Fire and Ice: The Winter War of Finland and Russia

PRESS RELEASE - September 27, 2005

FINN GRAND FEST AUDIENCES GOT PREVIEW OF WINTER WAR DOCUMENTARY

Fire and Ice: The Winter War of Finland and Russia, was shown for the first time in August at Finn Grand Fest 2005 in Marquette, Michigan. This documentary, produced and directed by Ben Strout, shows how the Winter War influenced World War II, especially as it involved the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.

The Winter War started on November 30, 1939, with massive Soviet attacks on Finland on multiple fronts, and included the bombing of Helsinki, Finland’s capital. Secret agreements between Hitler and Stalin had put Finland into Russia’s sphere of influence, along with the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Poland was to be divided between Russia and Germany.

In the words of Mr. Strout: “In November of 1939, when Finland was invaded by the Soviet Union, no one expected that this tiny nation could resist the largest military force in the world. And no one anticipated that 1939 would be one of the coldest winters in recorded history, what historians have called a frozen hell. Filmed on the old battlefields of Finland and Russia, “Fire and Ice” dramatically depicts the intensity of the war front and the home front. Outnumbered and outgunned, Finns knew this war was not about changing the borders between nations; it was a total war for the very existence of a people. The Winter War involved all of Finland’s people- including its women who organized themselves into a unique corps called Lotta Svard. Their fierce resistance changed the course of World War II and saved a democracy. “Fire and Ice” is a timeless story of courage against all odds, of a people united to preserve their freedom.”

Fire and Ice will be shown on PBS stations around the US after February 2006. It will be available for purchase soon in DVD format from masterworksmedia.com and affiliated websites. Also, in conjunction with the PBS release, Masterworks Media has developed a website and educational materials that meet standard curriculum requirements for teaching about World War II.

Russia had made specific territorial demands of Finland to protect Leningrad and the Gulf of Finland. These included ceding the Karelian Isthmus north of Leningrad to improve the city’s defenses, and allowing a Russian naval and air base at Hanko at the mouth of the Baltic. In return, Finland was offered a large area of Soviet territory in Karelia. The Finns refused and negotiations were broken off on November 13. Stalin then made plans to take over all of Finland.

The attack started with an artillery barrage on the Finnish border. Stalin had a puppet government in place the next day, in Terijoki, a beach resort in Finland, very close to the Russian border. The “president” of this People’s Republic of Finland was Otto V. Kuusinen, a Red Guard, who had fled Finland in 1918.

Marshal Kliment Vorshilov, Commissar for Defense since 1934, and Stalin, expected the war to last only a few days—12 at the most. In fact, it lasted for 105 days, until an armistice was declared on March 12 and the Finns actually marched back for three days to reach the new border. By this time, the Finns had exhausted almost all their resources in facing the massed Russian troops and artillery bombardments. The war exposed the great inadequacies of the Soviet army, especially its combined military and political control.

Fire and Ice is indeed a documentary, but with several, probably unique, characteristics. Much of it is done with re-enactors, both Russian and Finnish. To this is added the recollections of veterans of the war, including the women’s auxiliary, the Lotta Svard, named for a folk hero from the Napoleonic Wars. The overall production values of the film are outstanding—the editing, the selection of authorities on the Winter War, and the music.

A special poignancy is added by the stories of poet Eeva Kilpi, a Karelian from the village of Hiitola, now in Russian Karelia. She says: “Homesickness has made a nest in me, and it has not disappeared.” She is waiting for the ceded areas of Karelia to be returned to Finland. While there are Karelian groups actively promoting the return of these lands, it is not current Finnish government policy to pursue such a goal, and surveys in Finland do not support it. Some 400,000 Finnish evacuees, mostly Karelians, were resettled, twice. The second time was after the 1941-1944 Continuation War. Mostly non-Finnish, non-Karelian Russians now people Russian Karelia. The main Finnish city in Southern Karelia was Viipuri, which almost all Finns left when the armistice was signed to end the Winter War. The city has not been maintained, although some fine buildings remain. Rebuilding the Alvar Aalto-designed library in Viipuri is a project supported by both Finnish groups and international groups.

Another speaker in the film is Dr. Thomas Reis of the Finnish War College. He is an historian of the Winter War, and of Finnish military history in general. It is his assessment that in a very real sense, Finland won the war, since it was not occupied. In fact, Finland is the only country bordering Russia that maintained its independence after World War II.

During the 105 days of the Winter War, Finland lost almost 23,000 men and had over 43,000 wounded. Nikita S. Khrushchev, in Khrushchev Remembers, said that the Russians lost one million men, but that is generally disputed. Finnish historians who read current Russian accounts, estimate Russian dead at 230,000 to 270,000, and Russian wounded at 200,000 to 300,000.

The author William R. Trotter appears in the documentary. His book, A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-40, was published in 1991. The Winter War, The Russo-Finnish Conflict, 1939-40, published in 1973 by Eloise Engle and Lauri Paananen, is again in print. The novel, The Winter War, by Antti Tuuri, has been translated by Richard Impola and published by Aspasia Books in Beaverton, Ontario. It was made into a film in Finland in 1988.

In addition to its cinematographic excellence, this documentary brings broad perspective to what, for most people, is simply a footnote to WWII. The fact that the Russian forces were three times the size of the Allied landing at Normandy is just one element of that.

Note to editors: For more information, please contact Ben Strout: ben@mastersworkmedia.com.