Suomen vai Saksan puolesta? Jääkäreiden tuntematon historia. Jääkäriliikkeen ja jääkäripataljoona 27:n (1915-1918) synty, luonne, mielialojen vaihteluita ja sisäisiä kriiseja sekä niiden heijastuksia itsenäisen Suomen ensi vuosiin saakka by Matti s> Lackman (review)

Abstract

756 SEER, 8o, 4, 2002 thiscriticaltime of the Soviet Union. The scholarand the studentof the Soviet Union will both benefitfromthismagnificentstudy. College ofDuPage WILLIAM B. WHISENHUNT Glen Ellyn,Ilinois Lackman, Matti. Suomenvai Saksanpuolesta? Jddkdreiden tuntematon historia. Jddkdril1ikkeen jaJddkdripata1joona 27.fn (I9I5-I9I8) synty, luonne, mielialojen vaihteluitaja sisdisiakriiseja sekdniiden he#astuksia itsendisen Suomen ensivuosiin saakka. JaakareidenTuntematon Historia.Otava, Helsinki,2000. 879 pp. Notes. Tables. Maps. Plates. Bibliography. Appendices. Index. Price unknown. DURING World War I almost 2,000 Finns received military training in Germany where they were formed into the 27th Royal Prussian Jager Battalion. In the newly-independent Finland of the I920S and I930S these Jagers became representedas high-minded patrioticyoung men who had left Finlandto riskeverythingin the cause of fightingfor theircountry'sliberation from Russian oppression. It has long been evident that the truth about the Jagers was less straightforward.Dr Matti Lackman'sbook shows how much more complicateditwas.His carefully-researched worksuccessfullychallenges a number of previously-heldviews about the Jagers andjudiciously demonstratestheirrole in Finnishand German history. Lackmanmodestly notes that the attitudesof theJagers can never be fully clarifiedbecause source materialis lacking.Neverthelesshis diligent exploitation of theJagers' survivingletters,diariesand memoirstogetherwith archival materialin Finland, Sweden and Russia providesa solid basisfor his account of the vicissitudes of the movement. He does not shrink from answering awkwardquestions which could not even have been posed until recently. In particular he emphasizes that the Jagers were traitors according to Finnish law and that their treason was only legitimized by the establishment of an independent 'White' Finland. He shows that the Jager movement was small and not widely supported in Finland. It was revolutionaryand prepared to resortto sabotage and political murder.Although the roots of the movement lay in Finnishactivismwhich soughtto overthrowRussianrulein Finland,the Germansplayed an importantpart in fosteringand developing it. Lackman's answer to the provocative question of his title ('On behalf of Finland or Germany?')is that Germanyused theJagers forthepursuitof itsown interests and not those of Finland. Analysis of the social backgroundof the Jagers helps explain the tensions within the battalion. There was a great difference between the initial contingent of educated and often Swedish-speakingPfadfinder in I9I5 and the bulk of the Finnish speakerswho made up the battalion on its formation in I9I6. All classes were represented. Nearly thirty per cent were workersand seven per cent were Finnish merchant seamen who had been interned in Germany andjoined not as volunteersbut as an alternativeto imprisonment. The formation of theJager Battalion and its despatch to fight on the Eastern Front caused great discontent among the Finns because they had previously REVIEWS 757 been assured that there was intention to use them on active service. This broken promise was a measure of the Germans' determination to use the battalion to their own advantage. Even the timing of the battalion'seventual returnto Finlandwas dictatedby Germanpolicy. Lackmandescribesin detail the conflicts within the battalion, for example between its mainly Swedishspeakingleaders and their Finnish-speakingmen. The non-volunteerswere a particularlydiscontented element and the Russian Revolution exacerbated tensions. The battalion even formed a soldiers' council and in addition the working-classJagers formeda council of theirown. The apparently peaceful attainment of Finland's independence was a disappointment to many of the Jagers who had hoped to fight for that goal. The deterioratingsituation in Finland at the end of I9I 7 caused differences between the majoritywho objected to the fraternizationof Finnish socialists with revolutionaryRussian soldiersand the working-classJagers who did not want to fight against their own people. Nearly a quarter of the battalion refused to serve the Finnish government and thus returned to Finland only after the War of I9I8 (a term Lackman prefers to Civil War or War of Independence). He providesa thorough account of the fate of theJagers who did not fightin the war, some of whomjoined the FinnishCommunist Party. This is a long book which would have benefited from sub-editing to eliminate some repetition. The proof reading is poor. The chronology is not withouterrors;forexample, in I933 Mannerheimwas appointedfieldmarshal not marshalof Finland. Lackman'sconclusionshave upset those who cling to the formerofficialview of theJagers. And yet a more credible account of the movement and its members emerges than from previous studies. The Jagers appear as argumentativeand sometimes disobedient men of flesh...