Except for the Pikku Kakkonen show and Tuntematon sotilas, which my 8-year-old begged me to watch with him (and after 15 min. I forbade him to watch it for another 7 years), I have never given a chance to check a Finnish movie.
Finns produce a lot of movies per year for various audiences. Currently, there are several movies in cinemas for children, the whole family and for adults. After fighting my self-esteem regarding my Finnish language skills I decided to visit the cinema because “Ei koskaan yksin” (Never alone) was intriguing.
On this webpage, I have written repeatedly about my interest in history, particularly modern history. The Holocaust is one of the topics I read a lot about, as in my hometown, there was established a work camp for Jewish citizens during the years 1941 – 1945. But we had never spoken about it during the history classes and for many decades the place was overlooked and destroyed together with many Jewish cemeteries and synagogues in Slovakia.
Of course, I have also seen movies and documentaries about the Holocaust, but I have never heard about the Finnish Oskar Schindler, Abraham Stiller. The movie “Ei koskaan yksin” tells the story of Jewish people who escaped Germany at the end of the 1930-ties. Finland was about to join the Nazi army as a co-belligerent to fight against the Soviet Union and Finnish authorities didn’t know how to proceed with 2000 Jewish refugees.
Abraham Stiller was a Finnish lawyer and businessman who guaranteed that the Jewish society in Finland would take care of these asylum seekers. He offered many of them a job, and accommodation and constantly fought for their rights.
Because of the personal conflicts between Stiller and Arno Anthoni, the head of the Finnish police, the Finnish government returned 20 Jewish refugees to Germany. It was the first and only transport of Jewish citizens from Finland and 19 of them died in the concentration camps.
As an influential figure with friends among politicians, Abraham Stiller was able to stop the other transports, but he could not prevent the first one. He was broken because of it, as he had constantly persuaded the refugees that they were safe in Finland. He blamed himself for the deaths of 19 innocent people till the time the only survivor sent him a present from Israel – the cotton ball that symbolizes forgiveness.
Ei koskaan yksin is a wonderful, but heavy movie with a strong true story. I cried a lot, but I learned a lot too. The story of Abraham Stiller is not commonly known among the Finns either, and I can only recommend going to the cinema and watching it for yourself. This is also something Finland can be proud of and recognizes the power of cultural or religious minorities.
