A memorial plaque in honor of the Russian commander Karl Mannerheim.

“As they say, you can’t throw words out of a song. No one is going to whitewash Mannerheim's actions after 1918, but until 1918 he served Russia, and to be completely frank, he lived and served in Russia longer than he served and lived in Finland, ”said Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Ivanov at the opening ceremony.

In turn, as stated at the ceremony Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky, monuments to the heroes of the First World War, which then ended up on opposite sides of the barricades, is an attempt to overcome the tragic split in society.

AiF.ru tells about what Karl Mannerheim became famous for.

Carl Mannerheim. Photo: Public Domain

Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim was born on June 4, 1867 in the family estate of Louhisaari, near Turku (Finland) in the family Count Carl Robert Mannerheim and Countess Helene Mannerheim, nee von Yulin.

In 1882-1886, Karl studied at the Finnish Cadet Corps, but was expelled for violations of discipline. After graduating from a private lyceum in Helsinki, in 1887 he entered the Nikolaev Cavalry School in St. Petersburg.

In 1889-1890 he served in the 15th Alexandria Dragoon Regiment stationed in Poland, since 1891 - in the Cavalier Guard Regiment. In 1893 he was promoted to lieutenant, and in 1901 to staff captain. In 1897-1903 he served at the imperial court in St. Petersburg.

Mannerheim participated in the Russo-Japanese War of 1903-1905, fought as part of the 52nd Nezhinsky Dragoon Regiment. During the year of hostilities in Manchuria, he was awarded military decorations three times and promoted to colonel (1905). In 1906-1908 he led a reconnaissance expedition on the Russian-Chinese border. During the expedition, Mannerheim also conducted scientific work.

In 1908, Mannerheim was appointed commander of the 13th Vladimirsky Lancers Regiment, and in 1910 he was promoted to major general and appointed commander of the Life Guards of His Majesty's Lancers, stationed in Warsaw.

During the First World War, Mannerheim commanded various units of the active Russian army, from 1915 - the 12th Cavalry Division. For battles at the end of 1914 he was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree. Since 1917 - lieutenant general. In May 1917 he was appointed commander of the VI Cavalry Corps, which operated as part of the 6th Army.

After the Bolsheviks came to power, Mannerheim left for Finland, which in December 1917 declared independence from Russia. Mannerheim became one of the leaders of the movement for Finland to gain state independence and the armed struggle against leftist forces in this country.

On January 16, 1918, the Senate appointed Mannerheim commander-in-chief of the Finnish army. In January - May 1918, he commanded troops during the civil war in Finland. After the failure to elect the king of Finland, the German Prince Friedrich Karl of Hesse Mannerheim from December 1918 to July 1919 acted as regent (temporary ruler). On July 17, 1919, Finland was proclaimed a republic; on July 25, 1919, Mannerheim transferred state power to Kaarlo Stolberg, elected president of the Republic of Finland, remaining commander-in-chief of the army. In 1920, Mannerheim resigned as a sign of protest against the reform of the army according to the German model.

In 1931, Mannerheim became chairman of the Finnish Defense Council. He carried out the reorganization and rearmament of the army (in 1937, on his initiative, a 7-year rearmament plan was adopted), in fact, he created the Finnish Air Force. Convinced of the inevitability of war with the USSR, Mannerheim secured funding for the construction of the "Mannerheim Line" - a deeply echeloned system of defensive fortifications on the Karelian Isthmus. Based on this system of fortifications during the so-called Winter War (Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940), being the commander-in-chief of the Finnish armed forces, he developed a successful defensive strategy.

In 1941-1944, Karl Mannerheim led the Finnish armed forces in the war against the USSR. From 1942 he was Marshal of Finland.

On August 4, 1944, the Finnish parliament elected Mannerheim as president of the country. On his initiative, Finland signed a truce with the USSR and began military operations against Germany in Northern Finland.

Mannerheim retired in 1946. The last years he lived in Lausanne, Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Geneva.

Karl Mannerheim died on January 27, 1951, and was buried at the Hietaniemi military cemetery in Helsinki. A monument to Mannerheim was erected in the center of Helsinki in 1960. His birthday, June 4, is celebrated as a holiday in the Finnish Armed Forces.

Memory

Finland

In Finland, there is the Marshal Mannerheim Heritage Foundation (Suomen Marsalkka Mannerheimin perinnesäätiö), the main purpose of which is to preserve the memory of Mannerheim, as well as financially support research in the field of Finnish military history.

monuments

equestrian monument in Helsinki (sculptor Aimo Tukiainen), opened in 1960,

Monument in Turku

a monument in Tampere,

equestrian monument in Lahti,

Museum of the headquarters of Marshal Mannerheim and a monument in Mikkeli,

Museum in Louhisaari's family castle.

Russia

On June 14, 2007, on the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the birth of K. G. Mannerheim, a bust of the “Cavalier Guard Mannerheim” was erected in St. Petersburg ( sculptor Aydin Aliyev) and an exposition dedicated to his life and work was opened (Shpalernaya Street, 41, Marshal Hotel).

In 2015, it was assumed that a memorial plaque to K. G. Mannerheim would be opened on the facade of house 31 on Galernaya Street, where the military intelligence of the Russian Empire was located before the revolution. The plans caused a public outcry, on the eve of the planned grand opening ceremony, the board disappeared.

On June 16, 2016, a memorial plaque was installed on the facade of house No. 22 on Zakharyevskaya Street, in this building, which now houses the building of the Military Engineering and Technical University, before the revolution there was the Church of Saints and Righteous Zacharias and Elizabeth, the Life Guards of the Cavalier Guard Regiment. Mannerheim served in this regiment.

The ancestor of the Mannerheim family was the merchant Henrik Marheim, who moved from Holland to Sweden in the 16th century. He was engaged in mining, became a member of the city council of the city of Gavle, and even served in the burgher guard as a company commander. Then he moved to Stockholm, where he got a position as an accountant in the first bank in Sweden. His youngest son Augustin got a job as a manager in Estonia, on the estate of Count Uksensherna, and during the sequestration of lands in order to return them to the crown, he became a member of the executive committee, composed of people of non-noble origin. This allowed him to lease the lands of his former employers, the counts of Uksenshern, and in 1693 to receive a noble title. He began to be called differently, changing the name Marheim to a longer and more sonorous one - Mannerheim. All four of his sons began serving as artillery officers. The eldest of them, Karl Eric, served in Finland in the city of Turku in the provincial infantry regiment. At 23, he was already in the rank of major, perhaps having bought the rank, which was accepted at that time. His brother, who received a law degree, joined the royal opposition and in 1809 was appointed Commissioner of Justice.

Carl Eric himself was prominent in the Anjala Union and was accused of treason and sentenced to death. He applied for a pardon and received it. Despite the fact that his views were shared by many officers who opposed the war started by the king with Russia, Karl Erik Mannerheim could no longer continue military service in Finland. At first he decided to join some foreign army, but then, having married the daughter of the governor of Turku, he decided to give up his military career. Having bought the estate with his wife's money, he began to lead a quiet, peaceful life. But he did not succeed in finally parting with politics. During the Russian-Finnish war of 1808-1809, he was appointed chairman of the deputation to the Russian emperor to resolve the issue of the status of Finland. The negotiations were successful, and at the request of the deputation, a diet was convened, in which Mannerheim occupied a prominent place. He was elected governor, and in the early 1920s he became deputy chairman of the Senate Department of Economics. In the year of the death of Emperor Alexander I, Mannerheim was granted the title of count. He was a calm, reserved and businesslike man, demanding and stern. He did not enjoy the love of the Finns, and later he was accused of connivance and compliance with the Russians, which forced Mannerheim to resign and return to private life. Mannerheim was succeeded by Lars Gabriel von Haartmann, who was married to Karl Erik's daughter and after her death married her sister.

Karl Eric's son August did not aspire to a political career, understanding the hostile attitude towards the family of Finnish society. August Mannerheim became a specialist in women's fashion, interior design and ceremonial. He drew well, but could not become a professional artist, as in his time it was considered an occupation not worthy of a nobleman.

Completely different was his brother, Carl Gustav, who was the first in the Mannerheim family to be born in Finland. He was a cold, prim and inflexible person, very slowly but steadily moving up the career ladder. By the age of 36, he became the governor of Vasa, and then was transferred to the Vyborg province. In 1839 he became president of the Supreme Court of Vyborg. Carl Gustav actively supported everything Finnish, offered to conduct legal proceedings in Finnish, to establish the post of professor of the Finnish language at the University of Helsingfors. His great passion was collecting insects, and he had an impressive collection of over 100,000 species. He wrote a number of books on beetles (there were more than 20 thousand species in their collection) and was a member of many foreign natural science societies.

Married to the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel von Schanz, Carl Gustav had three daughters and a son. According to the will, son Charles Robert inherited the estate of Vilnes. When he was only 10 years old, his father passed away. In character, the son was completely different from his father - he became a radical and an atheist. Carl Robert possessed many artistic talents. He sang beautifully and even performed the main role at the premiere of the first Finnish opera King Karl's Hunt, replacing the ill soloist. He studied at the University of Helsingfors, and after graduation he spent a lot of time in Paris, where he was imbued with radical ideas. He wrote poetry and translated into Swedish the works of Burns, de Musset and Heine. He was an excellent cook and wine connoisseur. He married for money, taking as his wife the daughter of a major financial magnate Johan Jacob von Yulin - Helen. Karl Robert lived with his wife for 18 years, and then left her and seven children, having previously squandered both his fortune and the fortune of his wife. Helen Mannerheim raised her children in the English spirit - strictly and harshly. She paid more attention to their hardening than spiritual development, emphasizing self-discipline, restraint, efficiency and duty. Warm human feelings were not given much importance. The only child in the family who did not obey any discipline and for whom the principles of the mother did not matter was the future Marshal Carl Gustav Mannerheim.

He was born on June 16, 1867 on the Louhisaari estate in southwestern Finland. At the age of 14, Karl Mannerheim entered the cadet school in Friedrichsgam, near Vyborg, and then moved to the Nikolaev Cavalry School in St. Petersburg, which at that time was a great success. Karl Mannerheim soon made a brilliant career in the Russian army. In 1887 he was commissioned into the cavalry. During the years of study in the capital, he made many useful acquaintances and became close friends with Grand Duke Nikolai Alexandrovich, who later became the last Russian emperor. These connections were very useful to Mannerheim after graduating from the Nikolaev School. The first place of Mannerheim's service was the court regiment of "black dragoons", but he dreamed of getting into the famous regiment of cavalry guards, where he was transferred in 1891. In the guard, he made many friends, and he had the opportunity to join the social life of the capital.

When the Russo-Japanese War broke out, Mannerheim went to the front in Manchuria, where he took part in the fighting. Having received several orders, honestly deserved in battles, Carl Gustav Emil von Mannerheim returned to the capital.

After the defeat in the war, the Russian General Staff was looking for a person who could collect military topographic information in Central and Central Asia. And Lieutenant Colonel von Mannerheim volunteered. Within two years, he, accompanied by several Cossacks on horseback, crossed Turkestan, the Gobi Desert and reached Beijing through Tibet. He diligently photographed, took measurements, got acquainted with the life of the local population. This journey, 10 thousand kilometers long, allowed Mannerheim to become an honorary member of the Russian Geographical Society.

Returning to St. Petersburg and having received another honestly deserved rank, Colonel von Mannerheim was enlisted in the Guards Cavalier Guard Regiment. In 1911, von Mannerheim received the rank of major general, became commander of the Cavalier Guard Regiment and was included in the retinue of Nicholas II.

By the beginning of World War I, he was in the position of commander of the 12th Cavalry Brigade, which was sent to Galicia and participated in battles with the Austro-Hungarian army. The general also had a chance to fight in Romania, leading the cavalry corps. During the three years of the war, Mannerheim was awarded almost all Russian orders and received the rank of lieutenant general.

