Estonian Tatar soomepoisid (Finnish Boys)
The Estonian Tatar soomepoisid ("Finnish Boys") were members of the historical Estonian Tatar (Mišär Tatar) community who volunteered for the Finnish armed forces during the Second World War. Like thousands of Estonians, they preferred to fight against the Soviet Union in Finnish rather than German-occupation uniform. At the end of 1943 several Estonian Tatars reached Finland, and three of them — Ibrahim Zarip, Ahmed Haerdinov and Rafik Moksanov — were admitted to the Finnish military. Their number was small, but their story ties the Estonian Tatar community to the wider soomepoisid movement.
The soomepoisid — background
"Soomepoisid" (Finnish Suomen-pojat) was the general name for the Estonian volunteers who served in the Finnish armed forces during the Second World War. The first of them fled Estonia for Finland already in 1939–1940 to help their kindred people in the Winter War; during the Continuation War their numbers grew into several thousand. Estimates of the total number of Estonians in the Finnish forces vary between roughly 3,000 and 3,400 men, depending on the source.
On 8 February 1944 the Finnish Marshal Carl Gustaf Mannerheim ordered the formation of the 200th Infantry Regiment (JR 200) from Estonian volunteers. On 4 May 1944 the regiment held, according to the English Wikipedia, 1,973 Estonians and 361 Finns, including 67 officers and 165 non-commissioned officers; the Estonian Wikipedia gives a total of about 1,700 men and names the Estonian-speaking Lieutenant Colonel Eino Kuusela as commander. The regiment consisted of two battalions (eight companies) plus mortar and anti-tank companies.
The regiment was sent to the front in June 1944 as part of the Finnish 10th Division and took up positions in the Bay of Viipuri sector on the Karelian Isthmus. In the summer defensive battles the regiment lost, by the Estonian Wikipedia's count, 289 men by 12 August (9 officers, 26 NCOs and 254 enlisted men). Its motto was "For the freedom of Finland and the honour of Estonia."
On 12 August 1944 most of the men decided to return to Estonia — 1,628 chose the homeland and 163 stayed in Finland; the regiment reached Paldiski on 19 August 1944.
The Estonian Tatars' route to Finland
At the end of 1943 several Estonian Tatar families reached Finland — by motorboat, according to the source — and registered as political refugees. Some of them applied to serve in the Finnish military; three Estonian Tatars were admitted: Ibrahim Zarip, Ahmed Haerdinov and Rafik Moksanov. Zarip joined the Finnish navy; Haerdinov moved to Sweden after his service and Moksanov to Canada.
In all, six Estonian Tatar families received residence permits in Finland and two families later acquired citizenship. Their recommenders included the Samaletdin family, imam Weli-Ahmed Hakim and the merchant Ymär Abdrahim — well-known members of the Finnish Tatar community. Fearing deportation and facing uncertain conditions, many Estonian Tatars continued on to Sweden rather than remain in Finland.
Ibrahim Zarip — the best-documented case
The service of Ibrahim Zarip (1925–1994) is known in the most detail. He was the son of the Tallinn lace merchant Umiar Zarip. On 9 November 1943 he reached Finland to avoid mobilization into the German occupation forces and volunteered for the Finnish armed forces; on 20 November 1943 he was taken into the Finnish navy as a sailor. He trained in Turku and served on a minesweeper.
Although Zarip reached Sweden as a political refugee already on 18 August 1944, he was officially discharged from Finnish naval service only on 18 September 1944. In 1956 he moved to New York. His life is covered in more detail in the Vikipeedia article "Ibrahim Zarip".
Why Finland, not Germany
As with the Estonian soomepoisid generally, the Estonian Tatars too preferred to fight the Soviet forces in Finnish rather than German uniform; some fled to Finland precisely to avoid forced mobilization. In the summer of 1944, as the Red Army again approached Estonia, they faced — like many Estonians — the choice of returning to defend the homeland or staying in the West. For those who stayed, Finland was often the first stop on the way to Sweden and beyond.
See also: The Continuation War.
Sources
By name, only three Estonian Tatar soomepoisid are known — Zarip, Haerdinov and Moksanov; there may have been others, but they are not documented in the sources available to us. The branch of service is documented for Zarip (a sailor at the Turku naval base) and for Moksanov — a driver in the 8th Company of Infantry Regiment 200 (8./JR 200) on the Bay of Viborg; sources: Vabaduse eest (1997) and the Valpo file, as reported by Antero Leitzinger. The sources do not specify Haerdinov's branch of service. The regiment's figures differ between sources (a strength of roughly 1,700-2,300 men), so they are given with attribution. The story rests on the Estonian Tatar community's tradition, on data about the Finnish Tatars, and on the soomepoisid biographical lexicon.
See also
The Estonian Tatars kept the Estonian language even in exile
The Estonian Tatar community in the Republic of Estonia (1918–1940)
Sources: Wikipedia — Finnish Tatars (en), 200. jalaväerügement (et), Finnish Infantry Regiment 200 (en), Soomepoisid (et/en); eestitatarlased.ee; this Vikipeedia's articles "Ibrahim Zarip" and "Zaripide perekond".