Stranica 1 [1]
X.A.No.11 for October 1952.
FINLAND AT THE BND OF THE REPARATIONS.
In the first days of September the last train of re¬
parations goods left Finland for the reparations station of
Vainikkala, and on September 19th, the closing date of the
whole reparations prograume the last ten ships out of a total
of 686 ships to be furnished to the USSR entered the Soviet
waters. With that, Finland had shown to the world an extraore¬
dinary example of courage end patriotism under the most adverse
conditions.
The reparations burden had been heavy indeed. In 1944
the Soviets demanded 300 Million Dollars worth of goods as res
parations, to be paid in a period of six years. But they demanded
these goods et 1938 world prices, which made a fiction of the
Dollar sum from the beginning. Furthermore the Soviets conti¬
nuously uppea this sum, by demanding such extraordinary quality
as had not been foreseen. They changed continuously their speei=
fications. If a reparation furniture arrived only seconds late
at Veinikkela, they imposed heavy fines, which finally amounted
to 180 Million Dollars. The exacting nature of the Soviet demands
put such a heavy strain on the country, that even the Soviets
had to admit that the fulfilling capacity of the country was
impaired. Faced with practical collapse of Finland, the Soviets
finally hed to cancel the fines and to permit the reparations to
be extended to eight years instead of six. Despite this, Finnish
Econopists have calculated, that with the quality and price juse¬
ling of the Soviets, the countru finally paid 570 million Dois
lars of reparations, instead of the 300 miilion as officially
sald. The load nevertheless wa 80 heavy, that at times 10% of
the Finnish national income had been used for that purposes
This ineredible feat had to be accomplished at a time
when the Finnish treasury was furthermore strained by the arrival
of almost half a million refugees from the areas ceded to the
USSR, and that Finaland had to carry the burden after a de strue=¬
tive war and under the most apalling economic strains of the
immediate post-war period, Without wanting to dininish the
heroism of the Finns it should be nevertheless pointed out,
that they could not have withstood the strain, had it not been
for the very generous outside help they received. The first
to help where the Swedes, later on in a very generous manner the
Americans and the World Bank. This help was the more needed, sin ce
the merchandise depanded by the USSR was mostly one not normally
demands where chips, machinery and electric cables, goods for
: 42.