From War to Cold War: Anglo-Finnish Relations in the Twentieth Century by Juhana s> Aunesluoma (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 365 cooperation) (pp. II3-14) escapes this reviewer. Antonijs Zunda's deft survey of the historiography of resistance against the Nazi occupation of Latvia rounds off this part and is followed by a series of chapters on the Holocaust itselfin occupied Latvia.Aivars Strangadescribesthe course of events in telling detail, not excluding those who rescuedJews and who 'lived on another planet from that of the murderers'(p. I68). In chartingthe massacreofJews in Kruspils,on the easternbank of the Daugava, DzintarsErglispresentschilling pen sketchesof Latviankillersas well as touching detailson the victims. Other noteworthychaptersdraw on Soviet court filesto throwlight on the notorious ArajsCommando. The fact that part of the commando was incorporatedinto the Latvian Legion furtherundermines the distinctionnoted earlierbetween the events of I94i and I943. The last partsof the book coveringthe Soviet occupation I944-9I offerless cause for contention. Heinrihs Strods has a useful overview of the process of sovietisationin Latviaand also tacklesthe questionof Latvianresistanceto the USSR in a second chapter. Other subjects touched on include the Soviet impact on Latvian historiography and Soviet repressions against Latvian farmers.Ultimately readersmay well put the book down with the feeling that the undoubted vileness of Soviet actions in the Baltic countries from 1944 onwards must not be allowed to impede a continuing and fuller study of the involvement of Latvians and other Baltic peoples in the Holocaust. Acknowledgingthis which the book certainlydoes is one thing, explaining it is quite another. Bradford andGlasgow Universities JOHN HIDEN Aunesluoma,Juhana (ed.). FromWarto ColdWar:Anglo-Finnish Relations in the TwentiethCentuy. Studia Historica, 72. Finnish Literature Society, Helsinki, 2005. 201 pp. Notes. Bibliography.Index. ?28.oo (paperback). THIS collection of conference papers has all the strengthsand weaknessesof productions of its type. It provides a clear summary of what preoccupies scholarshipin the field. By combining contributionsfrom establishedscholars and younger researchers,the collection offersboth relativecomprehensiveness and satisfactorilyin-depth analysisof selected key issues. At the same time, the format means that contributions are of distinctly unequal quality. Some of the book's articlesare recapitulationsof very basic information that is readily available elsewhere. The subtitle, too, promises more than the book can deliver. Instead of being a history of Anglo-Finnish relations in the twentieth century, this collection deals primarily with the few, if crucial, years between the ending of the Second World War and the beginning of the Cold War. In his surveyof the historyof Anglo-Finnishrelations,PatrickSalmon does cover, howsoever briefly, a rather longer period. His crucially important argument calls attention to the structuresof interaction between great and smallerpowers. Great powers simplydo not give the attention to smallpower concerns that small powers would like; small powers tend to read incorrectly the signals that they receive from lower-level functionariesand to base their 366 SEER, 85, 2, 2007 policy on unrealisticpremises.The role of perceptions,in other words, is key to understandingthe vicissitudesof Anglo-Finnishrelations. Anthony Upton's surveyof Anglo-Finnishrelationsin the early Cold War, on the other hand, is a forthright argument for reassessing the so-called Finnish 'yearsof danger' - the firstten years or so of the Cold War during which many Finnish leaders (and subsequenthistorians)feared an imminent Communist-organizedtake-over of power. Far from it, says Upton: 'in this period there was no threatto Finnishindependence from the Soviets' (p. 62). Upton argues, too, that the Britishgovernmentwas of very little use to those Finns who did fear Soviet subversion. British decision-makersbased their policy on the assumption that Finland was, in fact, in the Soviet sphere of interest. Britishinterferencewas, therefore,inexpedient. Similar arguments about British policy underlie many of the subsequent articles,some of which are pieces of substantivenew researchpreviouslynot availablein English.MikkoMajander'sarticleon the earlyCold War relationship between the FinnishSocial Democratic Partyand BritishLabourbelongs to this group. Based on prodigiousresearchthat led to a doctoraldissertation, Majander'sarticle is illuminative on the often surprisingcontent of socialist anti-Communism.He shows that the Finnish Social Democratic Partywas so intenselyanti-Communistin the earlyyears of the Cold War that not only the Foreign Office but even the leadersof the BritishLabourPartyregardedit as a complication. Unofficially, the Finnish Socialistsmay have been supported with materialaid, but officiallythe Foreign Office and the Labourleadership kept calling for them to moderate their stances and rhetoric. Niklas Jensen-Eriksen writes about British...