FINLAND’S LOSS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 May 1940, Page 9

FINLAND’S LOSS

RECENT RED AGGRESSION

EXODUS OF POPULATION

HOMES OF LIFETIME GIVEN UP. Under the peace agreement which Soviet Russia forced on Finland, some 40.000 farms had to be given up, and 90.000 townspeople also had to find new homes, and new livelihoods. -The owners and inhabitants of these farms, wrote “The Times” correspondent from Helsinki while the removal of the population was still in progress, were for the time being homeless and destitute.

The Government has decided to transfer them to other parts of the country and to provide them with new farms, a problem of great difficulty at any time. It must now be solved by rapid improvisation. The unfortunate inhabitants of the lost frontier zones have reached points of assembly on this side of the new border, where they cannot be adequately fed or housed; but the Government and all public bodies as well as private firms and persons, are concentrating their .energies on easing the lot of these victims of the peace. But the chief problem remains to be tackled. All that can be said with certainty today is that the exiles are to be compensated and settled by the State, and that a large part of suitable State land is to be split into farms on which they can settle. So far as possible they will become owners of their new farms. Owners of estates are also showing an inclination voluntarily to contribute part of their lands for the re-settle-ment scheme.

How the urban population of the lost territories are to be given new livelihoods is a problem which must be settled by radical measures, too. They can gradually be absorbed in the rest of industrial Finland, but until this process becomes effective they are bound for a long time to remain without any permanent home. WITHDRAWAL FROM HANGO I have just returned (the correspondent wrote) from Hango, the seaport that is to pass next week into the possession of Soviet Russia on a 30year lease, which embraces the whole of the slender peninsula on which Hango is situated, some islands, and a slice of adjacent territory, the frontier of the mainland being some 14 miles from the town of Hango. All the roads for 30 or 40 miles from Hango are busy with the urgent traffic created by the peace treaty, for the territory to be ceded or leased was required to be given up within 10 days. The roads are therefore full of empty lorries going towards Hango and of lorries laden with household effects and other movable property coming from the town.

Most of the children and a large proportion of the women had already been evacuated during the war, for Hango was one of the chief targets for Soviet bombers. The damage done is certainly great, and nowhere in the town can one escape the sight of ruined buildings; but much still remains intact to be handed over with the keys of the city in a few days’ time. Most of the remaining inhabitants have already been moved out of the territory, and the houses, which are largely of wood, stand deserted with, stacks of furniture and utensils waiting to be taken away. Even hay, straw and grain may be seen waiting by the wayside. COFFIN ON A SLEDGE. Prominent among the buildings which have survived the bombing is the chief Lutheran Church, built towards the end of last century; together with the Orthodox Russian Church, which is also intact, this monument of Christianity is now to bblong to the infidel, perhaps to be given over to the service of the Anti-God Society like many churches in Russia. Not far from the Lutheran Church stands the tall, round water tower, which has also escaped the bombs. Returning from Hango we came to the beautiful fishing village and summer resort of Dapvik. famous for its long, sandy beach. Here the scenes were on a smaller scale and much more poignant than in Hango itself. A housewife was busy packing, but at the same time she was baking large loaves of bread. When asked why she was giving herself this extra work at

such a moment, as there was no scarcity of bread in Finland, she replied: "It is such a good oven; I hardly think I shall ever have such a good one again.” Outside another fisherman’s home was a woman of about 30 with her three children ready to start for an unknown destination. On a sledge, among their few possessions, was a coffin in which lay the body of her husband. He had fallen in the defence of Finland, and she would not leave his remains to the enemy. An elderly woman inside another home had been crying, but she cheered up with an effort and said: "For 32 years my husband and I have lived and worked here. Everything you see, the house and all. has been built or made with our own hands. It is hard to leave it, but I must not complain. My two sons have come through the war safely.” Before the day was out this poor woman learned, however, that only one of her sons would return; the other had been killed in the last few hours of hostilities.

RUSSIANS MOVE IN FAST. The difficulties of the withdrawal from Hango and its surroundings were largely due to the brief time limit of 10 days. They were far greater on the eastern frontiers of Finland, where the time limit was much shorter. In many places the Russian troops were so eager to take possession that they were trying to move faster than was provided for in the treaty. One of the most difficult possessions to remove in time was the cattle, and many animals fell by the roadside; others were humanely shot and their bodies lay in the snow. The trains and caravans were trying above all things to get the inhabitants out of the area in time.

The extent of the tragedy of these hundreds of thousands of uprooted people is probably greater than is generally realised outside Finland, and the problem of re-settling these unfortunates, coming as it does on top of the many other problems of Finland, is bound to remain acute for a long time, whatever help may come from abroad. It cannot be urged too often that, whereas Finland until recently needed chiefly arms, equipment and men. the immediate need today is for the more usual forms of humanitarian assistance. ~