The Finns fought against the British, Germans, and Russians in World War Two, and still had time for a sauna. All the Karelians wanted was to continue with their peaceful lives - their culture and language. Instead they were lumped in with the Nazis just for standing up to Stalin while he was at war with Hitler, the consequence of which was devastation of a whole culture. Karelia, the beloved country, still longs for its people to return.

Well, the Russians certainly got a lot of free saunas, and a lot more. If we use a conservative ratio of 1:7 based on the number of saunas in Finland today (1:4.5), Russia would have gotten about 60,000 free saunas in addition to the land, houses, farms and businesses supporting over 400,000 people. OK, we'll knock that in half because apparently the Finns don't leave their dead on the battlefield nor their saunas if at all possible. If you were to factor in all these, think of the astronomical figure that was turned over to the Russians in 1944. At today's prices, if each sauna was worth US$10,000, then the value of the saunas alone would be $US300 000 000, or the same as war indemnity paid by Finland.

Story of "Naked Warriors" - Use "Back" button to return.