--- title: 'Suomalaiset sotavangit sotilastovereilleen (Finnish prisoners of war to their fellow soldiers): Soviet leaflet with seven named prisoners' url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/soviet-leaflet-suomalaiset-sotavangit-1941/ description: 'A Finnish-language Soviet leaflet headed ''Finnish prisoners of war to their fellow soldiers'': seven cut-out portraits of men in Finnish caps with their…' section: Collection --- [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) [![Suomalaiset sotavangit sotilastovereilleen (Finnish prisoners of war to their fellow soldiers): Soviet leaflet with seven named prisoners](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/soviet-leaflet-suomalaiset-sotavangit-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/soviet-leaflet-suomalaiset-sotavangit-1941.jpg) # Suomalaiset sotavangit sotilastovereilleen (Finnish prisoners of war to their fellow soldiers): Soviet leaflet with seven named prisoners A Finnish-language Soviet leaflet headed 'Finnish prisoners of war to their fellow soldiers': seven cut-out portraits of men in Finnish caps with their names printed below, and a first-person letter in a handwriting-style typeface ending in handwritten signatures. The tells are named individuals vouching in their own voices and blame for the war placed on 'Ryti and Mannerheim' and Hitler. ## Text on the object Original (Finnish) · read from the image, not independently checked ``` SUOMALAISET SOTAVANGIT SOTILASTOVEREILLEEN Suomen armeijan sotilaat! Meidät on pakotettu sotaan Neuvostovaltaa vastaan. Tämä sota tuottaa isänmaallemme nälkää, tuhoa ja kuolemaa. Hallitusherramme Ryti ja Mannerheim ovat myyneet isäntänsä Hitlerin, joka on muuttanut Suomen sotilasleiriksi. Mitä Hitler voi antaa Suomelle? Ei mitään muuta kuin nälkää, vankiloita ja kärsimyksiä meidän vanhemmille, vaimoille ja lapsille. Hitler tuottaa meidän kansalle kuolemaa ja maallemme hävitystä. Vielä ennen sodan puhkeamista Neuvostoliiton hallitus antoi meille 20000 tonnaa viljaa. Te, Suomen kansan pojat, pakoittakaa Suomen hallitus kieltäytymään verisestä seikkailusta ja solmimaan Neuvostoliiton kanssa rauhan, karkoittakaa Hitlerin ryöstöjoukot pois maastamme, turvatkaa rauha kansallemme. Me vetoamme teihin Suomen sotilaat: Siirtykää tänne Neuvostojoukkojen puolelle. Älkää pelätkö, ei teille täällä ole mitään vaaraa. Ne kauhut, joilla teitä peloittelevat ovat pelkkää valetta. Taistelkaa rauhan puolesta Neuvostoliiton kanssa. Pois saksalaiset maastamme! Suomalaiset sotavangit. [Handwritten signatures, partly illegible: ... Piirkonen R.; Heinonen Aarne; ... Heino Erkki; Ekholm Teuvo; ... Lankinen Matti; Nahkuri Kaino.] Suomalaiset sotavangit (ylhäältä alas): Matti Lankinen, Kaino Nahkuri, Leevi Haimi, Teuvo Ekholm, Erkki Heino, Risto Siiskonen, Aarne Heinonen. ``` English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader) ``` FINNISH PRISONERS OF WAR TO THEIR FELLOW SOLDIERS Soldiers of the Finnish army! We have been forced into a war against the Soviet power. This war brings hunger, destruction and death to our native land. Our government gentlemen Ryti and Mannerheim have sold themselves to their master Hitler, who has turned Finland into a military camp. What can Hitler give Finland? Nothing but hunger, prisons and suffering for our parents, wives and children. Hitler brings death to our people and devastation to our land. Even before the war broke out the Soviet government gave us 20000 tons of grain. You, sons of the Finnish people, force the Finnish government to refuse the bloody adventure and to make peace with the Soviet Union, drive Hitler's robber bands out of our country, secure peace for our people. We appeal to you, soldiers of Finland: come over here to the side of the Soviet troops. Do not be afraid, there is no danger for you here. The horrors with which they frighten you are mere lies. Fight for peace together with the Soviet Union. German out of our country! Finnish prisoners of war. [Handwritten signatures, partly illegible: ... Piirkonen R.; Heinonen Aarne; ... Heino Erkki; Ekholm Teuvo; ... Lankinen Matti; Nahkuri Kaino.] Finnish prisoners of war (from top to bottom): Matti Lankinen, Kaino Nahkuri, Leevi Haimi, Teuvo Ekholm, Erkki Heino, Risto Siiskonen, Aarne Heinonen. ``` Read from a 950 px by 1200 px copy; the body is set in a handwriting-style typeface and the signatures are handwritten, so some letters are uncertain: 'kieltäytymään' (printed form may read 'kiltäytymään'), 'Me vetoamme' (first letter may be read 'Ne'), and 'tonnaa' are as read. The signature block is partly illegible and is given only for the names that could be read, in no fixed order. 'Pois saksalaiset maastamme' is as printed (nominative plural). [← Suomen sotilaat! (Soldiers of Finland!): Soviet leaflet on a springboard against the USSR and the fate of Denmark and Norway](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/soviet-leaflet-hitler-ponnahduslauta-1941/) [Suomalaiset sotilaat! (Finnish soldiers!): Soviet leaflet on a 'fratricidal war' and German masters →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/soviet-leaflet-suomalaiset-sotilaat-veljestapposota-1941/) ## Using the same techniques - [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (Roman Empire · 0037 · Testimonial, Transfer) - [Seljuq gold dinar of Sanjar, dated 493 AH, with the Abbasid caliph named on one face](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/seljuq-gold-dinar-sanjar-caliph-name-1099/) (Great Seljuk Empire · 1099 · Testimonial) - [J'Accuse...! Lettre au Président de la République (J'Accuse...! Letter to the President of the Republic), L'Aurore, 13 January 1898](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jaccuse-laurore-front-page-1898/) (France · Jan 13, 1898 · Testimonial). Content note: Newspaper page about a wrongful-conviction controversy; the letter text refers to a prisoner held in torture-like conditions on Devil's Island; no graphic imagery. - [The Speaker, front page 'The Week', 22 June 1901: Hobhouse report and 'methods of barbarism'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/speaker-hobhouse-camps-methods-of-barbarism-1901/) (United Kingdom · Jun 22, 1901 · Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Text on deaths of women and children in British camps in South Africa, with mortality rates. - ["The War with Japan" (Puck cover, 23 October 1907)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/puck-the-war-with-japan-1907/) (United States · Oct 23, 1907 · Testimonial, Scapegoating) - [Bande Mataram (Paris), memorial page to Madan Lal Dhingra, 17 August 1909](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bande-mataram-paris-dhingra-memorial-1909/) (France · Aug 17, 1909 · Testimonial, Transfer) - [Indian Opinion (Phoenix, Natal), page 266: 'Natal Mercury's Comments' and 'The Durban Conference' during the coal-mine strike, 29 October 1913](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/indian-opinion-natal-mercury-durban-conference-1913/) (Union of South Africa · Oct 29, 1913 · Testimonial) - ['Do your duty bravely. Fear God. Honour the King.' Lord Kitchener postcard (about 1914)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kitchener-duty-bravely-postcard/) (United Kingdom · 1914 · Testimonial, Transfer)