Strangers in a Stranger Land

How One Country's Jews Fought an Unwinnable War alongside Nazi Troops… and Survived

John B. Simon

What did it feel like to be an openly Jewish soldier fighting alongside German troops in WWII? Could a Jewish nurse work safely in a field hospital operating theater under the supervision of German army doctors? Several hundred members of Finland’s tiny Jewish community found themselves in absurd situations like this, yet not a single one was harmed by the Germans or deported to concentration or extermination camps. In fact, Finland was the only European country fighting on either side in WWII that lost not a single Jewish citizen to the Nazi’s “Final Solution.”

Strangers in a Stranger Land explores the unique dilemma of Finland’s Jews in the form of a meticulously researched novel. Where did these immigrant Jews—the last in Europe to achieve citizenship status—come from? What was life like from their arrival in Finland in the early nineteenth century to the time when their grandchildren perversely found themselves on “the wrong side” of WWII? And how could young lovers plan for the future when not only their enemies but also their country’s allies threatened their very existence?

Seven years researching Finland’s National Archives plus numerous in-depth interviews with surviving Finnish Jewish war veterans provide the background for a narrative exploration of love, friendship, and commitment but also uncertainty and terror under circumstances that were unique in the annals of “The Good War.” The novel’s protagonists—Benjamin, David and Rachel—adopt varying survival strategies as they struggle with involvement in a brutal conflict and questions posed by their dual loyalty as Finnish citizens and Zionists committed to the creation of a Jewish homeland. Tensions mount as the three young adults painfully work through a relationship love triangle and try to fulfill their commitments as both Jews and Finns while their country desperately seeks to extricate itself from an unwinnable war.

Hamilton Books

Pages: 488 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-0-7618-7149-1 • Paperback • August 2019 • $22.99 • (£17.99)

978-0-7618-7150-7 • eBook • August 2019 • $21.50 • (£16.99)

Subjects: Fiction / Historical / World War II, History / Military / World War II, History / Holocaust, Religion / Judaism / History

Strangers in a Stranger Land

How One Country's Jews Fought an Unwinnable War alongside Nazi Troops… and Survived

Paperback

eBook

Summary

What did it feel like to be an openly Jewish soldier fighting alongside German troops in WWII? Could a Jewish nurse work safely in a field hospital operating theater under the supervision of German army doctors? Several hundred members of Finland’s tiny Jewish community found themselves in absurd situations like this, yet not a single one was harmed by the Germans or deported to concentration or extermination camps. In fact, Finland was the only European country fighting on either side in WWII that lost not a single Jewish citizen to the Nazi’s “Final Solution.”

Strangers in a Stranger Land explores the unique dilemma of Finland’s Jews in the form of a meticulously researched novel. Where did these immigrant Jews—the last in Europe to achieve citizenship status—come from? What was life like from their arrival in Finland in the early nineteenth century to the time when their grandchildren perversely found themselves on “the wrong side” of WWII? And how could young lovers plan for the future when not only their enemies but also their country’s allies threatened their very existence?

Seven years researching Finland’s National Archives plus numerous in-depth interviews with surviving Finnish Jewish war veterans provide the background for a narrative exploration of love, friendship, and commitment but also uncertainty and terror under circumstances that were unique in the annals of “The Good War.” The novel’s protagonists—Benjamin, David and Rachel—adopt varying survival strategies as they struggle with involvement in a brutal conflict and questions posed by their dual loyalty as Finnish citizens and Zionists committed to the creation of a Jewish homeland. Tensions mount as the three young adults painfully work through a relationship love triangle and try to fulfill their commitments as both Jews and Finns while their country desperately seeks to extricate itself from an unwinnable war.

