Norway’s history has forgotten the 80 000 Finnish war children

DIG DEEPER at Norwegian SciTech News:
https://norwegianscitechnews.com/2020/05/norways-history-has-forgotten-the-80-000-finnish-war-children/

Heart-breaking images of children in refugee camps in Greece and Syria remind us of how war is driving children to flee their homes. Minors are being sent off to foreign countries. But this also happened in Norway’s neighbouring country of Finland during World War II.

It has been 80 years since the end of the Winter War in Finland. Most Norwegians are unaware that there was a dramatic evacuation of war children to other Nordic countries.

Finland experienced three wars from 1939-1945: the Winter War, the Continuation War and the Lapland War, during which 80 000 children were torn from their roots and sent abroad. The largest recipient country was Sweden, but Denmark and Norway also took in children.

Norway received 100 children. Author Sigrid Undset opened her home to three Finnish siblings. The mass evacuation of children, travelling with name tags around their necks, took place by train via Haparanda, a locality in northern Sweden on the border with Finland, or by boat from the Finnish city of Turku to Stockholm. While most children came to live with Swedish foster parents, some were placed in orphanages.

The Ministry of Social Affairs in Finland was responsible for the transport, and the evacuation happened under the auspices of the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare. On the Swedish side, Centrale Finlandhjälpen (Central Finland Assistance) played an important role. The organization consisted of several groups, including the Red Cross, Save the Children, the Salvation Army and a number of smaller organizations. Who were these children?