Salomon Klass (17 April 1907 – 22 March 1985) was a captain in the

Finnish Army The Finnish Army ( , ) is the army, land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces. The Finnish Army is divided into six branches: infantry (which includes armoured units), field artillery, anti-aircraft artillery, Combat engineering, engineer ...

, a company commander and one of the three Finnish Jews who were nominated to be awarded the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, all of whom refused to accept it. He was also a

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

and joined the

Irgun The Irgun (), officially the National Military Organization in the Land of Israel, often abbreviated as Etzel or IZL (), was a Zionist paramilitary organization that operated in Mandatory Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of th ...

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

before the war.

Early life

Salomon Klass was born to a family of eight children in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, in 1907. His father was Jerechmiel Klass, a store owner, and his mother was Bassja Braine Klass. The family had moved from

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

to Finland between 1899 and 1901. Klass joined the voluntary right-wing White Guard militia and received his military training there. He rose to the rank of company commander, but was forced to transfer to a different unit after rising

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

in 1933. He served in that unit until leaving for Palestine in 1935. He lived four years in Palestine, fighting for the underground Etzel resistance movement against British rule. Author John B. Simon calls Klass "both a Finnish patriot and an ardent Zionist".

Service in the Finnish Army

After the 1939 Finnish

mobilization Mobilization (alternatively spelled as mobilisation) is the act of assembling and readying military troops and supplies for war. The word ''mobilization'' was first used in a military context in the 1850s to describe the preparation of the ...

, Klass returned to Finland to fight in the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

against the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. He commanded a company that defended Maksima Island in

Lake Ladoga Lake Ladoga is a freshwater lake located in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, in the vicinity of Saint Petersburg. It is the largest lake located entirely in Europe, the second largest lake in Russia after Lake ...

. Initially, the unit successfully repelled a Soviet assault on the island that was using tanks as

snowplow A snowplow (also snow plow, snowplough or snow plough) is a device intended for mounting on a vehicle, used for removing snow and ice from outdoor surfaces, typically those serving transportation purposes. Although this term is often used to ref ...

s on the frozen lake, after Finnish artillery shattered the ice and some of the tanks fell through. However, by February 1940, the Finnish troops on the island had suffered high casualties and the Soviets put more pressure on the defenders. On 24 February, a Soviet machine-gunner's bullet entered his skull, permanently disabling one of his eyes. He rested in a military hospital until the end of the Winter War. Despite his status as a war invalid, he returned to service in the military to train conscripts in the autumn of 1940. After the outbreak of the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...

, which pitted Germany and Finland against the Soviet Union during World War II, Klass was assigned to be the company commander of the Infantry Regiment 11 First Company in the Kiestinki sector near Uhtua. The infantry regiment was subordinate to the German Army of Norway, and Klass had daily exchanges with German soldiers. Once, a commander of a German division, Colonel Pilgrim, paid a surprise visit to Klass's command position to compliment him on his work and asked if he was from the Baltic region, due to his accent when speaking German. Klass answered that his native language was

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

and that he was Jewish, to which Pilgrim responded by standing up and saying, "I have nothing personal against you as a Jew", doing the Hitler salute and leaving the tent.

Iron Cross nomination

North of the Kiestinki region, the Soviets had fortified a hill which German troops were planning to assault. In preparation for this, Finnish artillery shelled the hill, and in the barrage intervals, Klass's company prevented seven counter-attacks by the Soviets. German troops conquered the hill with ease and Salomon Klass was on a list of Finnish personnel to be awarded the German Iron Cross. Klass asked his superior to remove his name from the list, and was instead awarded the Finnish Order of the Cross of Liberty, 3rd Class. Klass did this to avoid damaging good working relations with the Germans. The other two Finnish Jews awarded the Iron Cross, Major Leo Skurnik and nurse Dina Poljakoff, also refused the award.

Post-war

After his discharge from the army at the end of World War II, Klass emigrated to Sweden, where he was involved in the fur trade. He wrote his memoirs under the title ''Minnen från Vinterkriget och Fortsättningskriget 1939–1945'' (''Memories from the Winter War and the Continuation War, 1939–1945'').

References

Bibliography

Journals

External links

The war memoirs of Salomon Klass
at the Fenno-Judaica website {{DEFAULTSORT:Klass, Salomon 1907 births 1985 deaths 20th-century Finnish Jews European Zionists Finnish Ashkenazi Jews Finnish anti-communists Finnish military personnel of World War II Finnish military officers Irgun members Military personnel from Helsinki People of Latvian-Jewish descent Finnish emigrants to Sweden Finnish expatriates in Mandatory Palestine Finnish people of Latvian descent Jewish collaborators with Nazi Germany Jewish military personnel Shooting survivors