In March 1917, during the February Revolution, he was in Petrograd on vacation, and after the Kornilov rebellion he decided to return to the front. In September 1917, the Supreme Commander Dukhonin transferred him to the reserve. Having learned about the October Revolution and the fall of the Provisional Government, von Mannerheim decided to return to his homeland, to Finland.

In early January 1918, General Mannerheim was invited to the military committee, which set itself the task of forming the Finnish armed forces. On January 14, von Mannerheim became the head of this committee, and on January 16, the head of state, Per Evind Svinhufvud, appointed him commander-in-chief. The country was in a civil war. Under the leadership of General Mannerheim, in addition to the Shutskor detachments - paramilitary formations to protect law and order - there were parts of the German Expeditionary Force and parts of the White Army, which were opposed by parts of the Red Guard. In the spring of 1918, the Red Guard was defeated throughout the country, and in early May, Mannerheim solemnly entered the capital. However, the son-in-law of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Prince Friedrich Karl of Hesse, was elevated to the Finnish throne, and in early October 1918, Mannerheim, who had no love for the Germans, was forced to emigrate.

The revolution that broke out in Germany destroyed the Kaiser's throne. And already in December 1918, Gustav von Mannerheim returned to Helsinki, where he ruled the country as regent from December 1918 to July 1919. He strengthened the political system of Finland as a republic, strengthened the role of the armed forces in the country and tried to establish ties with the countries of Northern Europe. In July 1919, while still regent, he ratified the constitution of the Republic of Finland. After the election, Stolberg became the country's president, and Mannerheim retained the post of commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Finland. In 1920, the government decided to reform the Finnish army along the German lines. Von Mannerheim resigned.

In the early 1930s, he returned to politics and civil service. In March 1931 he was appointed chairman of the Defense Council. In 1937, Mannerheim achieved the adoption of a seven-year plan for the rearmament of the army, and under his leadership, defensive fortifications began to be built on the Karelian Isthmus, called the "Mannerheim Lines". He did a lot to arm and strengthen the Finnish army, and it was not his fault that by the time the Soviet Union attacked Finland in the fall of 1939, it was not sufficiently armed and trained, and the technical equipment of the Finnish army also left much to be desired. Carl Gustav von Mannerheim knew all this better than anyone else, so when Ryti told him about Moscow's proposals at the end of 1938, the general advised the prime minister to agree not only to Soviet bases, but also to minor territorial concessions.

As early as the beginning of 1938, the USSR, through closed channels, turned to Finland with a proposal to start negotiations on border issues in order to ensure the security of Leningrad in case of war. For this, the USSR wanted to get some Finnish territories. But the Finnish government refused. Mannerheim himself took a more flexible position and spoke in favor of concessions.

On October 5, 1939, Molotov invited a Finnish government delegation to Moscow for talks. The next day, Mannerheim secretly began a general mobilization. At the same time, local residents were evacuated from the Karelian Isthmus and from Helsinki. Mannerheim understood that the USSR would not simply back down from its demands to resolve the issue of new borders, so he advised Paasikivi: “You must definitely reach an agreement. The army is incapable of fighting."

Finland, supported by the international community, refused to make concessions. The Soviet Union began to intensively prepare for war with its northern neighbor. In Finland itself, neither the government nor the population believed in the possibility of war. Carl Gustav von Mannerheim, who still believed that it was necessary to agree to the demands of the Soviet Union, submitted his resignation, which, however, was not accepted. At that time, Mannerheim was already 70 years old, and he believed that he was not obliged to lead the country's armed forces, since his advice was not taken into account.

On November 27, 1939, Molotov declared that the USSR no longer considered itself bound by the non-aggression pact. The next day, the Soviet Union announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Finland, and on November 30, 1939, attacked the country.

On the very first day of the war, General von Mannerheim took his resignation. Meanwhile, the Finnish army courageously defended the foreground, repulsing all attempts by the Soviet troops to break through to the first line of fortifications. On December 2, in the first Finnish city of Terioki (now Zelenogorsk), captured at the cost of great sacrifices, the creation of a “government” of the Finnish Democratic Republic, headed by O.V. Kuusinen.

The Red Army, suffering huge losses, unsuccessfully stormed the first line of the Finnish defense on the Karelian Isthmus. In December 1939, all attempts by the Soviet troops to capture the fortified areas were unsuccessful. However, after the failure of the Christmas counter-offensive, the position of the Finns on the isthmus became more complicated. The front commander Timoshenko managed to establish interaction between the branches of the armed forces, and now the Finnish corps entrenched in the fortifications were exhausted by continuous fire. Timoshenko knew that Mannerheim had no reserves. The situation was saved by volunteers arriving in Finland - Swedes and Norwegians. In January, the first 3 thousand people entered the battle. Soon their number increased to 11,500 people. Sweden provided Mannerheim with 80,000 rifles, 500 machine guns, 200 guns and 25 aircraft. Italy also supplied Finland with 30 aircraft and a large number of anti-aircraft guns. The Finnish American Legion arrived at the front only by March 13, when the fighting had already ended. Assistance to the Finns was provided by France, Hungary, and even Poland. London, however, decided to try to settle the matter amicably and said that if the USSR did not stop the war, British strategic bombers based in Iraq would destroy the oil fields in Baku and Grozny. Moscow was forced to negotiate with Helsinki, and on March 12 an armistice was signed. Although the terms of the peace were very harsh, Finland escaped occupation.

Immediately after the Soviet-Finnish war, Finland began to look for allies in Northern Europe in case a new war broke out. The idea of ​​a defensive alliance did not find support from Sweden, and then the Finnish government refocused on Germany, which was already preparing an attack on the Soviet Union. From the second half of 1940, the Wehrmacht began to help General Mannerheim reform the Finnish army. In addition, the Finnish government agreed to the transit of German troops to Norway through its territory. Despite all the persuasion of Hitler and Keitel, in May 1941, President Ryti officially announced that Finland would not take part in the aggression against the USSR. But in early June, Soviet troops began to accumulate near the Finnish border, and on the 17th of the same month, Mannerheim conducted a general mobilization.

On the morning of June 22, Germany attacked the USSR. Mannerheim tried to avoid military obligations, while the Fuhrer wanted to present the Finns with a fait accompli and drag them into the war. The Soviet units periodically shelled the territory of Finland and attacked the Finnish border guards. The raid on Helsinki exhausted their patience, and Finland declared war on the USSR. The fighting of the armed forces of Finland was mainly reduced to the return of the territories torn away in 1940. On August 31, 1941, units of the Finnish army reached the old border.

At the end of November 1941, Churchill turned to his old friend von Mannerheim with a proposal to act as an intermediary in settling relations with the Soviet Union. But the campaign in Eastern Karelia developed so successfully that the commander-in-chief hesitated to respond, and meanwhile England, under pressure from Moscow, declared war on Finland. General von Mannerheim was persuaded to provide his troops for the capture of Murmansk and the railway, through which Allied aid came to the interior of the USSR. But he refused. By mid-1942, Hitler had failed to persuade Mannerheim to help the Wehrmacht cut the railroad from Murmansk. In addition, Mannerheim also refused to hand over Jews hiding in Finland from Gestapo persecution.

On June 4, 1942, Baron Mannerheim turned 75. On this day, he was awarded the rank of Marshal.

Beginning in the winter of 1943, Marshal Mannerheim stubbornly began to advise parliament to get out of the war as soon as possible. In the summer, the Soviet Union also made peace proposals that led to the start of negotiations. But they were not successful. Moscow demanded the internment of German troops in Lapland, the restoration of the 1940 borders and the payment of indemnities. Finland did not agree to these proposals, although Mannerheim personally believed that concessions could be made on some issues.

On June 9, 1944, the Red Army launched an offensive on the Karelian Isthmus. Mannerheim threw into battle all the reserves he had, but after 10 days the Soviet units took Vyborg and began large-scale military operations in Eastern Karelia. In Helsinki, they again asked for help from Germany. The Germans were only able to provide von Mannerheim with an artillery brigade, a few squadrons and ammunition. By July 20, the offensive of the Red Army was stopped west of Vyborg, and the Soviet command, abandoning the intention to capture Southern Finland, began to transfer troops to the Baltic states.

On August 4, 1944, Carl Gustav von Mannerheim was elected by the Parliament as the new President of Finland. Immediately after taking office, the marshal, through the mediation of Sweden, entered into negotiations with Moscow. On September 2, Finland broke off diplomatic relations with the Third Reich and demanded the immediate withdrawal of German troops from Lapland. Three days later, fire was ceased on the Soviet-Finnish front.

As a result of the Second World War, Finland lost 12 percent of its territory and more than 89 thousand people were killed.

The intense tension of recent years affected the health of Marshal Mannerheim. Already during the war, he had to be treated in Switzerland. By the spring of 1945, his health deteriorated sharply, and he had to leave the country for a long time for treatment abroad. In early 1946, he wanted to give up the presidency of the country, but decided to resign after the trial of war criminals was over. Still, already in March 1946, Mannerheim announced the impossibility of further fulfillment of his presidential duties, and Paasikivi was elected his successor.

Mannerheim spent the last years of his life in Switzerland. There he not only received treatment, but also worked on his memoirs, in which he summed up his life. Mannerheim died in Lausanne on January 28, 1951. Tens of thousands of Finns saw him off on his last journey.

Gustav Mannerheim: Biography of Hitler's ally, facts of genocide, atrocities against Russian Finns under his leadership. PHOTO, VIDEO

To whom was a memorial plaque built on the wall of a military school in St. Petersburg, the head of the presidential administration, Sergei Ivanov, and the Minister of Culture, Vladimir Medinsky ...?

From the news bulletins:

“Sharp rejection by some residents of St. Petersburg of the opening of a memorial plaque to Marshal Karl Mannerheim on Zakharyevskaya Street resulted in an act of vandalism. On Sunday night, unknown people poured red paint over the board. Now the police are trying to find the intruders using CCTV footage.

Recall that the plaque on the facade of the building of the Military Academy of Logistics on Zakharyevskaya Street was opened on June 16. The head of the Kremlin administration Sergey Ivanov took part in the opening. Before the revolution, there was the Church of the Saints and Righteous Zechariah and Elizabeth, the Life Guards of the Cavalier Guard Regiment. Mannerheim served in this regiment.

The issue of perpetuating the memory of Mannerheim caused a mixed reaction in society. On the one hand, this Finnish commander served in the Russian army from 1890 to 1917, participated in the Russian-Japanese and World War I. However, after the revolution, he moved to Finland, built a system of defensive fortifications "Mannerheim Line" there, was the commander-in-chief of the Finnish army in 1939-1944 and fought with the USSR, later becoming the president of Finland.

The Minister of Culture of Russia and Chairman of the Military Historical Society of the Russian Federation (RVIO) Medinsky also said in response to criticism of the installation of the board that "you should not try to be a greater patriot and communist than Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, who personally defended Mannerheim."

Apparently, the minister was referring to the story in which Stalin, with the words "Do not touch", crossed out the name of Mannerheim from the list of Finnish war criminals compiled by Herte Kuusinen.

Finnish cartoon about the bloody bugger Mannerheim

A new animated film has appeared in Finland. What's amazing about this? And the fact that its author - the famous Finnish director-animator Katarijna Lillqvist - fell under an avalanche of letters and phone calls with death threats. It came to the intervention of the police. And all this is happening not in some "hot" southern country, but in the reserved northern Suomi.

Lillqvist dared to encroach on the sacred, almost on the icon - the national hero of Finland, Marshal Karl Mannerheim, who, thanks to the many years of efforts of local myth-makers, turned into a Finnish Prometheus.

The director focuses on those aspects of the life of the legendary marshal that are not usually spoken about aloud, namely: his homosexuality and unjustified cruelty during the civil war in Finland in 1918.

The puppet cartoon - half realistic, half fantastic - is called "Ural Butterfly". "Butterfly" is a young man who was brought to Mannerheim from beyond the Urals, and who became both his servant and lover. When a civil war broke out in Finland, Mannerheim, at the head of the "white" troops, went with his "butterfly" to pacify the "reds", that is, to save the state.

