Left: Finnish SS soldiers, Tampere, June 1, 1943 (Wikimedia Commons). Right: Finnish SS plaque on the Kenraalikivi (“The Stone of Generals”)/Maanpuolustuskivi (“Defense Stone”) memorial, Viitasaari (Wikimedia Commons). Image by Lev Golinkin
By Lev Golinkin
July 21, 2025
This list is part of an ongoing investigative project the Forward first published in January 2021 documenting hundreds of monuments around the world that honor people involved in the Holocaust. We are continuing to update each country’s list; if you know of any not included here, or of statues that have been removed or streets renamed, please email [email protected], subject line: Nazi monument project.
Helsinki – There is a monument to the “Finnish volunteers in the German armed forces” in 1941–1943 at the Hietaniemi war cemetery. The Finns who volunteered to fight for Germany – aka the Third Reich – in 1941 to 1943 were soldiers of the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS. This was a unit in the military arm of the SS, the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party responsible for multiple war crimes including orchestrating the Holocaust.
For decades, Finland’s participation in the SS had flown under the radar until a study by André Swanström put a spotlight on atrocities committed by Finnish SS soldiers. This led to a government-sponsored investigation; the results, published in 2019, confirmed it was “very likely” Finnish fighters murdered Jews.
Neo-Nazi groups use Nazi collaborator monuments as focal points for torchlight marches (see this Forward article). Unsurprisingly, this is the case with Finland – each December 6, far-right groups organize a march (below right) that ends at the Hietaniemi cemetery; there have been reports of far-right figures paying respects at the SS memorial. (Many thanks to Dr. André Swanström for his expertise on this topic).
***
Viitasaari and Ylihärmä – Both locations have memorials to the Finnish Volunteer Battalion. The Viitasaari memorial consists of a plaque, above left, with the battalion’s logo. It’s part of a larger memorial complex, called Kenraalikivi (“The Stone of Generals”) or Maanpuolustuskivi (“Defense Stone”). The other plaques don’t have anything to do with Nazi collaborators. A second, similar plaque commemorating the Finnish Volunteer Battalion is in Ylihärmä, below right.
