Finnish COVID Response and Happiness Comes From Finnish History
And explains how it became the world's happiest country and managed its COVID19 response rationally and more effectively.
1. Finland fought harder than its Nordic neighbors multiple times for its independence: in 1917-19, 1939-44 and, finally, against the retreating Germans in 1944-45. High social capital in Finland comes from Finns taking sovereignty seriously and appreciating how hard won it's been.
2. Moral integrity: Though allied with Germany in the Continuation War of 1941-45, Finland protected its Jewish community from the Nazis and had 300 Jewish soldiers in its army, 22 of whom were killed. There were field synagogues on the Arctic front 500 meters from German SS units.
“As Finland’s forces had substantial numbers of German forces supporting their operations, the Finnish front had a field synagogue operating in the presence of Nazi troops. Jewish soldiers were granted leave on Saturdays and Jewish holidays. Finnish Jewish soldiers later participated in the Lapland War against Germany.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Finland)
If how a state and a society treats its minorities is the canary in the coal mine of its civilization, Finland showed itself to be the most civilized country on earth. It kept its integrity intact when it had ample reason to bend to the will of its much stronger ally to survive.
On December 6, 1944 Finnish President, Marshal Mannerheim, whose house in Helsinki is now a museum, presided over a ceremony commemorating the seven Finnish Jews who died in the Shoah, saying that was seven too many. Yes, you read that right, seven.
In 2001 in Helsinki I interviewed Sergeant Harry Matso, the then president of the Finnish Jewish War Veterans Association. He and his father both served in combat on the Karelian front, which made both unique black swans of survival. He told me that when he expressed fear that the government might turn him and his fellow Jewish soldiers over to the Germans because of Himmler pressuring Finland's Interior Minister, one of his army buddies at the front told him not to worry. He had a farm hundreds of kilometers north of Helsinki and would hide Harry to keep him safe. When Himmler twice visited Finland to pressure the country’s Interior Minister to turn over the country's 3000 Jews to Germany, he was rebuffed.
“In November 1942, eight Jewish Austrian refugees (along with 19 other deportees) were deported to Nazi Germany after the head of the Finnish police agreed to turn them over. Seven of the Jews were murdered immediately. According to author Martin Gilbert, these eight were Georg Kollman; Frans Olof Kollman; Frans Kollman’s mother; Hans Eduard Szubilski; Henrich Huppert; Kurt Huppert; Hans Robert Martin Korn, who had been a volunteer in the Winter War; and an unknown individual. When Finnish media reported the news, it caused a national scandal, and ministers resigned in protest. After protests by Lutheran ministers, the Archbishop, and the Social Democratic Party, no more foreign Jewish refugees were deported from Finland. Approximately 500 Jewish refugees arrived in Finland during World War II, although about 350 moved on to other countries, including about 160 who were transferred to neutral Sweden to save their lives on the direct orders of Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, the commander of the Finnish Army….Jews with Finnish citizenship were protected during the whole period. Late in the war, Germany’s ambassador to Helsinki Wipert von Blücher concluded in a report to Hitler that Finns would not endanger their citizens of Jewish origin in any situation. According to historian Henrik Meinander, this was realistically accepted by Hitler.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Finland)
Finland, like that other happy country Denmark, was the polar opposite of Poland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, France, the Netherlands where there was substantial to massive civilian support for genocide. COVID is a very different kind of war, but both called on the country to draw on its reserves of moral integrity and social capital that were already there. The results you've seen in Finland's COVID response didn't come from nowhere. They're the result of a long accumulation of teamwork built through the country's history.
3. Trust in public institutions and Finnish teamwork
Here's an example: when I worked for a yachting magazine I organized a photo shoot in 1990 for a Finnish yachtbuilder client, Baltic Yachts, which had sold a 52' sailboat to a New York lawyer. When I asked the shipyard's director how long it took to build the boat, he said 8700 hours. A Taiwanese competitor had built a similar sized yacht in 25000 hours. Finnish teamwork meant that Finnish boatbuilders could make $30/hour with cradle to grave security vs $8/hour in Taiwan. If insecurity produces the kind of selfish hyperindividualism we've seen in the USA, Finland's social contract produces the opposite: virus-killing teamwork.
4. Female leadership: yes, testosterone-driven preening and posturing is an epidemiological killer. Having Sanna Marin in the driver's seat definitely helps.
Angela Merkel has good reason to smile.