The cartoon is based on real events that took place in 1918 in the vicinity of Tampere. There were fierce battles between the "white" and "red" Finns. Suppressing the speeches of the "Reds", many of whom rotted in concentration camps, Mannerheim gave orders for the mass destruction of prisoners of war and civilians.

At the same time, his detachments also killed many white officers, ordinary citizens, women and children who had nothing to do with the "Reds" - they were killed only because they were Russians. Especially for those who, out of ignorance (or on assignment), defend the "Russian officer" Mannerheim, who allegedly "fought with honor for the Whites against the Reds":

Jaegers formed the core of the army of the "Russian General" Mannerheim. These were Finns who had been trained in Germany and fought in the First World War against the Russians. Furious Russophobes were led by "military pensioner" K.G. Mannerheim. (They are very fond of aspirating to say that "he knew Russian better than Finnish").

What did his favorites mark in the Civil?

Having entered the city of Vyborg on April 28-29, 1918, after the withdrawal of the Finnish Red Guard, the chasseur battalions staged a “purge” in the city. Reds and whites, military and civilians, adults and children were killed. But first of all, the Russians were killed.

Swede Lars Westerlund published a book-study of this phenomenon "We were waiting for you as liberators, and you brought us death ...". It should be given to the cadets of the school to read before taking up their post at the memorial plaque that the authorities erected yesterday at 22 Zakharyevskaya Street in order to split society and spit on History.

Here are some excerpts from this work.

From an entry dated May 2 and 3 in the diary of Baron Paul Ernst Georg Nicolai, owner of the Mon Repos estate:

“... Madame Naumova came to ask for a certificate for her husband. Her son, a 16-year-old boy, was captured and shot on the first day, for no reason. I think they heard him speak Russian! All Russian street names must be removed within 48 hours. It seems idiotic in a city with such a large Russian population.”

Both mass executions and murders in courtyards were carried out.

The Petersburg newspaper Delo Naroda wrote about executions in the Vyborg Castle. According to the article, 150 Russians hid in the fortifications opposite the castle. They were all taken to the castle, where the men were separated from the women. After that, the men were divided into groups of 20 and shot in the courtyard of the castle. Among the executed was an unknown colonel. Wives and mothers looked at the execution from the windows and, horrified by what they saw, some of them went crazy.

The Vyborg architect Vietti Nyukanen told how on April 29, 1918, at 3.30 or 4.00 am, the attacking troops of the rangers captured the Vyborg castle: they were shot." Obviously, we are talking about Russian representatives of the nobility, officials and officers who were killed even before the start of mass executions in the first half of the day.

Tailor Ivan Udalov was shot in the courtyard of the castle. His wife Alexandra Kapitonovna Udalova was arrested on the evening of April 29, 1918, in a Russian club near St. Anna Square. All the rest of those present were also arrested and taken to the Vyborg Castle.

About the mass execution between the ramparts at the Friedrichsham Gate in the afternoon of 04/29/1918.

“A table was brought from the railway station building, at which officers dressed in a reminiscent of an Austrian uniform conferred for 10 minutes. They announced to the detainees that they were sentenced to death, after which they sent them to the ramparts at the Friedrichsham Gate.

On the afternoon of April 29, 1918, Russian prisoners gathered at the Vyborg railway station were forced to march towards the western Vyborg fortifications. At about 3 pm, as soon as the group was placed between the ramparts in four rows at the Friedrichsham Gate, they carried out, probably, a pre-planned and prepared mass execution.

An eyewitness, soldier Oskari Petenius, related this: “One of the prisoners tried to escape and was shot dead in the middle of the road. When all the prisoners passed through the first gate of the fortifications, they were ordered to stand on the left side of the moat so that a right angle was formed. When the prisoners approached there, the guards surrounded them. The narrator heard how they were given the order to shoot, but did not know who ordered. There was no way for the prisoners to escape. Every one of them was shot with rifles, hand weapons or grenades. Petenius also took part in the execution, firing five shots from his rifle.

The commander of the Vyborg guard, captain Mikko Turunen, who saw everything, said: “(...) they were shot between the ditches, where there were already some of the executed, and some of the Russians being shot just at that moment, about several hundred. The execution was carried out by about a hundred Finnish soldiers, among whom were officers. According to the narrator's observations, it turned out that at first they shot with crossfire from rifles, then the executioners went down into the ditch and finished off one by one the surviving prisoners.

An attorney from the city of Vaasa, Josta Breklund, who personally participated in the execution, told about what happened: “The prisoners were placed in the ditch so that they formed a right angle. The guards were ordered to line up in front of the prisoners and shoot. The soldiers who were at the beginning of the procession started shooting first, then all the rest, including the narrator (...). Almost immediately, as soon as the shooting began, most of the prisoners fell to the ground. Despite this, the shooting continued for about another five minutes. On the ramparts there were soldiers, huntsmen (...). After some time, a man in a German Jaeger uniform ordered the rifles to be raised and the fire stopped, after which the men approached the dead. Then, first, two, one of whom was in a German Jaeger uniform, began to shoot with a revolver at the heads of the wounded, but still alive people. Gradually others joined them.

“... The spectacle was indescribably terrible. The bodies of the executed lay at random, in what position. The walls of the ramparts were stained with gore on one side. It was impossible to move between the ramparts, the earth turned into a bloody mess. Search was out of the question. No one would be able to examine such piles of bodies.”

Military officials who sympathized with the White Finns were shot just as easily: “The captain of the liquidation department, Konstantin Nazarov, according to the stories of his wife Anna Mikhailovna Nazarova, “left the house on the designated day (04/29/1918) at half past eight in the morning to greet the Whites, and at about half past ten he went to the station to obtain any permission to stay. But at the station there was a long line of people waiting, and he went home, and then to his office at 21 Ekaterininskaya Street, where he, along with other members of the department, was arrested at 11 o'clock in the morning. He did not help the Red Guards in any way and was not a Bolshevik. Nazarov was shot between the ramparts on the same day.

According to the information told by the former caretaker of the church, Yukho Kochetov, on the day the city was taken, one Russian officer who lived in Vyborg “went with a bouquet in his hands and in uniform to greet the White Guards, but was instead shot.”

Philistines were killed: “Dealer Ivan Prokofiev was killed on April 29, 1918 between ramparts. The merchant A.F. Vaitoya and the landlord Julius Hyauryunen confirm: “Juhana (Ivan) Prokofiev was not a member of the Red Guard and, moreover, did not take part in the rebellion.”

Children were killed: “The youngest of those killed were 12-year-old Sergei Bogdanov and 13-year-old Alexander Chubikov, who were shot between the ramparts. The 14-year-old son of a worker, Nikolai Gavrilov, has gone missing. Perhaps this was the same boy that Impi Lempinen spoke about: “I again ended up in a group where they spoke Russian in a whisper, there were many Russians. There was also a friend of mine, a 14-year-old boy who spoke Russian, who was born in Vyborg. One monster rushed to the group with a spruce branch on his hat and shouted: “Don't you know, they kill all Russians?”. Then this young boy bared his chest and shouted: "There is one Russian here, shoot." The monster took out a weapon and fired, the dead boy was a brave Russian.”

The memoirs of a worker activist speak of the execution of three young Russians on the Red Well Square on the morning of April 29, 1918. According to them, the whites noticed in the group of prisoners gathered on the square “a couple of Russian schoolchildren of 18-19 years old. Also on the head of one middle-aged man was a Russian military cap. “Russians, get in line!” one huntsman shouted. These three Russians were quickly taken to the nearest courtyard, from where shots immediately rang out. The executioners returned laughing...

The Jaeger movement began to actively expand its circle of adherents in Finland in 1914, especially in the university environment, and led to the initiative of military training of Finnish volunteers in the Royal Prussian 27 Jaeger Battalion of the German Army in 1915-1918.

But not all huntsmen were as loyal to the government as is commonly believed. During the training, the team of rangers rallied into a single group, and it was important for them to act together in Finland as well. Wilhelm Theslef expressed the idea - to form a strong strike group on the basis of the 27th battalion. Jaegers would be the backbone of the brigade, the number would be supplemented from security detachments. The brigade was to be reinforced by two infantry regiments, cavalry, a field artillery battery, and a reconnaissance company. The commander-in-chief of the Finnish army, which was just being created, Mannerheim opposed this initiative. He feared that fighting with one unit, the huntsmen were at risk of complete defeat. "... I am strongly convinced that this will lead to the destruction of the white army," he said, reporting on the situation to Senator Renvalle ...

It is still not customary to remember these victims of the civil war in Finland. No less cruelly did the Finns kill Russian soldiers and officers during the Great Patriotic War. In Finland, they are silent about what they did with the captured Russians.

"PUTIN'S IMMORTAL REGIMENT"

Quotes from Finnish newspapers:+

Our artillery strikes again. Five batteries simultaneously begin to send shells to the Leningraders. (newspaper Uusi Suomi).

The bombardment of Leningrad is a majestic spectacle. There is no doubt that thousands and thousands more, especially civilians, will die in this game. (newspaper Ilkka).

Leningrad will fall into our hands in the form of ruins. The inhabitants will die of hunger. (newspaper Suomen Sanomat).

Now this city of Leningrad must perish. (newspaper Ani Suunta).

On June 9, 1944, the Vyborg-Petrozavodsk operation began. Soviet troops, with the active support of the Baltic Fleet, broke into the Finnish defenses on the Karelian Isthmus and on June 20 stormed Vyborg. The correspondent of the Pravda newspaper reported on June 25: “With every kilometer of advance along the land liberated from the enemy, a picture of the bloody atrocities of the Finns is increasingly unfolding before our soldiers. At the very beginning of the offensive on the Karelian Isthmus, the soldiers of one of our units, who broke into the village of Tudokas, saw the mutilated corpse of a Red Army soldier near the burning house. His back was pierced with bayonets, his hands were cut off ... The Red Army soldier Lazarenko, who fell into the clutches of the Mannerheims, was subjected to monstrous torture. Finnish executioners drove cartridges into his nostrils, and burned a five-pointed star on his chest with a red-hot ramrod. But even this seemed not enough to vile sadists. They broke the skull of their victim and stuffed breadcrumbs inside.”+

From the report on the atrocities of the White Finns in the temporarily occupied territory of the USSR, sent to the head of the GlavPURKKA A.S. Shcherbakov, his deputy I.V. Shikin (Moscow, July 28, 1944): “Numerous material has been collected regarding the brutal massacre of Finnish white bandits over prisoners, especially the wounded, Soviet soldiers and officers. It testifies to the wild, barbarous torture and torture that Finnish sadists subjected their victims to before killing them. Many of the found corpses of tortured Soviet officers and soldiers have stab wounds, many have their ears and noses cut off, their eyes gouged out, their limbs turned out of their joints, skin strips and five-pointed stars were cut out on the body. Finnish fiends practiced burning people alive at the stake. 25.VI—1944 on the shore of Lake Ladoga, the corpse of an unknown Red Army soldier was found, boiled alive at the stake in a large iron barrel. From the testimonies of prisoners of war it is clear that among the White Finnish soldiers, a wild, cannibalistic custom of boiling down the heads of slaughtered Soviet prisoners of war in order to separate the soft covers from the skull has spread. No less terrible is the fate of Soviet prisoners of war, whose lives were saved in the first minute. In the concentration camps, a regime was established, designed for the extinction of prisoners of war by a slow, painful death. When reports appeared in the foreign press, including the Swiss press, about the barbarian regime and high mortality in Finnish prisoner-of-war camps, Mannerheim was forced to issue the following statement in December 1942: 20,000 prisoners from starvation. Until August of this year, 12,000 prisoners actually died...””.+

According to the order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army, Field Marshal Mannerheim, dated July 8, 1941, all "foreigners", that is, Russians, were sent to concentration camps as part of a program of ethnic cleansing. According to the data of the doctor of historical sciences S.G. Verigina (Petrozavodsk State University), “in 1941-1944. Finnish troops occupied two-thirds of the territory of Soviet (Eastern) Karelia, where about 86 thousand local residents remained, including those displaced from the Leningrad region. Ethnically related to the Finns, Karelians, Vepsians, representatives of other Finno-Ugric peoples were to remain on their territory and become future citizens of Greater Finland. Ethnically not related to the Finns, local residents, mostly Russians, were considered as immigrants, not nationals or foreign nationals (these terms were used in the documents of the Finnish authorities).

