Skip to content
Media
Valtioneuvoston kanslia frontpage

Winter War began 80 years ago today

valtioneuvoston viestintäosasto
Publication date 30.11.2019 16.02
Press release 635/2019
Winter War began 80 years ago today

Today marks the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Finnish Winter War. The war began when the Soviet Union invaded Finland without declaring war on 30 November 1939. The war ended on 13 March 1940, after 105 days of hostilities.

Finland paid a high price for defending its independence. More than 25,000 Finns died in the war effort and about 44,000 were wounded. Civilian casualties numbered over 1,000. Soviet losses in the war were many times higher. Finland preserved its independence, but had to cede 11% of its territory to the Soviet Union. As a result, some 430,000 Finns, or 12% of the population, lost their homes and had to be resettled elsewhere in Finland.

Winter War and defenders of Finnish independence honoured at memorial ceremony in Helsinki

The outbreak of the Winter War was commemorated in a public ceremony on Kasarmitori square in Helsinki, where state leaders laid a wreath at the National Memorial to the Winter War. This was followed by the lighting of 105 candles, one for every day of the war, in homage to the Finns and international volunteers who fought in the war and to the friends of Finland abroad.

The ceremony was attended by President of the Republic Sauli Niinistö, Vice-President of Parliament Tuula Haatainen, Minister of Defence Antti Kaikkonen, Mayor of Helsinki Jan Vapaavuori and Chief of Defence Command, Lieutenant­General Eero Pyötsiä.

Following the event in Kasarmitori square, a seminar marking the anniversary was held in the House of the Estates, where Minister of Defence Kaikkonen delivered the Government’s greeting. The commemoration was organised jointly by the Winter War Association and the Prime Minister's Office.

Inquiries: Tiina-Kaisa Laakso-Liukkonen, Production Manager, tel. +358 295 160 020, Prime Minister's Office