Hennala camp

Hennala camp
Concentration camp
Women inmates in Hennala.
Location	Lahti, Finland
Operated by	Finnish Whites
Operational	May 1918 – 15 September 1918
Inmates	Finnish Reds
Number of inmates	11,000–12,000
Killed	c. 1,200
Notable inmates	Ali Aaltonen †, Frans Myyryläinen, Fred Lindholm

Hennala camp was a concentration camp operating from the beginning of May 1918 to 15 September 1918 in the Hennala Garrison in Lahti, Finland. It was set up for the Reds captured by the White Army after the Finnish Civil War Battle of Lahti.

As the Battle of Lahti was over on 1 May, the German troops and the Finnish Whites captured about 30,000 Reds in the surroundings of the town. Most of them were fleeing Reds from the southwest part of Finland on their way to east. The refugees included Red Guard fighters, their family members and other Red supporters. As the captured were guarded by only one hundred Germans and a couple of Whites, about one third of them managed to escape. Finally, approximately 22,000 Reds were gathered to the shortly-lived Fellman camp, located in the fields of the Fellman Manor on the outskirts of Lahti.

Most of the women and children were soon released. The men and those suspected as female fighters were transferred to the Hennala Garrison, where the prison camp was established. As there was not enough space in Hennala, some of the captured Reds were moved to camps established in Helsinki, Hämeenlinna and Lappeenranta. In Hennala, the total number of prisoners rose up to nearly 13,000, including 2,200 women and almost 300 children under the age of 15. In the next five months, almost 1,200 prisoners died of executions, disease and malnutrition.

Hennala camp was active until 15 September 1918, when most of the prisoners were released on parole. The camp was turned into a forced labour camp for convicted Reds, which was finally closed on 1 October 1919.

The number of Reds executed in Hennala was about 500, at least 218 of them were women, youngest being only 14-year-old girls. A total of 13 underaged children were shot. The largest single execution in Lahti was made on 9 May, when at least 100 Red women were shot.