Economic Aspects of the Finnish Occupation of Karelia (1941—1944)

Abstract

The article is devoted to an insufficiently studied problem in Russian and Finnish historiography — the economic policy of the Finnish regime in the occupied territory of Soviet (Eastern) Karelia in 1941—1944. Taking into account that this territory was to become an integral part of Greater Finland, the occupation administration in the first period of occupation set the task of economic restoration and development of the occupied regions of Karelia. But during this period, first of all, industrial and economic facilities were restored, which met the needs of the Finnish army. The central place in the economic policy of the Finnish occupation regime was occupied by the plans of intensive harvesting of Karelian timber and its export to Finland. Economic policy has been changing since 1943, when Finland realized that Germany would be defeated by the USSR. A direct plunder of the natural and material wealth of Karelia begins, the destruction of industrial facilities and the export of equipment to Finland. After Finland's withdrawal from the war in September 1944, the Finnish government partially compensated for the damage caused to the economy of Karelia.