FINLAND: Nothing Worse to Fear

The Allies waited vainly for Finland to show some signs of intent or willingness to withdraw from Hitler’s fold.

Finnish sisu—meaning a peculiarly Finnish brand of doggedness, capable of facing down death itself—was at work against the Allies. Last week one element of sisu affecting Finland’s war position became crystal clear: Finland’s instinctive hate and dread of Russia is the principal barrier to a separate peace with Russia. The presence of German troops in Finland and the fear of German reprisal are secondary to the Finns’ conviction that Russia is their implacable enemy.

Most Finns now believe that Germany will lose the war. But they insist that Finland must resist to the last, hoping that Russia will be so weak at the end that Finland can hold the territories which the Russians seized in 1940. The Finns refuse to believe that these territories—as vital to Russian security as they are dear to the Finns—would ever be theirs by a voluntary settlement.

The Finns expect only pale sympathy from the U.S. Last week Finnish sources confirmed Washington’s statement that the U.S. Government had never offered to seek separate peace terms from Russia on the Finns’ behalf.

The Finns are not happy. But sisu enables them to say: “We have nothing worse than death to fear.”