The Deportation of Jews from Finland

Poster image from Never Alone, a film about Finland’s deportation of Jews.

Klaus Härö’s film Never Alone, which tells the story of the deportation of Jews from Finland in 1942, premiered on January 17, 2025.

In November 1942, Finland handed over eight Jewish refugees residing in the country to Nazi Germany. They were ultimately sent to the Auschwitz extermination camp. This deportation is often attributed to pressure exerted by Germany on its ally, Finland. The individuals deported from Finland to Nazi Germany were:

Heinrich Huppert

Kurt Huppert

Franz Olof Kollmann

Georg Kollmann

Janka Kollmann

Elias Kopelowsky

Hans Robert Martin Korn

Hans Edward Szybilski

The deportees came from various countries occupied by Nazi Germany. Hans Korn, originally from Austria, had arrived in Finland at the age of 21 to volunteer in the Winter War. A Stolperstein (stumbling stone) has been placed in his memory in front of his last residence on Korkeavuorenkatu in Helsinki.

Of the eight deportees, all but one perished at the hands of the Nazis. Only Georg Kollmann, also from Austria, survived Auschwitz, later passing away in Israel in 1992. Among those killed at the camp were Kollmann’s wife Janka and their one-year-old son Franz, who had been born in Helsinki.

Stolpersteine commemorating the victims have been placed in Munkkiniemi, the city center, Ullanlinna, and Hakaniemi in Helsinki, as well as in District II in Turku. Photo: Heikki Kastemaa.

Following a public outcry in the Finnish press, further deportations of refugees from Finland to Germany were halted. Thanks to an appeal by Minister of Social Affairs K. A. Fagerholm, approximately 150 Jewish refugees remaining in Finland were transported to Sweden and from there to the United States. In addition to these refugees, Finland handed over hundreds of Soviet prisoners of war to Nazi Germany, among whom were reportedly at least 74 Jews.

The film Never Alone takes its name from a Nazi German propaganda poster that proclaimed Finland would “never be alone” as it was under Germany’s protection. The film is based on the biography Uncle Stiller by Rony Smolar, which tells the life story of Finnish Jew Abraham Stiller. In the film, Stiller is portrayed by Ville Virtanen.