N.I. Baryshnikov in the book "Five myths in the military history of Finland 1940-1944" notes: “The presence of such an order by Mannerheim was carefully hidden all the time in the official Finnish historiography, although the specified document exists and is stored in the Military Archives of Finland. This is secret order No. 132, signed by the commander-in-chief on July 8, 1941, the day before the Finnish troops, the Karelian army, went on the offensive in the direction north of Lake Ladoga. Paragraph four of the order said: “The Russian population should be detained and sent to concentration camps.”

In the collection “The Monstrous Atrocities of the Finnish-Fascist Invaders on the Territory of the Karelian-Finnish SSR (Collection of Documents and Materials, State Publishing House of the Karelian-Finnish SSR, 1945), the report of the Extraordinary State Commission for the Establishment and Investigation of the Atrocities of the Nazi Invaders and Their Accomplices states that the government and the supreme military command of Finland sought to turn the Karelian-Finnish SSR into a colony. In the instruction of the Finnish headquarters, captured by the Red Army in June 1944, it is said: “If Finland now lacks building timber, then the rich forests of Eastern Karelia are waiting to be turned into capital.”+

By the end of 1941, there were about 20,000 people in the concentration camps, the vast majority Russians. Their largest number occurred at the beginning of April 1942 - about 24 thousand people, or about 27% of the total population in the zone of occupation. For the Russian population of the Olonets district, as well as residents of the Vologda and Leningrad regions, resettled in the occupied territory of Soviet Karelia in the initial period of the war, concentration camps were created in the villages of Vidlitsa, Ilyinskoye, Kavgozero, Pogrankondushi, Paalu and Uslanka, as well as six concentration camps in Petrozavodsk. In total, during the Finnish occupation of Karelia, 14 concentration camps for the civilian population were created. According to the Karelian historian K.A. Morozov, as a result of hard forced labor, poor nutrition, famine, epidemics, executions in the camps, more than 14 thousand Soviet people died, or 1/5 of those remaining in the occupied territory. Their only fault was that they were non-Finns, and also did not belong to the Heimokansalainen group (tribesmen, i.e. Karelians, Vepsians and Izhors). Tortures and executions were used against the "guilty". These statistics do not include data on prisoner-of-war camps, the first of which began to be created as early as June 1941 and the regime in which was not much different from that of concentration camps.

And what the White Finns did with the prisoners on the battlefield defies any reasonable explanation at all. On June 28, 1944, near the village of Tosku-Selga, the Finns attacked a group of wounded Red Army soldiers. They stabbed them in the face with a knife, smashed their heads with butts and axes, and thus killed 71 wounded Red Army soldiers. Thus, the skull of Lieutenant Sych’s guard was split in two and his eyes were gouged out, the guard of Private Knyazev had five bayonet wounds on his face, the guard of Sergeant Artemov’s face was cut with a razor, his arms were turned back, one wounded man was doused with gasoline and burned (the corpse cannot be identified).

On July 4, 1944, in the defense sector recaptured by our soldiers, next to the trench lay the corpse of a senior sergeant. The instrument of their atrocity - a large Finnish knife - the Finns left stuck in the chest of a Soviet soldier. The senior sergeant's hands were stained with blood, and the position of the corpse proved that the bandits had thrust the senior sergeant's hands into his cut throat. According to the found Red Army book, it was established that it was Senior Sergeant Boyko. Not far from Boyko were the corpses of other fighters. The Finns cut off the ear of one fighter, a huge hole was dug in the forehead of another, and the eyes of the third were gouged out.

(left: skin taken by the Finns from a captured Russian soldier)

On June 20, 1944, during the occupation of the 7th company of the 3rd division of the battalion 1046 of the Finns' defense regiment, the head of an unknown Soviet soldier, put on a stake driven in front of the door of the mined dugout, was discovered in the Finns' trench, in front of the dugout of the command post.

The newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda" dated August 11, 1944 published a letter from Senior Lieutenant V. Andreev: +

“Dear comrade editor! Take a look at this photo. It shows Lieutenant of the Finnish army Olkinuorya. In his hands is the skull of a Red Army soldier tortured and killed by him. As the prisoners testified, this beast in uniform decided to keep the skull of his victim “as a keepsake” and ordered the soldiers to boil it in a cauldron and clean it. And in the suitcase of the captured Finn Saari, we found photographs like this. Saari tortured the prisoners, cut off their arms and legs, and ripped open their stomachs. He even established a system: first he cut off the feet, hands, then the shins, forearms, and only then cut off the head.

The captured corporal of the 4th company of the 25th battalion of the 15th Finnish infantry division Kauko Johannes Haikisuo testified on July 6, 1944: “I heard such a case from a soldier Markus Koivunen. One deep reconnaissance platoon of the Lagus armored division caught in the spring of 1943 a Red Army soldier somewhere in Karelia. Finnish scouts scalped the Red Army soldier, hung the scalp on a bough, and then killed the prisoner. From this you can conclude how we treat Russian prisoners of war.”+

August Lappetelainen, Medical Sergeant of the 7th Company of the 30th Infantry Division of the 7th Infantry Division of the Finnish Army made the following statement to the command of the Red Army:

“On April 25, 1943, I and the commander of the 2nd platoon, sergeant major Esko Savolainen, went to the command post of the 7th company. Company commander Seppo Rusanen turned to me: “Listen, junior sergeant. I have a task for you: I need to get a human skull, and you, as a medical worker, will need to boil the head to get the skull.” On April 26, the company commander called me. We drove about 2 km. The Kalle stronghold was located there, where Russian scouts attacked in winter. Three Red Army soldiers were killed here, their corpses lay uncleaned. When the platoon commander and I examined these corpses, he found a suitable head, I cut off the head with an ax that was with me. Then the lieutenant said to me: "Take this head on a shovel, and I will photograph it." Then the lieutenant told me that I would have to boil it as quickly as possible so that it would not spoil. Before I put my head in the cauldron, the lieutenant came and took another picture of her. After that, I saw this skull on his desktop. And then in early August, Rusanen went on vacation and took this skull with him. According to the stories of the soldiers of the Liyavala and Räsänen department, Rusanen took the skull as a gift to his bride” (translated from Finnish).

The soldier of the 101st Finnish Infantry Regiment Aare Ensio Moilanen testified during interrogation: “The reconnaissance and sabotage detachment, of which I am a member, set fire to the village of Koikari ... the women ran towards us and asked them not to shoot them. We raped some of these women and shot them all. Nobody was left. I have a beautiful girl in my memory, whom my comrades and I raped, and then shot.”+

The Finns tortured not only adults, but also children. A captured Finnish soldier of the 13th company of the 20th infantry brigade Toivo Arvid Laine testified: “In the first days of June 1944, I was in Petrozavodsk. The camp accommodated children from 5 to 15 years old. The kids were creepy to watch. They were small living skeletons, dressed in unimaginable rags. The children were so exhausted that they forgot how to cry and looked at everything with indifferent eyes.”+

For "offenders", mainly consisting of women and children, special-purpose camps were created in Kutizhma, Vilga, Kindasov, which were not inferior to medieval casemates. “Here the prisoners of the camps ate mice, frogs, dead dogs. Thousands of prisoners died from bloody diarrhea, typhoid fever, pneumonia. Instead of treatment, the animal doctor Kolehmainen beat the sick with sticks and drove them out into the cold. This letter was signed by 146 Soviet citizens, former prisoners of the Petrozavodsk camps.+

The commission, with the participation of the chief forensic expert of the Karelian Front, Major Petropavlovsky, the chief pathologist of the Karelian Front, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Lieutenant Colonel Ariel, examined the Peski cemetery in Petrozavodsk and discovered 39 group graves, in which at least 7 thousand corpses were buried. The cause of death for most of the buried was exhaustion. Some of the corpses had through injuries of the skull with firearms.+

Captured by the Red Army, Pelkonen, deputy head of the Olonets camp No. 17 for prisoners of war, testified during interrogation: “I fully shared the fascist propaganda carried out by the Finns. In the person of the Russian nationality, I saw the primordial enemies of my country. With this opinion, I went to fight against the Russians. My boss, lieutenant Soininen, said that the Russians, even in captivity, continue to be enemies for the Finns.

The Extraordinary State Commission has established that the Finnish government and army command are primarily responsible for all the atrocities committed by the Finnish fascist invaders. Thus, Field Marshal Mannerheim is clearly a war criminal.+

Regarding the myth that

"MANNERHEIM DID NOT WANT TO HARM PETERSBURG"

The Finnish artillery, counting on one gun, fired shells in the direction of Leningrad no less than the German one, but they did not reach Leningrad not because of the baron's love for the city, but because of the laws of physics. The closest point to Leningrad for the Finns was 35 km, and for the Germans 10. Therefore, the Germans shot Leningrad even with divisional artillery. Not to mention the most powerful grouping of heavy and super-heavy guns.

The Finns had few such guns, but they were, and in Leningrad, though not as many as the Germans, they fired - there are several cases of hits on important objects from the "wrong" side, including a heavy shell hitting a bomb shelter, which caused large victims. These were the results of artillery fire from Finnish territory. And the rest of the Finnish artillery mercilessly beat on Soviet soil, reliably closing the blockade ring, and conscientiously fulfilling Hitler's order: +

"Not a single resident of Leningrad should go beyond the encirclement, the city should be completely destroyed by artillery and aircraft."

Director of the Military Museum of the Karelian Isthmus, Russian military writer Bair Irincheev:

INSTALLING A MEMORIAL PLAQUE TO MANNERHEIM IS A BIG MISTAKE

In this case, the following arguments were given: they say, Mannerheim was a Russian general, a servant of the emperor, white. This is part of a trend to romanticize the imperial period of Russia and an attempt to forget everything that happened in the Soviet period. Supporters of the board say: let's forget that Mannerheim was an ally of Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1944, and remember how he carried banners at the coronation of Nicholas II. But it is simply impossible to tear apart the biography of one person. It's anti-scientific.

As a result, "an attempt to overcome the tragic split in society that occurred after the October Revolution" led to clearly opposite consequences. This can be seen from the current discussion. Mannerheim returned to Finland after 1917 and served there. He did not interfere with the mass executions of the population in Vyborg, when his white army entered there. After the victory of the white army in the Finnish Civil War in the spring of 1918, there was his order "The Oath of the Sword". He then said: "I will not sheathe my sword until the peoples of Karelia are free from the yoke of Bolshevism." He was with both hands for the expansion of Finland and the accession of the Republic of Karelia to it. In 1919 - 1922, he in no way resisted military expeditions - the invasion of Karelia by Finnish volunteer detachments. In 1941, the Finnish army did not stop at the borders of 1920, took Olonetsk, Medvezhyegorsk, crossed the Svir, and occupied Podporozhye. Beginning in 1918, Mannerheim supported the separation of Karelia from Russia, and in 1941 he carried it out. And only in 1944, when he realized that the Soviet Union would not be defeated, he refused this. What is the overcoming of the split?

In August 1944, when the defeat of Germany became apparent, Finland officially "withdrew from the war." Then Mannerheim was replaced as President of Finland by Risto Ryti. This was done at lightning speed, in order to save Finland from Ryti's promise to be with the Nazi Republic to the end (he signed such a letter to Hitler on June 23, 1944). On August 24, Mannerheim became president and signaled to the Soviet Union that he was ready to fulfill the terms of the armistice. conditions. Stalin, as a very pragmatic politician, understood: Mannerheim in Finland is a respected and compromise figure, and if you take him and hang him, then the right-wing parties will have their own martyr. All crimes were hanged on Risto Ryti. He was imprisoned by his own people for 7 years as a war criminal, he was released quickly enough on parole. Mannerheim, on the other hand, was excluded from the list of war criminals, but this is not tantamount to hanging a memorial plaque to him.

