happy Life): Finnish leaflet for Red Army soldiers

A Russian-language leaflet, seen here in a copy photograph, built as a montage of photographs of Red Army prisoners of war: filing from railway wagons, drinking from mugs, served by a nurse, peeling potatoes. Every image shows fed, smiling men, and the captions say they were saved because they 'did not believe the lies of the politruks'; no numbers, names or other outcomes for prisoners are given.

Date: 1940
Period: Second World War
Made by: Finnish side in the Winter War (issuer not printed on the sheet); reproduction photographed at the Swedish Volunteer Corps in Finland, F 19
Region: Western and Central Europe
Country: Finland
Medium: Leaflet
Issuer type: Mixed
Regime: Ryti Government
Leader: Risto Ryti
Audience: Enemy forces
Purpose: Persuade or win support
Theme: War and the military
Event: Winter War
Techniques: Card stacking Scapegoating
Source: Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
Source: Flygvapenmuseum (Swedish Air Force Museum), via DigitaltMuseum and Europeana, retrieved September 29, 2026
Rights: Public Domain Mark 1.0 (stated by the Swedish Air Force Museum on DigitaltMuseum and Europeana)
Flygvapenmuseum, FVMF.003919, photo Karl Johan Åke Sundström, via DigitaltMuseum (Public Domain Mark).

Text on the object

Original (Russian) · read from the image, not independently checked

Эти ваши товарищи не поверили лжи политруков и поэтому спаслись.

Они забросили винтовки за спину дулом вниз, подняли руки и перешли на финскую сторону.

ИХ УВЕЗЛИ НА ПОЕЗДАХ В ЛАГЕРЯ ДЛЯ ПЛЕННЫХ, ГДЕ ОНИ ДОВОЛЬНЫ СВОЕЮ СУДЬБОЮ.

Их приняли дружески напоили горячим, чтобы согреться, и папиросы дали.

ГОРЯЧУЮ ПИЩУ ИМ ДАЮТ ТРИ РАЗА В ДЕНЬ А ЧАЙ С САХАРОМ ПОЛУЧАЮТ В ДОВОЛЬ.

Они с охотой помогают финским сестрам в их работе.

Они так веселы потому что вырвались к счастливой жизни из когтей политруков.

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

These comrades of yours did not believe the lies of the politruks and so they were saved.

They slung their rifles behind their backs muzzle down, raised their hands and crossed over to the Finnish side.

THEY WERE TAKEN AWAY BY TRAIN TO PRISONER CAMPS, WHERE THEY ARE CONTENT WITH THEIR FATE.

They were received in a friendly way, given something hot to drink to warm up, and cigarettes.

THEY ARE GIVEN HOT FOOD THREE TIMES A DAY AND RECEIVE TEA WITH SUGAR TO THEIR HEART'S CONTENT.

They willingly help the Finnish sisters in their work.

They are so cheerful because they broke free to a happy life from the claws of the politruks.

Text blocks are listed in the museum catalogue's reading order (top, left to right, then lower blocks). The wording was read from a 1200 px copy photograph and cross-checked against the museum's Swedish transcription of the same blocks; punctuation in the two middle blocks is as printed, with no comma after 'дружески'. 'Politruk' is the Red Army political officer.