Details

Hamilton Books

Pages: 488 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-0-7618-7149-1 • Paperback • August 2019 • $22.99 • (£17.99)

978-0-7618-7150-7 • eBook • August 2019 • $21.50 • (£16.99)

Subjects: Fiction / Historical / World War II, History / Military / World War II, History / Holocaust, Religion / Judaism / History

Author

John B. Simon is the author of To Become Somebody: Growing up against the Grain of Society and Kone’s Prince.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
Preface
1. Iron Cross for a Jew?
2. Benjamin Reminisces about his Childhood
3. Vidablick
4. Peisach Loses Everything
5. Benjamin Remembers His Grandfather
6. Finland Becomes Part of the Russian Empire
7. Annus Mirabilis
8. Peisach Gets a Life
9. Correspondence after Camp
10. Benjamin Recalls His Family’s Return to Viipuri
11. Mendel’s Childhood
12. A Little Bird
13. Upheaval
14. Civil War
15. Finland Lurches Right
16. Benjamin Thinks Back on Hard Times
17. Mendel Becomes a Finn
18. Finland Recovers
19. Benjamin Reflects on the Rise of Zionism
20. Loyalty Parallax
21. Rachel Makes a Decision
22. David and the Refugee Situation
23. Benjamin Becomes the Man of the House
24. Benjamin Recalls His Adolescence
25. Europe in Turmoil
26. Lotta Training and Civil Guard Youth Camp
27. A Night on the Town
28. The Magical Summer of ‘39
29. Benjamin Recalls the Start of the Winter War
30. The Winter War Begins
31. Finland’s Survival at Risk
32. Benjamin Remembers Wartime Viipuri
33. A Bitter Peace
34. Finland’s Fragile Truce
35. Benjamin Reflects on His Altered Status
36. Hitler Changes His Mind
37. Pressure Mounts
38. A Night at the Theater
39. Afraid of Being Eaten by the Bear, the Lamb Lies Down with the Wolf
40. Miracles Sometimes Happen
41. Benjamin on Heroism and Fear
42. Benjamin Goes to War
43. Rachel Crosses the Border
44. David’s Battlefront Diary
45. Finland Walks a Tightrope
46. Tent Synagogue on the German Front
47. “Those Eight”
48. Benjamin’s Recollections of the Trench War
49. Rachel Meets the Steinbocks
50. The Worm Turns
51. The Beginning of the End
52. Waiting
53. Against Overwhelming Odds
54. All Hell Breaks Loose
55. What Price Peace?
56. Aftermath
About the Author

Reviews

I began reading John B. Simon’s non-fiction Strangers in a Stranger Land, which recounts the singular history of Finland’s Jews as the fictional story of three generations, published in time for Christmas 2017, with the intention of making my way through it by the end of the month. What happened? I finished the book in a twenty-four-hour marathon read. I simply couldn’t put it down. . . . Then a second reading before the end of the month. The book in question is, to put it simply, good.
— Ismo Söderling, director, Finland’s Institute of Migration

In Simon’s book, the alternation between the fictional narrative and historical sections is skillfully constructed. Imagined characters encounter real people in real situations. The lives of Benjamin and those close to him are connected to almost all those events, phenomena and unusual circumstances for which the history of Finland’s Jewish community has become known. His book succeeds in providing a multifaceted portrayal of a difficult history.
— Paavo Ahonen, from “The Journey of the Jews through Three Separate Wars”

Strangers in a Stranger Land is three books in one: a history of the Jews in Finland, a surprisingly compact history of Finland over the same period, and a novel in which David, Benjamin, and Rachel, three childhood friends, grow up and experience the prewar and war years through their complicated interpersonal relationship. An excellent book. Simon has put in years of effort, and it shows on every page.
— Erkki Liikanen, former Governor of the Bank of Finland

Features

In this video, John B. Simon discusses his book Strangers in a Stranger Land: How One Country's Jews Fought an Unwinnable War alongside Nazi Troops… and Survived at the National Museum of American Jewish Military History. To view this video, please click on the following link: https://youtu.be/emgOzd0ng1A.

In Finland during World War II, openly Jewish soldiers were awarded the highest recognition by the German military, the Iron Cross. Strangers in a Stranger Land is a book in which the author John B. Simon examines the survival of Finland’s Jews against the most daunting power struggles in Europe toward the end of the second world war.

In this interview link, “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes spoke with Simon in November and asked why those Germans, whose government was systematically murdering Jews throughout Europe, didn’t kill those Jewish soldiers: https://www.wabe.org/author-john-simon-explores-little-known-historical-fact-about-wwii/

Strangers in a Stranger Land

How One Country's Jews Fought an Unwinnable War alongside Nazi Troops… and Survived

John B. Simon

Strangers in a Stranger Land

How One Country's Jews Fought an Unwinnable War alongside Nazi Troops… and Survived

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