I communicate a little with the Finns, but the right is not enthusiastic, as they are Russophobic. The leftists say that in Tampere the monument to Mannerheim was doused five times with paint in memory of the bloody massacre in the spring of 1918. Finland has many of its own internal problems, and the figure is slightly forgotten. Next year, this will become relevant again: Finland will celebrate the 100th anniversary of independence and in 2018 - the 100th anniversary of the civil war.

By the way, the Mannerheim board itself contains errors: it shows the end date of the service - 1918, and then he already commanded the White Army in Finland and turned away when they shot at Russian officers. In general, setting up the board is an attempt to side with White and take revenge for their defeat, and not at all an attempt to overcome the split.

In this sense, the actions of the authorities look amazing, which, on the one hand, "condemn fascism", go to the "Immortal Regiment" action, write books about Finland's guilt in the death of a million blockade survivors, and then erect a monument to the direct organizer of the genocide ... (below are copies of pages from books of the current Minister of Culture V. Medinsky +

We have our own explanation for what happened. And it's not just about "attempts at reconciliation", "secret homosexual admirers" and "demonstration of friendly signs" during the Sabbath of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. We propose to look at the "theory and practice of oligarchic collectivism" of Putin's ruling regime through the prism of the anti-utopia of the practicing ideologist of the Air Force J. Orwell

DOUBLETHINK, CARL!

Doublethink is the ability to hold two opposing beliefs at the same time.

Meaning of doublethink:

“Doublethink means the ability to simultaneously hold two contradictory beliefs. The Party intellectual knows in which direction to change his memories; therefore, he realizes that he is cheating with reality; however, with the help of doublethink, he assures himself that reality has remained untouched. This process must be conscious, otherwise it cannot be carried out accurately, but it must also be unconscious, otherwise there will be a feeling of lies, and hence guilt.

Doublethink is the soul of the Ingsoc, for the Party uses deliberate deceit to keep a firm course towards its goal, and this requires complete honesty. To speak a deliberate lie and at the same time to believe in it, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient and to retrieve it from oblivion as soon as it is needed again, to deny the existence of objective reality and to take into account the reality that one denies - all this is absolutely necessary. Even when using the word "doublethink", it is necessary to resort to doublethink. For by using this word you admit that you are cheating with reality; one more act of doublethink and you erased it from your memory; and so on ad infinitum, and the lie is always one step ahead of the truth.

Feb 05 2013

Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim * Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim

• Published in ,

05.02.2013

Matti Klinge
Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim

President of the Republic, Regent, Marshal of Finland

Gustav Mannerheim, more often just Mannerheim, was a general of the Russian imperial army, a traveler-explorer, and then, during the period of independence, the commander-in-chief during three wars and twice the head of state. Along with, during his lifetime he became the most famous Finn both at home and abroad. Already early in his career, he became the object of a somewhat mythologized admiration and respect, which was embodied in street names, monuments, and in a popular museum house.

Monument to Mannerheim in Helsinki.

Admiration and respect have changed over time. The winning side initially treated the commander-in-chief in the war of 1918 with admiration, this figure was so legendary. The losing side felt hatred. Between 1939 and 1944 the enemy tried to stir up these already subsided negative moods again, achieving, however, rather the opposite result. In the 1970s, during the period of activation of the left forces, criticism of Mannerheim was again voiced. Admiration, accordingly, was most emphasized in connection with the death and funeral of the marshal of Finland, in connection with the construction of an equestrian monument in the late 1950s, as well as in the 1980s and 1990s. The personality of Mannerheim has been the subject of active scientific study since the 1950s.

Gustav Mannerheim was born on June 4, 1867 at Louhisaari Castle in Askainen, north of Turku. He was the third child and inherited the title of baron. The family was a count, and the count's title passed to the eldest son. His father, Count Carl Robert Mannerheim, as well as close relatives of his mother Hedwig Charlotte Helena (Helene) von Yulin, were industrialists and entrepreneurs, and his grandfather, President of the Court of Justice Count Carl Gustav Mannerheim, and great-grandfather, Senator Count Carl Erik Mannerheim, were high-ranking officials. Among close relatives, admiral Johann Eberhard von Schanz, who made a brilliant career in the Far East and St. Petersburg, a traveler-researcher, Professor Baron Adolf Eric Nordenskiöld, who achieved worldwide fame and moved to Sweden, as well as cousins ​​of his sister's grandfather, could serve as role models. Shernval (among them was Aurora Karamzin), who won success in the high society of St. Petersburg. The initial stage of Mannerheim's military career in St. Petersburg was based both on family ties and recommendations from the paternal side, and on the financial assistance of relatives from the mother.

The bankruptcy of his father, his flight-like departure from Finland, the breakup of the family and the early death of his mother left a mark on Gustav Mannerheim's childhood and influenced his dispatch at the age of fifteen in 1882 to the Finnish Cadet Corps in Hamina (Friedrichsgam). The previously typical military career for the nobility now increasingly served other life goals, an example of which was Mannerheim's father. The rapidly deteriorating economic situation of the family and the ambitious and stubborn nature of Gustav were perfectly suited for a military career, Mannerheim, however, was expelled from the Cadet School for violation of discipline in 1886. He entered the private Böka Gymnasium in Helsinki and passed the matriculation exam in 1887 d. Immediately after that, he went to St. Petersburg, where in September 1887 he was able to enter the Nikolaev Cavalry School. In this exacting military institution, he successfully studied and was promoted to cornet in 1889. Mannerheim's goal was to get into one of the elite units of the imperial guard, but he was first seconded to the provincial garrison in Poland. From there, a year later, he ended up in the cavalry regiment of Her Imperial Majesty's Guards, which was part of the Life Guards of His Imperial Majesty, using the recommendations of court ladies, relatives of the Empress, and with the financial support of his uncle. Mannerheim was promoted to lieutenant in the guard in 1893, junior captain in the guard in 1899, and captain in the guard in 1902. Mannerheim remained loyal to the Empress (from 1894 Empress Dowager) Maria Feodorovna, who was considered the commander of this regiment, paid her courtesy visits in Denmark in the 1920s. and kept her photograph on the table in his salon in Helsinki next to a photograph of Nicholas II.

Mannerheim did not get into the Academy of the General Staff, apparently mainly due to insufficient knowledge of the Russian language. Instead, he became a horse specialist, both buying breeding and working horses for the army, and trying to run a stud farm on his estate on his own, partly following the example of his brother Johan Mannerheim, who moved to Sweden. From 1903, he commanded an exemplary squadron and supervised the training of riding in the Guards Cavalry Regiments, and also achieved fame in riding competitions. Mannerheim, however, was looking for ways to further advancement. When the war with Japan began in February 1904, he volunteered for the front, and was sent with the rank of lieutenant colonel to the 52nd Nezhinsky Hussar Regiment, which was on the Manchurian front.

At the same time, his older brother, bank director Count Karl Mannerheim, was exiled to Sweden as one of the leaders of the anti-government political opposition, and those circles to which he belonged were looking for contacts with Japan in order to foment an uprising in Finland. Some other relatives also moved to Sweden, and arguments from both sides can be found in their correspondence. Mannerheim emphasized the importance of participation in the war for his career. In this way, he could compensate for the failure to enter the General Staff Academy and, along the way, alleviate the psychological and social problems associated with divorce. At the front, Mannerheim acted proactively and sought to distinguish himself, but at the same time he had to deal with the inept conduct of the war and discord among the high command. The leadership appreciated him, and although he failed to receive the most coveted award, the St. George Cross, he was promoted to colonel for his courage in the battle of Mukden. The order was dated the day of the battle.

Even then, Mannerheim planned to organize a long reconnaissance expedition to little-known regions of Asia. Nordenskjöld, Swedish and Russian explorers-travelers (Sven Hedin, Nikolai Przhevalsky), as well as some other officers served as an example of him. At the same time, he believed that a successful expedition would allow him to distinguish himself, which he needed to advance in his career. Obviously, his goal was to command the guards regiment.

After returning from the Russo-Japanese War, Mannerheim in 1905-1906. spent some time in Finland and Sweden. As a representative of the baronial branch of his family, he participated for the first time in the Diet of Estates, the last in the history of Finland. At the Diet, Mannerheim did not take part in public political discussions, but he made personal connections and became known as a person who, in the event of a possible change in the political situation, could, according to the old tradition, be thought of as a candidate for senators or even ministers of state. -secretaries. Carefully preparing for the expedition to Asia, to which he had already been appointed, Mannerheim simultaneously established relations with scientific and Fennoman circles. Perhaps the chief of the general staff, General Palitsyn, and his reformist entourage specifically wanted to keep Mannerheim away from the politically turbulent world in order to save him for future assignments as an unbiased person. However, during the Asian expedition of Mannerheim, Palitsyn was forced to resign. However, later they still started talking about the idea of ​​​​appointing Mannerheim as Assistant Minister of State Secretary or Minister of State Secretary, but the political situation did not allow such a decision to be made in which the candidacy of Minister of State Secretary would suit both the emperor and the Finnish elite.

Mannerheim began his long expedition from Kashgar (Turkmenistan) in October 1906, his goal was Beijing. Accompanied by only a few people, he rode through the territory, almost entirely belonging to China. His task was to explore these largely uninhabited mountainous and desert regions, which were of interest to Russia, China and Great Britain. The scientific goals of the expedition were related to the military - to get the most complete description of the territory. Mannerheim demonstrated a notable scientific talent and ambition by researching the customs, languages ​​and ethnic traits of the tribes he encountered, archeology, amassing a collection of objects, and taking photographs.

The collection arrived in Helsinki to the Finno-Ugric Society, which later published Mannerheim's detailed travel diary and helped him write a travel essay intended for the general public. Photographic materials were published in the 1990s, at the same time the collections were presented in the new Ethnographic Museum of Helsinki.

Mannerheim returned to St. Petersburg in September 1908. The Emperor listened with interest to his report on the trip. Now Mannerheim deserved the regiment, however, the issue was delayed until January 1909, when he finally received the coveted position of commander of the guards regiment, however, first in the provincial Novominsky garrison in Poland. Guards units were usually stationed in St. Petersburg, but there were also a few in Poland, and one was based in Helsinki until 1905. The Polish front was vital in preparing for a possible war with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Mannerheim established himself as a successful mentor commander both in Novominsky and in Warsaw, where he was transferred in 1911 as commander of His Imperial Majesty's Guards Lancer Regiment. In 1911 he was promoted to major general, and in 1912 he entered the retinue of His Imperial Majesty, which corresponded to the rank of lieutenant general. With the liquidation of the retinue in 1917, he was promoted to lieutenant general.

In Warsaw, Mannerheim spent one of the happiest stages of his life: he achieved success in his career, perceived his work as important and enjoyable, established close and fruitful relationships with the highest circles of the Polish aristocracy, and was able to keep in touch with his brothers and sisters in Finland and Sweden. . He became strongly attached to Princess Maria Lubomirskaya. Most of Mannerheim's letters addressed to her have survived and have been published. They give future generations the opportunity to recognize Mannerheim as a refined, sympathetic and sensual person.

Letters to Mrs. Lubomirskaya were mainly sent from the front of the world war that began in August 1914. Throughout the war, Mannerheim was in the army, mainly on the fronts against Austria-Hungary and in Romania. He had to spend these years in physically and psychologically difficult conditions and had a chance to experience both successes and failures. After the first setbacks, Russia managed to maintain its position, and the war dragged on. On December 18, 1914, for his valor, he was awarded the long-desired George Cross.

