Winter Fire is a novel by William R. Trotter that tells the story of a Nazi officer who is assigned to act as liaison with the bodyguards of the Finnish composer Sibelius. The Nazis consider the Finns to be reluctant allies against the Russians. The officer had been an orchestra conductor in Germany before the war. His career was just beginning to take off when World War II interrupted. He had scored a triumph in Germany conducting Sibelius’ Fifth (I believe) before the war.
The novel is a good read, though ultimately unsatisfying. It combines the officers’ search for Sibelius’ Eighth Symphony; the war with its winter ski-fighting; Finnish mythology with forest spirits; and the author’s comments on Sibelius’ life and music. Admittedly, as a Jew, I find it hard to sympathize with a central character who is a Nazi, but I believe the novel fails because it just tries to cover too many bases. I recommend it anyhow because it’s an easy way to learn about Sibelius, especially the symphonies. Besides, Finland was the only democracy to fight on the Nazi side and the novel provides much insight about that and how the war was fought.
A better book by Mr. Trotter is A Frozen Hell, subtitled The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-40. This book details the war Finland fought with Russia in 1939/40 that ultimately led Finland to fight with the Nazis. In order to protect Leningrad, Stalin needed certain territorial concessions from Finland. Stalin also wanted Finland’s nickel mines. Finland refused to make these territorial concessions. Russia invaded. The Finns, under Field Marshall Gustaf Mannerheim, shocked the Russians and the world by bloodying the Russian’s nose.
However, the Russians improved their tactics and finally brought their numbers to bear. Finland ran out of replacement troops and sued for peace. The country was all but dismembered with Karelia being ceded to the Russians. There was a mass transfer of Finns to the rump state. This is the war covered in A Frozen Hell. That, incidentally, is also a great read, but it’s also good history.
When the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, Finland saw no choice but to fight with the Nazis to recover its territory. That is the war covered in Winter Fire. Finland actually fought two wars. Finland immediately recovered all of its territory as the Soviet army collapsed and Leningrad was surrounded. In 1944, seeing Hitler’s defeat on the horizon, Finland negotiated an armistice with the Soviet Union. The Finns then fought the Germans to expel them. This, too, is covered in Winter Fire.
What is sad and ironic is that the Nazis broke through Soviet defenses so easily that they didn’t even have to attack from Finland. Stalin fought the winter war of 39/40 for nothing. Leningrad was surrounded by the Nazis, but Finland refused to attack it. To digress, you must read The Siege o f Leningrad by Harrison Salisbury. What Leningrad suffered is detailed in harrowing hideous detail. Just before he died, Sergio Leone was going to film the book. What a movie that would have made!
Getting back to our Nazi officer and his search for Sibelius’ Eighth Symphony; check any Schwann’s and you will see the symphonies are numbered 1 to 7. Symphony Number 7 was written in 1924. Sibelius didn’t die till 1957. Rumors of a number 8 persisted. Alas! No number 8. That is what the Nazi was searching for. Fine, except that there is an unnumbered “Kullervo” symphony for soprano, baritone, ,and symphony orchestra. Mr, Trotter knows that, but he didn’t want to confuse you: the Nazi was really searching for number 9. “Kullervo” can be had in the EMI Matrix series with orchestra and soloists conducted by Pavlo Berglund. There are so many symphony cycles that you can pick your own. Colin Davis on Phillips with the tone poems and “Finlandia” has its fans. Not covered in the book is Sibelius’ only opera on Bis: The Maiden in the Tower coupled with The Karelia Suite. All conducted by Neemi Jarvi with the Gothenburg Symphony. The tone poems are available separately as “Four Legends of the Kalevala.”
Before we leave this, let’s cover some more ground. I have never seen it, but Finnish Cinema has a movie called The Unknown Soldier. It deals with the Winter War. I’d like to see it.
Finland being on the Nazi side was confronted by Nazi demands to persecute Jews. Mannerheim refused to enforce such laws. This led to the oddity of Finnish Jews fighting under Nazi officers. Some fifty Jews of one hundred and sixty who were refugees from Austria were turned over to the Gestapo. Eleven were murdered, then Mannerheim put a stop to that. On the whole, Mannerheim was a man of honor, but no one’s perfect. Finland suffered horribly in terms of casualties as a percent of population. A topic for further study is the question of how Finland managed to avoid being swallowed up after World War II. I’ll tell you this much, they literally had to pay through the nose, and they were lucky that Stalin had bigger things to worry about.