Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Mannerheim Jörn Donnerin kertomana Osa 3

Mannerheim, berättad av Jörn Donner Del 3 / [Mannerheim As Told by Jörn Donner Part 3]. Part 3 of a five-part non-fiction essay tv series FI 2011. PC: Jörn Donner Productions / Franck Media. D+SC: Jörn Donner. ED: Klaus Grabber. M: Pedro Hietanen. 57 min. YLE TV1 transmission watched from the YLE Areena internet site, 18 Jan 2011

Official presentation: "The chairman of the defense council Mannerheim anticipates the imminent great war. Finland is surprised by the attack of the USSR. A unanimous people defends itself under the leadership of Mannerheim and is forced to accept the compulsory peace of 1940."

The Parliament House is built. Svinhufvud is elected President. Mannerheim visits the ceremony on the occasion of the battle of Lützen. During Depression, Finland projects outwards a vigorous image of economic growth. Planning the Helsinki Olympics. The rise of Hitler (Triumph des Willens footage). The Berlin Olympics of 1936, the victories of Finns. Images on anti-semitistic terror. Mannerheim never spoke out about the terror, but "we have to be prepared for the end of the world". Hunting with Hermannn Göring. Tiger hunting in India. Mannerheim stamp issued 1937. 70th anniversary celebrated. His only official post was as chairman of the defense council. "The anniversary would become a strong anti-Bolshevist demonstration". On his anniversary, he is created War Marshal. The warm summer 1939. Few realized that Stalin and Hitler would become the worst mass murderers in history. The Molotov Ribbentrop pact. Hitler rapes Poland. Stalin wants his share. Poland disappears for a long while. Military excercises: Finland prepares for war. Defense lines are built on the Karelian Peninsula. The Aleksis Kivi statue is unveiled. Mannerheim had kept fighting for the defense budget. Negotiations with the USSR: demarcation lines in Karelia, a fort suggested in Hanko. Paasikivi returns from Moscow. Protecting the Zoological Museum. Reservists are called to service. Navy exercises. Winter images from Helsinki. Soviet troops concentrated on the border zone. Who helped Finland? Finland had a death-defying army, the public opinion of the world on its side, and Mannerheim. The 72 year old commander in chief let himself be photographed only once during the Winter War. Extended footage of the Road of Raate. The Suomussalmi village in ruins. A Soviet plane and tank as loot. The Winter War may not be unique, but a heroic tale it is. The world press comes to Finland: a David vs. Goliath story. An extended chunk from Friends of Finland present: Finland Fights! (Saarinen, Sibelius, payment of debts, Nurmi). Devastating Soviet casualties. Molotov cocktails. The individual counted: Simo Häyhä. Would Finland survive? Sweden refused to help British troops enter Finland. Moscow Peace Treaty 1940. Väinö Tanner speaks. Finns leave Vyborg. Solemn funeral ceremonies. Finland was the only warfaring country which sent all the bodies of the deceased back home. "I have never seen warriors like you". Mannerheim became the symbol of the country's survival as an independent nation.

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