The February Revolution of 1917 immediately affected the situation in the army and the course of the war. Mannerheim was not favored by the new government and was relieved of his duties in September. He was in reserve and tried to restore his health in Odessa. After the situation in Russia became more and more confused, and after the large-scale offensive operation of Kornilov (the so-called Kornilov rebellion) failed, Mannerheim began to think about retiring and returning to Finland. But even in Finland in the autumn of 1917 the situation became more and more chaotic, the threat of civil war grew, when, with the collapse of the state machine, both the Red and White Guards began to be created. In January 1918, the bourgeois senate, chaired by P.E. Svinhufvuda and his military experts settled on Mannerheim's candidacy for the post of commander of the pro-government civil guard detachments (shutskor). Mannerheim was considered the most suitable of the generals, Finns by origin, who served or are serving in the Russian army. Without a doubt, this assessment was based on his background and social contacts, as well as political connections, including with relatives who were in opposition. Mannerheim's anti-German and anti-antantophile convictions did not influence the choice, which later led to a conflict, since Svinhufvud and the leading bourgeois circles of Finland as a whole made a bet on Germany earlier in the autumn, counting on military support for the separation of Finland from Russia.

Mannerheim was formally appointed to the post of commander-in-chief on January 16, 1918 and went to Seinäjoki, where he deployed his headquarters in an area that was a stronghold of the whites and favorably distinguished by the proximity of the main transport routes. The Senate, the government of Finland, was located in Vaasa. He formed a staff of Finns who served in the Russian army and reinforced it with a significant number of Swedish volunteer officers who played an important military and political role. Mannerheim did not want the Germans to be at the headquarters, and Germany, before the conclusion of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918, was not ready to send its soldiers to Finland. When Germany later decided to take part in resolving the situation in Finland and send the Baltic Division under the command of General Count Rüdiger von der Goltz to this end, Mannerheim was forced to change his strategy for political reasons.

The war began in Pohjanmaa as a "war of liberation" with the disarmament of several Russian garrisons. This was of significant importance both in terms of acquiring weapons and the formation of a northern foothold, and in terms of legitimizing the war as a whole. Mannerheim's goal now was to form troops (conscription was introduced) and train them, as well as to obtain weapons from Sweden and elsewhere. With the approach of German intervention, he decided to hasten the capture of Tampere, a stronghold of the Reds, which he managed to do after fierce fighting and heavy losses on both sides. At the same time, the white army advanced towards Savo and southward, and the headquarters was moved to Mikkeli. Mannerheim, no doubt, all this time proceeded from the possibility that the White Russians, with the help of the Western countries of the Entente, would sooner or later try to overthrow the Bolshevik government, and that Finland would participate in this operation. To emphasize the Finnish (“non-German”) nature of the war of liberation, on May 16, 1918, Mannerheim staged a grand victory parade for his “peasant army” in Helsinki. Von der Goltz and his troops had defeated the Red government and its military forces in Helsinki a month earlier, and pro-German sentiment was strong in the city. Now Mannerheim stood in opposition to the pro-German military-political orientation of the Senate, which, in the name of ensuring security from Russia and from its own Reds, completely placed Finland in the German sphere of influence. When the Senate disagreed with Mannerheim's demands, he left the country on June 1, 1918, convinced that the Entente would win anyway.

Thus, Mannerheim was not in the country at the final, fateful stage of the liberation war, marked by mass deaths from disease and starvation in huge concentration camps and lengthy trials. Even during the war, he tried to stop the "White Terror" and objected to the mass arrests of the Reds, as well as to the practice of individual trials on charges of treason.

In the autumn of 1918, Mannerheim negotiated in London and Paris, and when in Finland, after the defeat of Kaiser Germany, the form of government was to be changed, in accordance with the forms of government of 1772 and 1789. Mannerheim was invited to the post of regent with the authority to temporarily exercise the highest state power until the final resolution of the issue of the form of government, which became topical already in 1917. To strengthen Mannerheim's position and his orientation towards the Entente, the interested powers sent large consignments of food to Finland, which saved country from hunger. In the spring of 1919, he succeeded in obtaining the recognition of Finland's independence by Great Britain and the United States, as well as the renewal of recognition by France, which had previously agreed to recognition, but then withdrew it. Mannerheim used these recognitions and his official visits to Stockholm and Copenhagen, as well as other symbolic acts, to significantly strengthen the new sovereign status of Finland, trying to consolidate its orientation towards the victorious countries France and England, as well as Sweden. The question of Russia's future, however, remained open. Mannerheim hoped that the power of the communists there, as in Finland and Hungary, could be overthrown.

The biggest issue during Mannerheim's regency was the attitude towards the attempt of White Russian troops to capture Petrograd, which would probably lead to the overthrow of the Bolshevik government. Mannerheim believed that Finland should have been involved in the operation, but negotiations with the White Russians proved difficult. Russian whites could not make decisions that were the prerogative of the national assembly, just as they could not guarantee the sovereignty of Finland. Finland, on the other hand, having bowed to the side of Germany, having defeated the Reds, who advocated stronger ties with Russia, and then having consolidated sovereignty with the help of Western states, has already quite definitely opposed Russia, regardless of what she might become at the proposed national assembly.

As the border skirmishes on the Karelian Isthmus continued, especially in June 1919, the activists tried to persuade Mannerheim to use his monarchical power and launch an offensive. But Mannerheim refused these proposals, because he did not find sufficient political support for this idea in Finland. On July 17, 1919, he approved a new form of government, worked out as a result of a compromise decision in Parliament in June. Mannerheim did not personally intervene in the discussion on the form of government, but in a speech he delivered on May 16, 1918, for reasons of a domestic and foreign policy nature, he advocated a strong government power, and it could reasonably be assumed that he would not approve a purely parliamentary form board. Since the idea of ​​a monarchical form of government, proposed in the autumn, was closely connected with the defeated Germany, and since the choice of the king could not enlist the support of any great power as a guarantor of the security of Finland, the only option remained a compromise between monarchical and parliamentary forms of government - a presidential republic, sometimes referred to as an "elective monarchy". Such a form of government assigned to the president such broad authority to issue decrees and some other rights that they were never fully applied in practice. The form of government of 1919 appeared during the civil war in Russia and the state of war between Finland and Russia, and it showed its effectiveness, especially in difficult times from the point of view of foreign policy.

The period of Mannerheim's tenure as regent, in addition to the constitution and recognition of independence by foreign states, is reminiscent of the Order of the White Rose of Finland, established by him, awarded for military and civil merit; the year before, he had established the Order of the Cross of Liberty as Commander-in-Chief, which was revived as an award for military merit in 1939. The insignia of these knightly orders was made by the famous artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela. Gallen-Kallela, who was slightly older than Mannerheim, was one of his adjutants in 1919, later that year he received the title of honorary professor. He also developed other state symbols of Finland, but most of them were rejected after the resignation of Mannerheim.

Elections of the President of the Republic in accordance with the new constitution were held on July 25, 1919, but not by electors, but, as an exception, by Parliament. Mannerheim received 50 MPs from the conservative National Coalition Party and the Swedish People's Party, but Kaarlo Juho Stålberg, President of the Supreme Administrative Court, won with 143 votes and was supported by the Agrarian Union, the Progressive Party and the Social Democrats. Trusting relations were not established between Mannerheim and Stolberg, and plans to appoint Mannerheim commander-in-chief of the army, or commander-in-chief of the detachments of the guards with very independent powers, did not materialize. After that, Mannerheim went into private life, and a rather large fund was raised for him (“civil gift”), on whose funds he could exist. He rented a villa in the Kaivopuisto park that belonged to the Fazer family and reconstructed it so that it would meet the needs of a man leading an everyday, modest soldier's life, but, on the other hand, would correspond to the status of a familyless aristocrat, a former head of state. In the 1920s he devoted much of his time to the Finnish Red Cross and to the 1920 General Mannerheim Union for the Protection of Children. Within the framework of the latter, he fought for the unity of the nation and for smoothing out the contradictions generated by the civil war. In this he was helped by his sister, and later by the famous pediatrician, honored doctor Arvo Ylppö, as well as many other people. Mannerheim also traveled abroad to hunt and to sanatoriums, and kept in touch with political and diplomatic circles. Obviously, to some extent, he missed an active life, not being completely satisfied with only humanitarian work, minor involvement in business (chairing the board of the Liittopankki bank, a summer cafe near his villa in Hanko), reading, attending concerts and social life .

The economic and political crisis that began in 1929 again actualized Mannerheim's status, and some right-wing groups wanted Mannerheim to become a military dictator. He, however, was wary of the Lapua movement and the various groups of its supporters and made no commitments; he closely followed the situation, preparing, probably, for the possibility of a seizure of power by the Lapuans. In March 1931, Per Evind Svinhufvud, who became president at this turbulent time, soon after his election appointed Mannerheim chairman of the Defense Council and commander-in-chief in case of war, thereby formally reintegrating him into the state system. In 1933, Mannerheim received the rank of marshal.

Changes in the world since 1933 have shifted the emphasis in Finnish defense policy. The enthusiasm for East Karelia and Ingermanland that had survived until then, as well as the ideology of Greater Finland, waned as Germany and the Soviet Union rapidly gained strength. At the same time, the relative importance of the League of Nations, which was considered an important guarantor for Finland and other small states, weakened. Mannerheim participated in the recognition of the "Scandinavian orientation", a policy officially recognized in 1935, which, however, did not give Finland security guarantees. The Scandinavian orientation, however, was of great political and psychological significance, and when war broke out between Finland and the USSR in 1939, this led to a volunteer movement and large-scale humanitarian and military assistance from Sweden, and also aroused sympathy for Finland in Western countries.

In 1933-1939. Mannerheim, in addition to Sweden, actively developed relations with Great Britain. He represented Finland at the funeral of King George V and had contacts with the Royal Air Force and the British aviation industry. He maintained relations with Germany during hunting trips with Marshal Hermann Goering. However, during his seventieth birthday in 1937, as well as during the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the civil war in 1938 - both of these dates turned into national events - he emphasized the importance of national unity and closer ties with the Social Democrats, who first entered the government in coalition with the Agrarian Union than ties with Germany.

Despite constant pressure from Mannerheim, the main parts of the army by the autumn of 1939 were still poorly equipped. During Finnish-Soviet border and security talks, Mannerheim believed that Finland was not in a position to stick to such a hard line as the government was pursuing, and recommended agreeing to territorial concessions and territory exchanges, threatening to resign several times. When the negotiations failed and the war broke out on November 30, 1939, Mannerheim assumed the duties of commander in chief and re-established headquarters in Mikkeli. He remained commander-in-chief until December 31, 1944, during which time he was mostly based in Mikkeli. Despite his age and health problems, he worked continuously throughout the war, with the exception of a couple of short holidays, thereby giving the headquarters, the entire army and the people an example of dedication in a critical situation.

During the Winter War, the period that followed it, called the "truce", as well as during the "continuation war" that began on June 25, 1941, Mannerheim was part of a group of 4-5 people that actually led the country. In addition to Mannerheim, this circle included Risto Ryti, who became president in 1940, prime ministers I.V. Rangel and Edwin Linkomies, Foreign Ministers Väinö Tanner, Rolf Witting and K.H.W. Ramsay, as well as Lieutenant General Rudolf Walden, who has always held the post of Minister of Defense.

Thus, already in 1939-1940. Mannerheim significantly influenced the course of the Winter War and attempts to conclude peace. He emphasized that the army, despite the heroism shown in the defense, was weak and at the limit of its capabilities, and that therefore it was necessary to accept the difficult conditions of peace, which was done. After the Winter War, Finland experienced constant pressure from the Soviet Union, which was associated with the situation in the world as a whole. The only counterbalance to this pressure could be Germany, but it was also in alliance with the USSR. However, from September 1940, Germany began to take Finland under its wing in its relations with the USSR, and from the beginning of 1941 military contacts between headquarters gradually became closer. Until the very last moment, it was unclear whether (and when) Germany would start a war against the Soviet Union. During this period, Finland, however, was able to significantly improve the level of equipment of its army. Finland's entry into the war in the summer of 1941 aroused great research interest immediately after the war and in later periods; attempts were made to find out when Finland "finally" joined the German military preparations against the Soviet Union, and who in Finland led these preparations or knew about them.

