Window to Europe : Finland and Nordic Fascist Networks during the Cold War

Abstract

For Finnish fascist groups and organisations, which were officially banned by the 1948 Paris Peace Treaty, Nordic contacts and networks provided an opportunity to maintain contact with their ideological comrades, if only in a clandestine manner, and open a window to Europe. For their Nordic comrades, Finland was a land glorified not only for its battles against the Soviet Union, but also a buffer state against the threat of communism. Contacts with the Finns were, in most cases, unofficial and often denied when revealed in the newspapers or by the police. From the 1950s onwards, organisational contacts were nevertheless also developed. By the 1970s, a Swedish fascist party, the Nordic Reich Party [Nordiska Rikspartiet], had established a local chapter in Finland, initiating a new wave of fascist activism there. This chapter explores the evolution of the Finnish-Swedish and other Finnish-Nordic contacts from the 1940s through the 1990s and studies their importance for both Finnish activists and the other Nordic groups. The chapter is based on the analysis of archival data drawn particularly from the files of the Finnish Security Police and the archives of the Swedish and Finnish fascists.