Finnish Forces

Lotta-svärds baked cakes for the SS soldiers

Finnish Red Cross Lotta Svärd of the Kiestinki center have baked the men of the SS-Pioneer/SS-Gebirgsjäger-Division Nord cakes. The Lotta-svärds name comes from a poem by Johan Ludvig Runeberg. Part of a large and famous book, The Tales of Ensign Stål, the poem described a fictional woman named Lotta Svärd. According to the poem, a Finnish soldier, private Svärd - Swedish: svärd means a sword - went to fight in the Finnish War 1808-1809 and took his wife, Lotta, along with him. Private Svärd was killed in battle, but his wife remained on the battlefield, taking care of wounded soldiers. The Lotta-Svärd organisation was the most important voluntary organisation for women in Finnish history. The organisation was very popular right from the start and was at its peak the world’s largest unarmed women’s national defence organisation. Their work was noted also outside Finland, and the organisation served as a model for other similar organisations in other countries. At first the Lottas’ main purpose was to assist the Civil guard with e.g. medical services and logistics but later during the wars they also helped the Army with various tasks, thereby allowing more of the men to be at the front and fight the Soviets. Apart from assisting the Army and Civil guard, the Lottas also helped civilians through charity work and by caring for evacuees.