Military leadership of Marshal Mannerheim during the war 1941-1944. had an important psychological significance: with his authority, he kept generals at headquarters and front commanders, as well as members of the government, in submission and restrained internal conflicts and rivalries, common for a protracted war. The political significance of his authority was also manifested in relations with Germany: Mannerheim, of the entire leadership of Finland, most clearly demanded - and could demand - the formal and real observance of the political and military independence of Finland. An interesting example of this was the 75th anniversary of Mannerheim on June 4, 1942, when Adolf Hitler, the Fuhrer of Germany, personally came to congratulate Mannerheim, who had just been promoted to marshals of Finland. Mannerheim's behavior in this situation is considered an exemplary combination of emphatic politeness and firmness in maintaining his own authority. This made it possible to reject Germany's claim to dictate over Finland, or the demand for a formal union treaty, thus making it possible to get out of the situation with the help of guarantees given by President Ryti in the summer of 1944, which remained in force for only a few weeks.

Mannerheim's psychological, nationally unifying role was emphasized during the war in various ways: for example, in the form of postage stamps, and also by the fact that on the day of his birth, streets bearing his name appeared in almost all cities in Finland. The Order of the Cross of Liberty was supplemented by the Mannerheim Cross with a cash prize awarded for special heroism. The elderly marshal came to the front several times and attended various patriotic events, consoling war orphans and relatives of the dead.

The Soviet offensive in June-July 1944 forced the Finnish army to withdraw from East Karelia and retreat west of Vyborg on the Karelian Isthmus. As a result, there was a willingness to accept even the most difficult peace conditions. To do this, it was necessary to change the government and break off relations with Germany. Mannerheim agreed, and on August 4, 1944, the parliament elected him President of the Republic. From that moment began the peace process, for which Mannerheim, apparently, managed to find the optimal time. Germany was thought to be sufficiently weakened that, despite its military position and control of the airspace in the Baltics, to expend forces on the occupation of Finland (as happened in Romania), and German feeble attempts were rebuffed from the outset. The Soviet Union, in turn, was no longer interested in the complete surrender or military occupation of Finland, since it concentrated its forces on the Baltic, Polish and German directions. The Western powers and Sweden were ready to politically and economically support the separate peace of Finland. At the same time, the Finnish people, after the loss of Eastern Karelia, the Karelian Isthmus and Vyborg, were ready to accept difficult peace conditions, the adoption of which in the spring, when the army had not yet been defeated on the Svir and the Southern Isthmus, could lead the country and the army to a crisis of loyalty.

Thus, in August-September 1944, Mannerheim, with the support of the Finnish Ambassador in Stockholm, G.A. Gripenberga led the peace talks, simultaneously acting as President, Commander-in-Chief, and in practice both Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs (especially after Prime Minister Antti Hakzel was paralyzed during the negotiations). Mannerheim briefly concentrated all power in his own hands; his authority was extremely important in terms of shaping public sentiment and leading the army. The army had to quickly reorient itself, as relations with Germany and the German troops in Northern Finland were broken, and, accordingly, it was necessary to establish cooperation with the military, and soon with the civilian representatives of the former enemy, the Soviet Union. The authority of Mannerheim retained its significance when, after the conclusion of the armistice in Helsinki, the Allied Control Commission began to operate and when the new one, formed by Yu.K. The Paasikivi political government in November 1944 replaced the short-term presidential ("technical") cabinets of Hakzel and Urho Castren. At this point, the period of concentration of power in the hands of Mannerheim for the duration of the peace process ended, and, despite great doubts, he was forced to agree to the appointment of a communist representative, Interior Minister Yrjö Leino, to the Paasikivi government. But even after that, Mannerheim remained a mainstay of the Paasikivi government, especially due to the suspicions of the right, although he did not actively support the government and its new political orientation, probably because he was not sure of the government's policy, and also because he wanted to preserve the possibility of a change office. The degree of participation of Mannerheim in the leadership of the state also decreased due to deteriorating health. He went to Stockholm for an operation and then on holiday to Portugal. And although Mannerheim was elected president for an emergency period, he, however, did not want to resign, for example, immediately after the parliamentary elections in the spring of 1945. This was partly due to the fact that the situation in the world remained uncertain, as the war in Europe continued until May 1945, and partly because Mannerheim was afraid of being convicted at the trial of those responsible for the war, which was provided for by the terms of the Armistice Agreement, and which the Allied Control Commission insisted on as soon as possible. However, both in the interests of the Finns and in the interests of the Soviet Union, it was to save Mannerheim from this, and when this circumstance became clear, in March 1946 he resigned. The students expressed their respect for him with a torchlight procession, which in those conditions was a significant event. The Communists were also ready to acknowledge Mannerheim's role in bringing about peace.

Subsequently, Mannerheim, whose health was deteriorating, was in Stockholm, but mainly in the Valmont sanatorium in Montreux (Switzerland). There he, along with assistants, which included Infantry General Erik Heinrichs and Colonel Aladar Paasonen, wrote memoirs. He told his assistants about his life path, who wrote them down in the form of chapters of a future book. After that, Mannerheim checked the manuscript, sometimes making significant corrections. By the time of Mannerheim's death on January 27, 1951 (January 28 Finnish time), the work was almost completed, and this allowed the publication of the first volume in the same year.

Mannerheim's body was brought to Finland, the coffin was placed with honors (lit de parade) in the Main Church of Helsinki (the current Cathedral), and tens of thousands of people passed him in silence. On February 4, 1951, Mannerheim was buried with full military honors at the Heroes' Cemetery in Hietaniemi. On this frosty day, an honor guard of reserve soldiers, students, and scouts stretched across the city. For reasons of political caution, the government decided not to take part in the funeral ceremony. Despite this, Prime Minister Urho Kekkonen and Foreign Minister Oke Harz participated in the funeral procession. The speech in the Main Church was delivered by the Chairman of the Parliament K.-A. Fagerholm. The fact that he was a Social Democrat symbolically pointed to the origins of the 1930s. and the understanding, strengthened during the war, of the idea of ​​recognizing the historical national consensus in Finland. This was recognized by all social groups and the press, with the exception of the communists.

The funeral of Mannerheim, the attention and respect for his figure, which then manifested itself abroad and, in particular, at home, which increased significantly after the publication of his memoirs and the opening of the Mannerheim Museum in his house in Kaivopuisto, marked an ideological turning point, a transition from the "post-war" stage from its denial of the previous history to a new identity, implying the unity and continuity of the various stages of Finnish history - from tsarist times and the interwar period, including the war and the post-war years.

Back in 1937, with the consent of Mannerheim, a fund was created for the construction of an equestrian monument in his honor - the first in Finland. Some accused Mannerheim of vanity, but more significant, of course, was that he recognized the need for symbols to unite a nation. Mannerheim became a symbolic figure as early as 1918, and this role became even stronger in the 1930s. and during the war. In this "role" he could contribute to the development of national identity in the direction in which he considered necessary. The main values ​​for him were the European orientation, i.е. closeness to Sweden and Western European culture, the maintenance of combat readiness and, as a necessary condition for this, a strong national consensus, for which it was necessary to overcome the split that arose as a result of the conflict between reds and whites, as well as concern for the health and future of children and youth. He opposed socialism as a doctrine and the Soviet Union as its embodiment, as well as against nationalism, which manifested itself in Germany in the form of National Socialism, and in Finland in the form of "ultra-Finnish" movements. On the language issue in Finland, he advocated an atmosphere of harmony. He himself, who knew languages ​​well and had extensive international experience, considered it important to maintain international contacts at various levels. He emphasized the great importance of foreign policy and understanding the balance of power in the world, in comparison with domestic political disagreements, petty politicking and legal literalism. During the First World War, Mannerheim realized the need to preserve and care for personnel, and during the wars of 1939-1944 (1945). he was especially concerned with minimizing casualties, caring for the wounded, and honoring the fallen.

The equestrian monument project was revived largely thanks to the initiative of the Students' Union of the University of Helsinki, and this led to three results: the increase in Mannerheim's fame through fundraising and the issuance of a special badge for this, to the erection of the monument itself, which, after several competitions, was completed by the sculptor Aimo Tukiainen and solemnly opened on June 4, 1960, and to the fact that, with the remaining funds, among other things, a historical monument was bought into state ownership - Mannerheim's native home, the Louhisaari estate. Later, monuments to Mannerheim were erected in several cities in Finland: Mikkeli, Lahti, near Tampere and in Turku.

Back in the 1930s. Two biographies of Mannerheim have been published (by Kai Donner and Annie Woipio-Juvas). After his death, a film consisting of documentary footage appeared in 1957-1959. The first large-scale and detailed biography of Mannerheim was published, written by his close associate Infantry General Eric Heinrichs. In the 1960s The Mannerheim Foundation, created according to his will, whose main task was to send Finnish officers to foreign higher military schools, opened the archive of letters, which the foundation inherited by will, for Mannerheim's relative, the Swedish professor Stig Jagerskjöld. Very significant archival research in different countries, the discovery of letters and interviews conducted by Jagersheld resulted in a large-scale eight-volume work. At the time when the Englishman D.E.O. Screen took up the study of the Russian period of Mannerheim's life, began to pay attention to the various stages of the Mannerheim cult. His image was addressed in novels and plays (in particular, Paavo Rintala, Ilmari Turja). In the 1970s the left movement criticized Mannerheim, rather directed against his cult. Of the latest studies on Mannerheim, the most significant is Veijo Meri's book, a psychologically accurate biography of Mannerheim (1988).

Appendix:

Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim, b. 4/6/1867, Askainen, died 27/1/1951, Lausanne. Parents: Count Karl Robert Mannerheim and Charlotte Helena von Yulin. Wife: 1892-1919 Anastasia Arapova, b. 1872. 19366 wife's parents died: Major General Nikolai Arapov and Vera Kazakova. Children: Anastasia, b. 1893. died 1978; Sofia, b. 1895, died 1963.

Live Journal User Notes august_1914

There are many errors in the text of the article that are typical for non-specialists in the history of the Russian army. Although, perhaps, here we should say “thank you” to the translator.
I'll go through them dotted:

- first, the author mentions the cadet corps, and then invents the "Cadet School" (?);
“He entered the private Böck Gymnasium in Helsinki,” although in reality he graduated from the University of Helsingfort. Wow high school...
- "he ended up in the cavalry regiment of the Guards of Her Imperial Majesty, which was part of the Life Guards of His Imperial Majesty" - an extremely clumsy scale, while it was enough to write simply "Cavalry Guards Regiment";
- "Mannerheim was promoted to lieutenant in the guard in 1893, junior captain in the guard - in 1899, in the guard captain - in 1902." - you have to kill for this) Not only were there no such ranks in the Russian imperial cavalry, but there was a mistake in the extreme dating.
In reality: “Lieutenant (Article 10.08.1893). Headquarters Captain (Art. 07/22/1899). Captain (Art. 08/10/1901). "
- "St. George's Cross" is generally the scourge of modern literature. Only a lazy author did not award a staff officer, or even a general, with the Soldier's Insignia of the Military Order - namely, the "George Cross", although the Order of St. George should have been.
And the date of the award does not correspond to the original - Mannerheim was awarded his Imperial order of January 30, 1915. Klinge is silent about awarding him the St. George weapon.

This is just a glimpse. Maybe I'm nitpicking, but how else? ..

From the book “100 wonderful Finns. A kaleidoscope of biographies.

The future Finnish marshal studied and worked in St. Petersburg more than 100 years ago. Now such passions have flared up over his memorial plaque that the matter has gone to court.

The issue of the Finnish marshal and officer of the Russian army Carl Gustaf Mannerheim (Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, 1867-1956) acquired a political connotation and became a stumbling block for the Russian leadership. Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky has to avoid answering the constant questions of journalists.

