When Finland’s relationship to Nazi Germany and the Axis gets mentioned, the word “alliance” will rarely be given. And while it is true that Finland never officially joined the Axis, this seemed to be mostly de jure, as de facto they cooperated with Axis command, allowed German troops to enter their land, and were heavily dependent on German supplies. Yet, very often I will see it stressed that Finland “was a co-beligerent, not an ally of Germany.”
Meanwhile, the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact often gets called “The Nazi-Soviet alliance”. While I don’t disagree with this classification, I wonder why Finland doesn’t seem to receive the same label of “Allied with the Nazis”, but rather gets its co-beligerent status stressed. Is this somehow grounded in Cold War politics? Or was there maybe some Finnish foreign policy campaign to get this view out into the world?
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