The Study of Antisemitism in Finland Past : Present, and Future

Abstract

Finland’s vulnerable postwar position impacted interpretations of its wartime history. This is likely the reason why the study of antisemitism was marginal or almost non-existent in twentieth-century Finland. The lack of research led to a widespread view that antisemitism was a marginal phenomenon in Finnish society, both before and during the Second World War. In the last twenty years there have been a growing number of studies making it clear that this was not the case - Finland was no exception when it came to antisemitism. This article will present the history of the study of antisemitism in Finland from three different vantage points: (1) fascism and the Holocaust, (2) religion and the Church, and (3) from the perspective of Finnish Jews, via several case studies of latent antisemitism.