Based on interviews with eyewitnesses and largely unpublished archival footage, the 1997 documentary reflects on the position of Jews in Finland during the Finnish-German “brotherhood in arms” against the Soviet Union. It examines the political pressure from Germany to hand over Finnish Jews to a certain death—and the Finnish government’s refusal to comply. It tells the stories of those who had fled to Finland to escape the Nazis, some of whom were nevertheless deported, supposedly “mere” criminals: the youngest of them, whose occupation in the deportation lists was noted as "child", was 18 months old. And it recalls Jews who served as soldiers in the Finnish army fighting alongside Germany, a field synagogue on the Finnish-German front, and the emergence of new hopes and fears when Finland finally broke with Germany, leading to the Lapland War between the former allies.
(JFBB)