Ackshually the swastika was a gift to the Finnish Air Force from a Herman Goring’s brother-in-law who later founded the Swedish Nazi party so it can’t represent the same beliefs.
It’s still dubious to imply that the Finns adopted it as a direct or indirect result of Finns espousing Nazism. I mean both can be true, that there has been Finnish sympathy for Nazis, and that this specific usage of the swastika is pretty surely a coincidence. At least with the info available it’s pretty weak when there are so many stronger examples of Finns sympathizing with Nazis.
It’s more that the symbol was created by a Fascist and Goering decided to steal it. It’s really hard today to understand that Air Forces of the day were hotbeds of Fascism due to their aristocratic membership and futurist aesthetics.
Were doing contacts with nazis in 1938, stalin decided its too close to leningrad for comfort and that working people of finland will greet them as liberators. Half assed government, didn’t go that well, decided just to take territory too close to leningrad. Finns then actively helped siege of leningrad and were allied to nazis.
Then they decided to chill out after germany was defeated.
It’s not gonna surprise you but the reddit narrative seems to be that both USSR and Germany wanted to colonize them so they chose the lesser evil which was the side that committed the holocaust.
Finnish behavior during 1921-1928 was … very questionable in karelia. So even they weren’t actively allied to nazis, it was still dodgy.
But stalin also fucked up by creating puppet government without even doing anything, its like “hello, this is your new government, also we bomb you now”.
If only ussr had high tech cia infiltration methods
The number of people who think that the USSR was worse than the Nazis is really high. As widely debunked as it is, the Black Book of Communism must be recognized as a successful propaganda piece.
If you took a random Finn, any single one, and put them in a room with Hitler, Mussolini (or some other fascist, I dunno), and a random Russian, plus a gun with two bullets, they’d double-tap the random Russian and ask for more ammo.
The only people with a more deep hatred and revanchism against Russia is Poland.
I think Estonia might be more anti-Russia than Finland. Not sure about Lithuania and Latvia but they’re up there, too. But hey it’s not a competition 🤠
I’m from St Petersburg Russia and have been to Finland a few times (granted, before 2022), and at least back then this was not my experience. to put it mildly
Can someone pretty please give me a tldr about Finland in WW2?
This was their airforce until 2020.
This is the flag of their air force academy today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_Academy_(Finland)
Ackshually the swastika was a gift to the Finnish Air Force from a Herman Goring’s brother-in-law who later founded the Swedish Nazi party so it can’t represent the same beliefs.
Also the same guy that inspired actual Nazis to use swastika.
God dammit, Finland.
The aside glance of the dude on the far right (pun intended) makes this look like a poster for a comedy movie.
Also the nervous look of the guy actually holding the flag like he is just realizing what he’s holding.
record scratch You’re probably wondering how I got here…
According to this it is from before the Nazis were a thing. So maybe a little misleading but also weird they dragged their feet to change it.
The person responsible for their adoption of the swastika founded the Swedish Nazi Party
It’s still dubious to imply that the Finns adopted it as a direct or indirect result of Finns espousing Nazism. I mean both can be true, that there has been Finnish sympathy for Nazis, and that this specific usage of the swastika is pretty surely a coincidence. At least with the info available it’s pretty weak when there are so many stronger examples of Finns sympathizing with Nazis.
It’s more that the symbol was created by a Fascist and Goering decided to steal it. It’s really hard today to understand that Air Forces of the day were hotbeds of Fascism due to their aristocratic membership and futurist aesthetics.
Were doing contacts with nazis in 1938, stalin decided its too close to leningrad for comfort and that working people of finland will greet them as liberators. Half assed
government, didn’t go that well, decided just to take territory too close to leningrad. Finns then actively helped siege of leningrad and were allied to nazis.
Then they decided to chill out after germany was defeated.
Thanks.
It’s not gonna surprise you but the reddit narrative seems to be that both USSR and Germany wanted to colonize them so they chose the lesser evil which was the side that committed the holocaust.
Finnish behavior during 1921-1928 was … very questionable in karelia. So even they weren’t actively allied to nazis, it was still dodgy.
But stalin also fucked up by creating puppet government without even doing anything, its like “hello, this is your new government, also we bomb you now”.
If only ussr had high tech cia infiltration methods
The reds losing the civil war and its consequences
The number of people who think that the USSR was worse than the Nazis is really high. As widely debunked as it is, the Black Book of Communism must be recognized as a successful propaganda piece.
I wouldn’t call Finns chilled out.
If you took a random Finn, any single one, and put them in a room with Hitler, Mussolini (or some other fascist, I dunno), and a random Russian, plus a gun with two bullets, they’d double-tap the random Russian and ask for more ammo.
The only people with a more deep hatred and revanchism against Russia is Poland.
*Were chilled out till ~80s
There used to be a ton of communist student radicals in the 60s
Boomers are still butthurt about them to this day
I think Estonia might be more anti-Russia than Finland. Not sure about Lithuania and Latvia but they’re up there, too. But hey it’s not a competition 🤠
I’m from St Petersburg Russia and have been to Finland a few times (granted, before 2022), and at least back then this was not my experience. to put it mildly