Vyborg massacre

Vyborg massacre
Part of the Finnish Civil War
Executed Russians at the Annenkrone Fortress
Location	Vyborg, Finland
Date	28 April 1918 – 3 May 1918 (1918-05-03)
Target	Red Guards, Russian men
Attack type	Military assault, mass murder
Deaths	360–420 Russians and associated ethnicities 800+ Red Guards (1200 in total)
Perpetrators	White Guards

360–420 Russians and associated ethnicities

800+ Red Guards

The Vyborg massacre was the killing of approximately 360-420 Russians in the town of Vyborg during the Finnish Civil War in April–May 1918. The massacre took place after the Battle of Vyborg as the White Guards captured the town from the Red Guards. At least half of the victims were Russian soldiers and military personnel. The slain were mainly men and young boys: nine out of ten were men fit for military service. The White Guards were "cleansing" the city of Red Guards, of whom 800+ were killed. However, only a small minority of the killed Russians were afflicted with the Reds.

With 49,000 inhabitants, Vyborg was the second largest town in Finland. It was also the most diverse Finnish town, in 1910 Vyborg had the minorities of 5,000 Swedes and 3,200 Russians, as well as smaller groups of Germans, Jews and Islamic Tatars. Westerlund approximates the total amount of Russians at 4000. The White Guards' idea was to possibly commit an ethnic cleansing of the Russian minority, with the other ethnicities killed as they were simply assumed as Russians. Westerlund however says The White Guards didn't aim at complete and full physical destruction of the Russian population, but elimination of men fit for military service and suspicious elements.

During the Battle of Vyborg a crowd of drunk Red Guard members murdered 30 of their prisoners in Viborg prison. Historian Teemu Keskisarja considers it as the spark for the massacre.

Different estimations of the total number slain have taken place over the years. Soikkanen approximated the number at about 200, Tanskanen at 100, Upton at 50+, Russian newspapers noted by Vihavainen at 500-600, Rustanius and Jouni Eerola at 200, and lastly Jaru and Jouni Eerola at 350-550. Westerlund estimates the number at 360-420. Teemu Keskisarja estimates it at about 400.

37 of the slain were members of other ethnic groups living in Vyborg, including 23 Polish soldiers of the Imperial Russian Army, several Ukrainians, Estonians, Jews and Tatars, two Italians and one Baltic German. At least half of the murdered Russians were affiliated with the army. It is notable that they did not fight with the Reds, but were mostly unarmed. Only few of the victims had any connections with the Red Guards, most of them even supported the Whites and greeted them as liberators. The victims were of all social classes. Most of the killed Russian civilians were administrators working for the City of Vyborg, merchants, businessmen or handicraftsmen, also several noblemen were executed. The youngest victims were only 12–13-year-old schoolboys. Two of the murdered teenagers were the 13 and 15-year-old sons of Lieutenant Colonel Georgi Bulatsel who was one of the highest ranked Russian officers fighting for the Reds. He had been executed after the Battle of Tampere on 28 April. There had been at least three women amongst the slain Russians. Not all caught Russian were slain, as there are numerous mentions of spared Russians in the committee records.