The unknown story in the fate of prisoners of war from Kazakhstan: materials from the National Archives of Finland
The Director of Archives J.Nuorteva noted that the collaboration in the field of archives is a major contribution to the development of cultural and humanitarian cooperation between Kazakhstan and Finland. During the discussion, the Finnish side officially presented records of the fate on 268 Kazakhstan native prisoners of war, who died during the Great Patriotic War and were entombed in Finland. The mentioned information was partially transferred to the archives of Karaganda, province of Pavlodar and Astana. The Finnish side also expressed its willingness to transfer the available information concerning the fate of former Soviet prisoners of war who were in Finland (among which could be natives of Kazakhstan) and returned to the USSR during repatriation after the war. Paying tribute to the respectful relation of Finland towards the remembrance of the perished Kazakhstan soldiers, Kazakh Ambassador stressed the importance of studying the fate of Soviet prisoners of war, including natives of our country, in the context of the general history of Kazakhstan and Finland. The Kazakh diplomat emphasized the long traditions of bilateral cooperation in the field of archives, which began with the signing of the Agreement on Cooperation between the Ministry of Culture and Information of Kazakhstan and the National Archives of Finland during the state visit of President NursultanNazarbayev to Finland in 2009. On the basis of these agreements, the parties have repeatedly exchanged documents on the history of the two countries. In particular, from the collections of the National Archives of Finland, records presenting information on the fate of Kazakh citizens killed or captured during the warfare in 1941-1944. In return, the Finnish party received documents regarding Finnish prisoners of war who were in Kazakhstan during 1941-1944 in the prison camps of Karaganda. The work on identifying Kazakhstan soldiers who died during the II World War during 1941-1945 in Finland, was held by the National Archives of Finland on the request of the Kazakh diplomatic mission in Helsinki as part of the Action Plan on the preparation and celebration in Kazakhstan of the 70thanniversary on the Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
