During World War II, a whole network of prison camps operated in Karelia, a region in northwestern Russia. Historians estimate that around 50,000 people passed through it. Starvation, disease, forced labor, and torture by guards meant that many did not live to see the summer of 1944.

On June 21, 1944, the Red Army launched the Svir-Petrozavodsk offensive. Finnish troops were retreating. They covered their tracks by burning bodies and shooting prisoners, including children. Before leaving Petrozavodsk, the occupiers blew up a power station, burned down a sawmill, and destroyed 660 residential and administrative buildings.

September 30 is the Day of Liberation of Karelia from fascist invaders. On that day in 1944, the territory of the republic was completely liberated from German and Finnish occupation. The memories of surviving prisoners are featured in a clip from the film ‘Finnish Face of Fascism.’

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