On Saturday in Gatchina, not far from St. Petersburg, he promised to tell about it "separately" - and even these words became news.

The porridge was brewed when, in June, after almost a decade of unsuccessful attempts, a memorial plaque to Mannerheim was erected in St. Petersburg.

Last year, the board was already installed and removed once. Mannerheim is a controversial figure for Russia. Here they pay tribute to the time when he served in the tsarist army. On the other hand, many cannot accept that he fought on the side of Nazi Germany and participated in the blockade of Leningrad.

Thus, the Kremlin was well aware of the reaction that the opening of the commemorative plaque could cause. And yet, in addition to the Minister of Culture, Medinsky, the opening was attended by Sergei Ivanov, who at that time held the post of head of the presidential administration. Thus, the country's leadership supported this event. However, no one takes responsibility for opening the board.

The Russian media have been discussing Mannerheim for several months. Why did the Kremlin decide that now is the right time for these disputes? The plaque hangs high on the wall of the Military Academy building, located on Zakharyevskaya Street in St. Petersburg. The board, which was filled with paint three times, was washed again.

“National-traitor,” a young guy throws a fashionable word. He stands with his head thrown back and looks at the board from which Mannerheim looks at him. “I would understand if this board was hung in Finland. Why did they do it in Russia? he asks.

That's exactly why? It is clear that St. Petersburg was of great importance in the life of Mannerheim. In 1887-1904, he studied at the Nikolaev Cavalry School, married Anastasia Arapova, and had two daughters. Later, discord ensued in the family, Mannerheim served in the royal guard - in the Cavalier Guard Regiment. Mannerheim had several apartments alone in the center of St. Petersburg. On the Moika embankment, not far from the Winter Palace, Mannerheim, who had just married and became rich thanks to the dowry of his wife, had at his disposal a whole floor - 12 rooms.

“Here they were still happy,” says the guide Vitaly Fedoruk.

A Japanese flag flies over the building, as the Consulate General of Japan in St. Petersburg is now located here.

“Mannerheim could not imagine such a thing. After all, in 1904 he went to the Russo-Japanese War,” says Fedoruk.

Lots of details. On Millionnaya Street in a spacious apartment, Mannerheim's telephone number was 1258. The apartment on Kutuzov Embankment had six rooms and eight stoves, but it was still terribly cold. After Mannerheim entered the service in the Cavalier Guard Regiment, he bought seven uniforms for service in a store on Nevsky Prospekt.

More recently, in St. Petersburg there was a hotel called "Marshal", which housed a small Mannerheim Museum. Now everything is closed there.

Mannerheim's uniform was not at all thought of when, on September 14, his question was decided at a meeting of the Smolninsky District Court.

“For Finland, Mannerheim is a hero. But we are in Russia. And we treat Mannerheim through the prism of our history, the war and the siege of Leningrad. Mannerheim took part in the blockade of Leningrad, he was awarded several orders of Nazi Germany. It would be wrong to perpetuate the memory of such a person in St. Petersburg,” says lawyer Ilya Remeslo before the opening of the meeting.

Here is a comment by the historian and head of the Center for Parliamentary Studies Markku Jokisipilä. Yes, the Finnish army made up a significant part of the blockade ring. “However, Finland did not move on to active offensive operations after taking up its positions,” he says.

Professor Emeritus Ohto Manninen notes that Mannerheim received the German Iron Cross as early as 1918.

He recalls that Mannerheim refused to participate in the capture of Leningrad, but, despite this, he received orders.

Let's return to the courtroom, in which there are many journalists. A gilded image of a double-headed eagle hangs on the wall, although it is slightly lopsided.

Private person Pavel Kuznetsov asked the court to clarify whether the leadership of St. Petersburg is to blame for the fact that the board was installed. It also requires the removal of the board. Kuznetsov's side is supported by the lawyer Remeslo, residents of St. Petersburg, employees of the Committee on Culture, who do not want to give their names to journalists.

It soon becomes clear that not everything is so simple at this meeting. Judge Tatyana Matusyak asks a lawyer: “Why do you demand that the city authorities be held responsible for the violation, when there are no documents indicating that the city leadership gave an order to install the board?”

No paper, no one to blame. In the end, the meeting is postponed to the end of September. By this time, the Craft's lawyer should consider who he will hold responsible for installing the board.

Craft is disappointed but is going to keep fighting. He does not, however, call the Kremlin to account.

For example, the Vedomosti newspaper published an article that Ivanov planned to take the post of Russian ambassador to Helsinki, and the opening of the board would be the first step in establishing good neighborly relations. On the other hand, the Finns were not invited to its opening at all.

Finland is not yet in the main roles in this dispute, because the Russians are sorting out the relationship between themselves. Mannerheim and historical issues have been covered in the Russian media for many months now. Official sources give conflicting information.

The television channel NTV, which specializes in slandering the opposition, made a big show about Mannerheim. It emphasized his role in the service of Russia, and in the end it was said that he stood at the origins of the signing of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance.

Context

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However, it was claimed that "tens of thousands of Russians" starved to death in Finnish concentration camps in occupied eastern Karelia. Mortality was indeed high, and the death toll among the civilian population amounted to approximately four thousand people. In turn, the number of prisoners of war who died in the Finnish camps amounted to approximately 22 thousand people.

“Interest in Mannerheim’s personality indicates that the anniversary year of 2017 is approaching,” says Elina Kahla, head of the Finnish Institute in St. Petersburg.

Next year, independent Finland will celebrate its 100th anniversary and the 150th anniversary of Mannerheim's birth. In addition, Russia will celebrate the anniversaries of the February and October revolutions.

Kahla expects a great revival in cultural work, although many issues will have to be resolved. In May, the Institute will hold a large seminar in St. Petersburg dedicated to Mannerheim.

“We will be very happy if Finns and Russians can exchange experience on it.”

It is possible that behind the opening of the memorial plaque is the respect of the top leadership of Russia for Mannerheim. President Vladimir Putin did not express his attitude towards the opening of the board, but in 2001 he laid flowers at Mannerheim's grave in Helsinki.

At the same time, Moscow is very concerned about fueling Russians' nostalgic memories of the mighty Soviet Union and, in particular, the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War, as World War II is usually called in Russia.

And now the prosecutor's office finds out, at the request of the Communist Party, whether the installation of the board is "rehabilitation of Nazism."
Attention is drawn to the fact that the Minister of Culture, Medinsky, and the then head of the presidential administration, Sergei Ivanov, at the opening ceremony of the board, focused on the time when Mannerheim was in the service of tsarist Russia.

“No one tries to justify Mannerheim’s activities after 1918, but until 1918 he served Russia, and, to be very precise, he lived in Russia and served her longer than he lived in Finland and served her,” Ivanov said according to the newspaper. Businessman.

Russian ideas about Mannerheim were changed in a positive direction by the deceased researcher Leonid Vlasov, who wrote 17 books about Mannerheim. Some of them have been translated into Finnish.

His wife Marina Vlasova is also an expert in this matter.

“The opening of the memorial plaque is like a breath of fresh air. It was clear that the gray communist masses would immediately begin to protest. I don’t watch TV so as not to get a heart attack, ”Vlasova says by phone.

Vlasov gave Putin information about Mannerheim and presented his point of view before his visit to Helsinki in 2001. In the preface to Mannerheim's biography ("Mannerheim", series "Life of Remarkable People", 2005), Vlasov tells that Putin laid flowers and bowed his head before Mannerheim's grave.

“There is some sacred meaning in this. St. Petersburg, which raised the current Russian president, was at one time the second homeland and, until the last days of his life, Mannerheim's favorite city. No matter how high a post Baron Gustav Mannerheim occupies in Finland, in his heart he remained a Russian officer who traveled all over Russia, putting his head and chest under bullets for her, ”wrote Vlasov.

The periods of Mannerheim's life from a stubborn student of a cadet school to a marshal

1867

Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim was born on June 4 at Louhisaari Manor in Askainen. He was the third child of Count Carl Robert Mannerheim and Helene von Julin.

1882

The beginning of training in the cadet corps of the city of Hamina. The family broke up. After the ruin, the father is hiding from debts in Paris, the mother dies. In 1886, Mannerheim was expelled from the cadet corps for unauthorized absenteeism and drunkenness on Good Friday.

1887

He passes exams at the University of Helsingfors, enters the Nikolaev Cavalry School in St. Petersburg.

He fulfills his dream and enters the service in the Cavalier Guard Regiment, headed by the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna.

Marries Anastasia Arapova. Later, two daughters are born in the family - Anastasia and Sofia.

As part of the guard of honor, he takes part in the coronation ceremony of Emperor Nicholas II.

1897

Transferred to serve in the Court stables in St. Petersburg. Acquires horses from stud farms in Russia and Western Europe.

1903

In the relationship with his wife comes the final discord. The official divorce is issued only in 1919.

1904

Receives the rank of lieutenant colonel and takes part in the Russo-Japanese War in Manchuria.

1906

For two years he goes on a scientific expedition to Asia, during which he overcomes 14 thousand kilometers.

1912

During his service in Poland, Mannerheim was awarded the title of "Major General of His Imperial Majesty's Retinue".

1914

World War I breaks out, Mannerheim commands a cavalry brigade and later a cavalry division in Poland and Galicia.

1917

The revolution is tearing Russia apart, and in December Mannerheim returns to Finland.

1918

Appointed Supreme Commander of the Government Forces of Finland. The bloody war that divided the whole of Finland into two camps ends with the victory of the Whites.

1919

Loses presidential election to Kaarlo Ståhlberg in 1920.

1920

Founded General Mannerheim's Union for the Protection of Children.

1933

Promoted to the rank of Field Marshal.

1939

Supreme Commander of the Finnish Army during the Winter War. Commander-in-Chief in the Soviet-Finnish War that began in 1941 (1941-1944). In 1942 he was awarded the rank of Marshal of Finland.

1944

Elected President of Finland.

He falls ill and undergoes treatment in Portugal.

1946

Resigns as president, Juho Kusti Paasikivi becomes president.

He lives mainly in Switzerland, writes memoirs, which are published posthumously.

1951

Dies at night after stomach surgery at the age of 83 in Lausanne, Switzerland. He was buried in the Hietaniemi cemetery in Helsinki.

There are several monuments to Mannerheim

The memorial plaque opened this year in St. Petersburg is not the only monument to Marshal Mannerheim abroad. In Montreux, Switzerland, since 1955, there has been an obelisk erected in honor of Marshal Mannerheim. He is in the park that bears his name. In 2011, a memorial plaque was opened in the park of the Valmont clinic. Mannerheim spent the last years of his life in this clinic. The most famous monuments to Mannerheim in Finland are the equestrian monuments in Helsinki and Lahti. There are sculptural monuments in Seinäjoki, Tampere, Mikkeli, Turku and Lahti. There are even two monuments to Mannerheim in Lahti.

There is also a tombstone at the Hietaniemi cemetery in Helsinki.

According to the Mannerheim Museum in Helsinki, Mannerheim's bas-reliefs are also installed in the General Staff, in the city of Vaasa, in the modern Helsinki hospital in Töölö, the house where Mannerheim spent his childhood - the Louhisaari estate of the Askainen commune.

“In addition, there are many small monuments scattered throughout Finland, which are set in honor of any events that took place in this place,” says senior curator of the Mannerheim Museum Toni Piipponen (Toni Piipponen).

Many cities in Finland have streets named after Mannerheim.

“In terms of showing respect, the largest group is the streets named after Mannerheim, as well as monuments. In addition, there are badges and awards that bear the name of Mannerheim,” says Piipponen.

“In Finland, interest in Mannerheim never waned, but over the years it has become less emotional,” he adds. The public knows less and less about him, which is noticed in the museum in the Kaivopuisto park in the capital.

"Young people are already emerging who don't even know who Mannerheim is."

The materials of InoSMI contain only assessments of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI.