1
THE LAPLAND WAR
GERMANS HAVE BEEN IN CONTROL -
OF THE LAPLAND FRON IN FINLAND SINCE 1941.
IN AUTUMN 1944, FINLAND SIGNS
AN ARMISTICE WITH THE SOVIET UNION.
ONE OF THE CONDITIONS IS
THAT THE FINNS FORCE OUT -
THE GERMAN TROOPS
FROM FINLAND BY MID-SEPTEMBER 1944.
OCTOBER 1944
THE OPERATION IS STILL IN PROGRESS.
THE NUMBER OF GERMAN TROOPS
REMAINING IN FINLAND IS ABOUT 200 000
THE CIVILIAN POPULATION
IS LEFT DEFENSELESS.
IFJORD, ARCTIC OCEAN - NORWAY
26.9.1944
I am a midwife, by the grace of God -
and I write these lines to you,
Johannes.
I feel you are alive somewhere.
I feel it.
In this world of imperfection and
sinners I am guilty of many things.
But not of lack of love.
I shall do as agreed and wait
for you at the Dead Man 's Cabin.
I will wait, even if! die.
I love you forever.
Take the pistol. It's loaded.
Shoot the prisoners.
That's the price for the trip.
Shoot the prisoners, damned Finn!
Shoot the prisoners!
Shoot!
Shoot the prisoners!
Shoot!
Stand there!
-Brothers in arms!
Back into the sea!
Faster!
Faster!
Is this where you want to die,
you silly girl?
Forgive me, Johannes.
Forgive me if I lack the strength.
THE MIDWIFE
Forgive me if I die.
KOHTAKONGS I BORIS GLEB
PETSAMO - FINLAND, 15.6.1944
SIX MONTHS EARLIER
The phone works again.
You need to go to Nkkl'.
-I'm not welcome there.
Will you manage now?
-We know you.
You despise your foster mother
for helping women.
I've said:
Go to Aune Nkkl when you
need the Devil's work done.
I don't kill children,
they are gifts from God.
Don't try to be better
than the others.
Wildeye.
The crap of a truck's stuck,
I need to get home quick!
We been waiting for you, stepsister.
Why can't she midwife
the one daughter she has?
Lissu's calving now -
and you bloody marsh waif will help.
Believe me, girl? Do you?
With 200,000 Germans
loping in the fields -
maidens lose their virtue
and men their cattle.
We'll push the truck off
and get down to business.
Wehrmacht rocks the truck.
What's up, Wildeye?
Red bastard!
Shut your trap, Jaakkima.
No stutterer badmouths
my stepsister.
Heil Hilter to you.
Need to get back home.
The midwife,
she's coming to help us.
Give me the horn.
It's bottom-down.
Sister! I've never...
Never let anyone do it from behind.
Someone's schtupped this Skolt -
and God it wasn't.
Shut up, Keskimls.
You! Water, quickly.
Heavens above!
Lispetti birthed a negro.
Dammit. Saw a negro once
at a fair with a crocodile.
Now this negro's stuck it
in the wrong place.
You shut up, too.
Can you believe it?
My own daughter shames me so.
An actress,
she was a supposed to be.
The new Greta Garbo.
They should both die.
The mother and the kid.
-Looks like a live one.
Into the bog.
It won't see tomorrow.
Smells healthy, too.
Being born with fur
helps in the North.
The years will strip it off.
-What lies are you writing?
What a crock of lies!
-An official document.
What? -A birth certificate.
Hell, no!
Evening. I came to take
photographs for our chronicle.
In here.
Will you pose for the photo, too?
Bloody hell. Now this, too.
A photographer to witness this shame.
Not aloud! He speaks Finnish.
His mother's Finnish.
This man,
filmmaker Johann Angelhurst.
Wants to interview you
for a magazine. -Why?
You're a midwife,
a strong woman of the new era.
Germany needs them. Finland, too.
Everyone's shagging
and panting in heat here.
And I go round
these shitty hovels.
Dear God. If you give me that man
and take me away from here -
I will never ask you
for anything more.
I am ready to die anywhere but here.
Lispetti will try to screw that one.
What's he filming for?
That's the strangest thing.
He just films.
Asked me to pose, too. But hell, no.
I said yes.
Hurry up then. He's leaving.
Where's he going?
The Titovka Camp, tomorrow.
Still here, Wildeye?
In this den of sin?
Isn't this the house you visit
when you need something?
This is the house where
friends get coffee, the enemies lead.
This time, coffee.
How is it with you,
Pietari's daughter?
Need to work at the camp. Titovka.
Why are you talking crazy?
Your father thought we can do
what we want. Became a saboteur.
Got himself killed!
You want that?
-Why ask it here?
Things like that are done
in Rovaniemi.
They won't take me.
They will check and find out -
about father, and other things.
-Poor girl, scab nose.
You want to screw that Fritz?
Forget him.
Help me, stepbrother.
-I can't.
You can. You can fix it.
I wont. It's no place for humans.
Anything's better than now.
Haven't you had enough
of bombs and death here?
I know what happened to Lissu's kid.
What's that? An eagle took it.
I know where you buried it. I gave
it a proper burial. I can show you.
Shut your trap, Wildeye.
Are you stupid enough
to want to go to the camp?
You'll die there, come the armistice.
L am.
Shit. I'll fix it, then.
TITOVKA LABOUR (AMP
THE SOVIET UNION, 13.6.1944
127 KM EAST OF THE FINNISH BORDER
Promise to tell me if you see Heta?
Yes, yes.
Been looking for her
all through the war.
DO NOT FEED
THE PRISONERS OF WAR
Drive in, bootlegger.
Don't hit anything.
Try to look like -
you've worked in camps like this.
What the fug-arse are those?
-My things.
You're not going to a spa, you fool.
Leave them be.
Or they'll know we've been lying.
Two ducks, one's dancing -
and the other looks at an onion.
"It's better this way.'
And then the duck, honestly -
begins to eat the onion.
Evening.
We've been waiting for you.
There'll be reindeer soup
and klinge for supper.
There's the telephone,
power plant and the showers.
The armoury and the food store.
In this building, the sickbay
and some other operations.
As you can see, every corner-
has a tower and a searchlight.
So we can see if
the little Miss tries to escape.
But that's not for you Finns.
Aleksey is an interpreter.
Knows German, Finnish, Russian.
And some strange Finno-Ugric
languages.
L hardly learned a word for a year,
myself.
Took me two years.
Play the violin for us, boy.
Please.
A Finnish nurse.
The Third Reich
values you especially.
There are -
not many soldiers here.
Trustee prisoners,
volunteers, SS men.
How did you run the camps in Karelia?
How does this compare?
It's difficult to...
-That's where you were.
At the Isthmus.
-This is finer.
Leave us, please.
I should go to the sickbay.
-It's taken care of.
Haataja, the other nurse,
runs it at the moment.
Operation Kuhstall is her area.
You handle the rest of the camp,
and the animals.
Operation Kuhstall?
That's Cowshed, right?
That's not your area, Miss.
Johann. You must take a photo of us.
I don't know how to be in a picture.
Finns and Germans -
we are one.
I can give you a cure for the shakes.
I've got it!
Russian boy.
We need soft soap, lye, cleanser.
Make a list.
What're you doing with the drugs'!
You hear?
The name's Aleksey Ignatenko.
I can't remember
every Russkie's name.
Can I trust you'!
I don't know.
I'm getting out of here. Tonight.
You can't tell me that.
I know what happens in the Cowshed.
The Germans will kill me soon.
I know too much.
Well, I don't.
Haven't seen the last ward.
What goes on there?
Promise to leave
the door open for me tonight?
I'll make it look like
it's been broken down.
I beg you.
From my heart,
I wish you hadn't told me.
The foot must come right off.
Hold him still!
Hold him still!
And you keep your mouth shut.
There will
be load of bodies from the Cowshed.
Bag them, report to me.
What do you do there?
Sin.
Masha Petrov.
You said you know
how to bathe a man.
That I do.
Shall I lie on this?
You have such wild eyes -
and you know your herbs.
I need to ask something.
I have nightmares.
What do you mean?
Don't remember properly.
Flashes. Of piles of corpses.
Of death.
I wake up at night and hear it.
Women's laughter, every night.
It's the Russkies.
They play women's laughter
through enormous loudspeakers -
to drive the enemy mad.
Don't go anywhere.
I'll be right back.
That's enough. Take her away.
No! -What?
She's just a little girl,
she's no saboteur!
What the hell?
-She'll be my helper.
Collects mushrooms and lichen.
I need one more hand.
Into the Cowshed.
All women in there! Faster!
Everyone in!
Everyone in! Faster!
We'll prepare the prisoners.
Shave the hair, delousing.
Boil the rags properly.
Pregnant ones into quarantine.
Undress, clothes here.
Undress, clothes here.
Our home, our soul
Our home, our soul...
What's happened?
Where're you going?
To a manhunt.
The Russkie boy got away.
There's a bounty on his head.
And if they catch him?
-He's got no chance.
They'll smell him like a wolverine.
Play with him before the kill.
You mustn't kill him.
-If they bring him to the camp-
he'll dig his own grave.
Then a bullet in the neck.
That's his life now.
I'll come with you. I can help him
if we get him out alive.
I'll get my gear.
Johannes. What are they doing?
-Removing mines. Don't worry.
Listen.
Can you keep the boy alive?
I don't think so.
Down!
Helena!
Helena!
I can breathe here.
You run out of oxygen in the camp.
Have you noticed?
We're in the war now,
but we'll make it.
Don't worry.
Did you have someone
to stroke you in Germany?
Where do we go nova?
We'll look for a shelter.
Return to the camp
when the situation calms down.
Behind that hill is a cabin
near the Arctic Ocean.
We'll be safe there,
try to get radio contact.
Hell, no. I knows this place.
I'm not coming there, no.
Dead Man's Cabin, not good for me.
We'll continue.
We'll stay here. An ordinary cabin.
You learn these things
when men go crazy-
because of you Fritzes
and lock up their women.
I'm not coming in there.
This place is not on any map.
A man's just been killed here.
-Don't fuss.
I know it!
That's the Devil's den!
L already got all the devils I need.
Where's the Bootlegger?
I heard shouting.
Jouni went to look for help.
Don't worry about him.
What's that?
-My medicine.
From Gdel.
A beautiful trunk,
and a beautiful woman.
That's what I found here.
Don't know about the trunk.
Don't know about the woman.
Both are locked.
Why don't you take a picture of me?
-All right.
You think God will see us here.
But he won't.
I am all yours if you want me.
I won't touch you.
You are a good person.
Nothing wrong with you.
You think I'm hot-blooded?
Is my pussy the right way?
Just the way it should.
-Let me show you what you are.
Inside me, you will see it.
What am I?
-You are...
A good man, Johannes.
The war has not touched you, Wildeye.
We're at the same camp.
What is it with you?
Always so sad-eyed.
We'll get married.
Get permission from Gdel.
Or Hilter himself.
I'm not going back to that camp.
I can sleep here.
This place is not on any map.
It's just us here.
Just us.
If we ever get separated -
we'll meet again here.
Dead Man's Cabin. Promise?
I promise.
I'll wait for you here even
if I get lead poisoning.
And the Stalin's Organs roar.
Show me your photos.
I won't.
Of your family. Your life.
I have no family of my own.
No.
I want to learn you. I want to -
look through your eyes
and see everything inside.
I wonder what that would be.
Your true soul.
I have eyes that see.
That's why I'm the Wildeye.
I can see. Everything.
Your soul.
Whatever that is.
What nova? -I'll climb the hill, see
if can raise them on the radio.
Report where we are -
so you won't get in trouble.
I don't care.
Forgot the camera case.
Where did you get them?
They're my work.
Why did you do that?
Why did you do that?
I don't care about them.
That's war! But tell me!
BABI YAR - UKRAINE
19.9.1941
Those photos.
They're straight
from my nightmares or-
even worse.
Have you done such things?
Yes, or...
I can't remember.
It was long ago - in Babi Yar.
Gdel killed a lot of people.
Or we killed a lot of people.
I can't remember!
Helena!
- Oh, hell.
Kneel there.
Damn you.
Right.
This one was in a barn,
sheltering from the rain.
Why did you bring him?
-I meant to shoot him.
Then we shook hands.
I'll get money for this one.
He's been hiding
in a potato cellar all week.
We may all be charged for it.
He must be shot.
Write the documents for him.
He's a good boy.
I can't.
Half a dozen men are looking for him.
-I helped him escape.
He's my trustee. You won't shoot him.
-Dammit. We must kill him.
Help me escape.
You are a good person.
Let's go! He's dead!
Thank you. You must go.
We have missed you.
You're the only nurse
in the camp now.
Your new job begins
in the Cowshed tomorrow.
My brother. We've got work for you.
Do you have any medicine?
You should just kill yourself.
Proper music. And theatre.
You miss them here.
Civilization.
She drinks.
A promising beginning.
Devil's piss. Shit.
Now, Miss. What happened
and where were you that week?
It was just like
jouni and Johannes said.
We got caught in the raid.
Found a car, drove to the camp.
Really? Did you see the fugitive?
-No.
So hardy.
Like a... What are they...
Dwarf birch.
Johann is not
a completely healthy man.
Nothing wrong with him.
A broken frontal bone.
You know why?
In the Ukraine, at Babi Yar.
Johann and the men were having fun.
Shot young swallows at a sandpit.
Killed thousands.
Tens of thousands.
I tried to stop them.
What did he do?
Broke my skull with a Mauser.
That's not true!
What the hell?
That's the Commandant's chair.
A wooden chair.
Get up! -Why?
Will you shoot me?
Get up.
This chair.
Smells of shite!
A hint of cognac.
You are the most courageous
woman I know.
Who may decide -
who lives and who dies?
The hell I know?
Believe me, I don't know either.
I just follow orders.
That's all
You cut and collect.
Begin with that.
Shut the door.
Turn around!
One by one, to the right!
The Cowshed.
It's no place for humans.
Fear not. I promise to get
you out of there, Wildeye.
Haataja had a different job.
Believe me.
Tell me about your mother.
My mother Annikki and my father Fritz
Angelhurst met in Petsamo.
Mother gave travellers ant baths -
ate raw birds and fish.
Mother died giving birth to me.
Father never forgave me.
My father was killed, too.
But he was not a good father.
You are hot-blooded.
Just like me!
I can still taste you.
Have you eaten fruit? -What?
You smell fruitful.
I love you.
Greetings from the open
Foaming sea
The shore's nowhere in sight.
The wind howls wild
Even a sailor takes fright
When the stormy weather blows.
I keep thinking of you out here
Ah ah, thinking of you
The sparkle of your eyes of blue
And your golden curls.
And I sing my song to you
Can you love me despite
what happened -
if it is true?
I will. I can't do otherwise.
We're leaving.
You want to? -I do.
Listen carefully,
I've arranged things.
Rovaniemi for two days.
You are safe, you are a Finn.
You just have to trust me.
Remember the Dead Man's Cabin.
If the war ever separates us,
wait for me there.
It'd be good to live there.
-I promise to come back.
I love thee.
Please come back.
They're from the camp.
Jew, soldiers, politruks.
Are you involved in this? -No.
But you are, and Johannes.
They used to kill and bury you.
Now they dig up and destroy
corpses to leave no evidence.
Insane business!
It's the Devil's doing, Satan's work.
The times are changing.
You think it won't touch you.
But you may come to a sad end.
Wrong things happen
at the camp. -True.
You can't accept it.
Your job is just
to help those women. -How?
Any way we can.
God gave you a gift.
Use it!
They poison the prisoners at night.
Gdel makes tests
with the unborn babies.
And I see how they screw the women.
By force, without leave.
Some prisoners are given injections.
Straight in the back -
in the hip, the buttocks.
Sometimes I think-
someone has put
in the drinks I give -
cholera, or some other plague.
They died so fast.
I was-
chosen by God.
I was-
A child of God.
And now I am an Angel of Death.
You think you're better
than we others.
You aren't.
Russian prisoner, number 1322.
Malnourished, won't talk.
Anaemia: iron deficiency.
Premature childbirth.
Did the foetus die? -It did.
You do talk.
And Finnish!
Good. What's your name?
Heta.
Are you Finnish?
From Kirkkoniemi?
You're Heta! I know you!
Jouni's been looking
for you like mad.
I'll send him a word right away.
He'll come to get you. -Don't.
Don't tell him I'm like this.
I'll get you into other ward.
So you don't have to be
here in the Cowshed.
But Jouni's been looking
for you like crazy.
Slop!
Finnish woman is
among the prisoners.
A Finnish woman is
also among the prisoners.
Heta Knepps.
You may not take Finns.
We don't know where she's from.
She speaks Finnish.
And you do tests on her.
You can't put her in the Cowshed.
We won't. For now.
She can be a control case
for the rest of the scum.
Our tests benefit
the whole of humanity.
Think about-
what ails mankind.
Cholera.
Typhus, disease.
The plague.
We fight them here -
with our small contribution.
Can I move her or not?
One more thing.
You lied to me.
You never were at the other camps.
No one lies to me
without consequences.
Get out, please.
You'll be transferred tomorrow.
I'll send a word to jouni.
He'll come to fetch us.
Sleep now.
And stay alive.
Open the door!
Get in! Faster, you swine!
Get in! Shut the door!
Get in! Faster!
Shut the door!
Today, our delegation in Moscow -
signed an agreement
on the armistice -
with the Soviet Union
and the United Kingdom.
A serious matter is
that we must disarm -
the German troops in our country
and hand them over to the Allies.
Despite this, we must quickly -
demobilise our forces.
The terms of the armistice
contain 23 separate points.
Did you hear? Peace.
To be correctly understood...
Put the Russians
in the prison barracks.
The women from
the Cowshed into the yard -
the Finns in rows in the middle.
All documents in the hospital
must be burned.
Get the Finns to help you!
Move it!
God damn it! This is bad.
The Germans won't bloody
leave without a fight.
Get in there. jouni will come for
you. Meanwhile, stay out of sight.
They'll find me here.
-They won't.
That's for the drugs and
injections given to the prisoners.
The Germans fear
they'll catch the plague.
Lights out!
You know where the documents are.
The tests. Destroy everything.
Give me the key to the safe.
I don't have it.
Give me the key.
Locked.
Take the safe outside
and blow it open.
You stupid woman.
I wont do Satan's work
for you any more.
I wont do Satan's work
for you any more.
Fetch explosives and blow up...
-I understand.
I won't do it.
Do your death work yourself!
I wont do Satan's work
for you any more!
Do your death work yourself!
I won't be part of this war any more.
You hear? I won't be part of it.
Kill them yourself! I won't do it any
more! Do your death work yourself!
I wont be part of this war.
By height order.
All prisoners in rows
by height order.
We will leave tomorrow.
I'll come for you in the morning.
You're under arrest!
For court-martial!
This woman is guilty
of aiding a prisoner.
We made a head count.
The Finnish woman you helped
escaped last night.
I know nothing of it.
I must punish you.
I could kill you.
But I don't want to.
Johannes will avenge me!
Johannes -
is either a prisoner or dead.
The Russians are less
than 10 krn away, advancing fast.
I am sorry.
Are you all right?
Your back looks bad.
We must flee. Give me my glasses.
We don't have much time.
Or they will kill me -
and burn you in the storeroom.
Wait here, take out the gun.
We are escaping now.
Help me escape.
I'm not afraid of guns any more.
Three years in this hole.
I will help you.
He's alive.
Kill him! Kill!
I'm not a butcher.
Let's go!
PARKKINA/ PECHENGA HARBOUR
THE ARTIC OCEAN - FINLAND 12.9.1944
Get into a shelter.
I'll find us some food.
The hell you're doing here?
Things got hot in Finland-
trying to find Heta
in the camp and the ports.
Russkies came with such force -
they almost got the Fritzes crying.
Didn't give me the good eye, either.
Is it you, jouni?
Heta?
Yes.
I've been looking for you.
Come closer if you promise
not to look at me.
Hair's gone.
-Don't ask.
I won't, if you don't want me to.
I've been running everywhere -
and you are here.
Sometimes things turn out well.
This German boat goes to Narvik.
I paid them to take you to the cabin.
But be careful.
Life is cheap now,
don't trust anyone.
I'll take Heta to safety,
and come for you.
Who is it?
Who is it?
What are you afraid of'!
You're fine.
Love sure tastes sweet but -
it hurts my soul to leave you,
Wildeye.
Carve a pair of skis for me.
For the winter.
I wont! You'll die anyway.
If I die, I die.
But now, take me to Bjrne's store.
He must have a third eye
for the bad times.
How would he guess
we'd be coming today?
I told him. Take it easy inside,
don't ask questions.
Tell you later.
When Lispetti gave birth
to the negro -
I said now I've seen it all.
These will get you to Sweden
and over the sea to Southern Finland.
We'll leave Johannes' passport
at the cabin.
He'll find it there
if he's still alive.
He has a Finnish passport? -Yes.
Got him a Finnish birth certificate.
Damn you, Wildeye.
Follow the swamp to the sea.
You know why
I never had to go to the war?
Shot a bullet in my leg
through a block of wood.
I'm a coward.
I knew about it.
You're not a coward, brother.
Just plain crazy.
We'll see again soon!
It's cold.
I'll make a fire for Johannes.
So you stayed here to die.
Take it easy. Sit.
I'm not afraid of dying.
I wouldn't move around much, though.
Gorges full of SS bomb units.
Russians at the Teno already,
German patrols all the way from Alta.
Fritzes burn up Lapland
as they retreat.
Told me to slaughter everyone
in these fjords.
And they pay me well.
They'll burn this cabin, too.
And you, when they find you.
The axe is outside.
And you have no gun.
No guns, no.
Don't kill me.
Now you have one.
Left the bullets on a rock outside.
You just might be crazy enough
to shoot me.
Dried meat, tinned British beef,
a keg of rum.
Your father told me
to give this to you.
Killed him a year ago. I had to.
A good man, though.
Watched over you,
regretted everything.
Forgive me.
TWO MONTHS LATER
Hey! Where're you going?
Stop! Do you hear?
Volodka, who is he?
Show me your papers.
Did you lose your keys?
Stand back.
I'll open the door.
Right. Come here.
Alarm!
A prisoner escapes!
Men! Our orders are
to burn the house.
I say we lock it up first,
and call Ifjord.
All right?
I will write a few more lines.
There is no more food.
I even ate the candle.
Darling, it was not tasty.
I will die now, knowing
that you are on your way here.
If you were here -
we would talk at the same time -
as lovers do when they meet again.
I will smile, happy, and...
lam here.
Good that you are here.
You took your bloody time.
I carry...
I carry our child inside me.
It is a quiet one.
I can't feel its heartbeat any more.
I was so afraid-
and now you saved us.
I cooked for you.
Bloody hell.
I put the candle in it.
Do you want to love a man like me?
I'm sure I don't.
But I do love you so.
I feel like I am resurrected.
Now to Sweden
and then to safety in Finland.
We'll be always together. Always.
Now I have nothing more to tell.
HELENA ALATALO AND
JOHANNES ANGELHURST ESCAPED -
FROM THE DEAD MAN'S CABIN
ON 19.11.1944.
THEY WERE MARRIED IN SWEDEN,
BUT RETURNED TO FINLAND -
AND STARTED A FAMILY IN TURTOLA
IN THE VALLEY OF TORNIONJOKI.
THE LAPLAND WAR ENDED
WITH THE WITHDRAWAL -
OF THE LAST GERMAN TROOPS FROM
NORTHWEST FINLAND ON 27.4.1945.
MOST OF THE WOMEN ACCOMPANYING
THE GERMAN SOLDIERS -
WERE ABANDONED IN NORWAY - ONLY A
FRACTION OF THEM REACHED GERMANY.
THE NEW FINNISH SOCIAL ORDER
DID NOT RECOGNIZE -
THE STATUS OF THE APPROXIMATELY
700 CHILDREN BORN -
OUT OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN
THE GERMANS AND THE FINNISH WOMEN.