The proЫem of collaborationism in Karelia and Finland during World War II was not availaЫe for scientists for а long time for ideological reasons and only now becomes the object of academic interest of Russian historians. Many issues have to Ье studied: clarification of the exact number of Soviet people collaborated with Finnish occupational authorities during World War ll, determination of the reasons and social base of it. In the analysis of the issue some more points should Ье specified: how adequate were the repressions of the Finnish authorities to the people who cooperated with Soviet state and military bodies during the Winter War and how adequate were the repressions of the Soviet authorities in 1941–1944 to those who were considered as collaborationists: primarily to f ormer prisoners of war and repatriates who lived and worked on the occupied Karelian territory and then removed to Finland.
But nowadays based on the analysis of wide range of documentary material about the cooperation of the local population of Karelia and Finland with the occupational authorities during World War II we can answer the main question raised in the introduction: who were collaborationists — traitors of their countries or victims of the war. From our point of view it is impossiЬle to justify military collaboration. Those of Finnish and Soviet people who took the side of the enemy and fought against their motherland with arms in their hands can Ье reasonaЫy considered as traitors. However there were few ideological fighters among them, most of collaborationists took the side of the enemy saving their lives and lives of their families or under the kourbash.
The behavior of those Soviet and Finnish people who cooperated with the occupational authorities in the sphere of economic and cultural activities during the war time at least can Ье understood if not justified. The majority of them occurred on the occupied territory unwillingly because of the harsh military environment and often due to the fault and sluggishness of their authorities and administration who did not manage to evacuate the population of the first war period in time and in an orderly way. Especially it concerns the issues of the evacuation of civilian Finnish population during the Winter War of 1939–1940 and Soviet people in the first period of the Great Patriotic War. They can reasonaЫy Ье concerned as victims of the war. For many years after the end of the war "the imprint of the occupation and the exile" laid on both of them.