The cornerstone of unity

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EXCHANGING WOUNDED PRISONERS OF WAR 
A total of 63,500 wounded prisoners of war were exchanged from 1915 to 1918 between the opposing sides in 
World War I through the Finnish and Swedish border towns of Tornio and Haparanda. It was the until then 
largest humanitarian operation in military history. In historiography, the exchange has remained in the shadow of 
descriptions of the war itself.
Representatives of the countries warring on the eastern front 
– Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary – 
negotiated about helping and wounded POWs in the winter of 1915 in Stockholm under the leadership of 
Sweden’s Prince Carl and under the aegis of the International Red Cross. The negotiations were based on the 
Geneva Convention of 1906 and the Hague Convention of 1907 and the Red Cross’s fundamental idea that 
wounded, unarmed POWs are no longer enemies but fellow human beings that should be helped.
Already then, Finland was active as a mediator. Mail between the warring countries travelled mainly along the 
northern route. Letters of POWs and their loved ones and gift packages for POWs had already previously been 
delivered through Tornio and Haparanda. During WWI, a ropeway conveyor for mail was constructed over the 
river between Tornio and Haparanda. Wooden towers supported a cable that was more than a kilometre long and 
conveyed 45 containers at a height of almost 20 metres.
For the prisoner exchange, Russia extended the rail connection from St. Petersburg to Tornio with a 
temporary track farther north to Karunki, across from which the Swedish railway ran at the time. Two specially 
constructed trains were equipped as hospitals between Haparanda and Trelleborg, and Sweden provided two 
hospital ships for the connection between Trelleborg and Sassnitz in Germany. The wounded prisoners were 
transported over the river between Tornio and Haparanda with horse-drawn sleighs in the winter and with barges 
when there was no ice. (At the time, there was not yet a railway bridge between Tornio and Haparanda.) So the 
transport route was St. Petersburg
–Tornio–Haparanda–Trelleborg–Sassnitz, in both directions. The plan was to 
transport about 230 to 250 prisoners once a week. 
A large amount of Red Cross staff from Sweden, Russia, and Finland participated in the medical and 
transport tasks. The Russian prisoners were transported to Haparanda, where there were about ten hospital 
barracks. The prisoners from the Central Powers were transported from St. Petersburg to Tornio, where a 
temporary hospital had been built for them.
The first hospital train from St. Petersburg arrived in Tornio in August 1915. A week later, a train arrived in 
Haparanda from the Austrian-Hungarian POW camp in Theresienstadt. 
The first trains were received by high-ranking dignitaries including Governor-General Frans Seyn and his wife 
and Governor Enehjelm. The Red Cross was represented by Sweden’s Prince Carl; the Russian Red Cross’s 
main Finland representative, Major General Paul von Etter; and Grand Duke Kirill of Russia. There was an 
honour guard and bands as well as a large crowd at the train station.
Between August 1915 and January 1918, a total of 63,465 wounded prisoners were transported between 
Tornio and Haparanda, 37,295 Russians, 3,617 Germans, 22,123 Austrian-Hungarians, and 428 Turks.
The prisoners were seriously wounded. Many had lost at least an arm or a leg, often both legs, and some had 
lost even more limbs. They had serious facial wounds caused by shrapnel and burns, and some had gone blind. 
And the psychological damage caused by the war and their injuries was certainly not minor. The care they 
received in the temporary hospitals consisted of basic care, washing, clean clothes, medication, and a short rest. 
They all had to have been previously vaccinated against small pox and had to be free of infectious diseases.
It was a stunning sight to see hundreds of amputated soldiers on crutches walking or even dragging 
themselves to the trains. The Swedish photographer Mia Green has documented these events on postcards that 
have survived to this day.
The prisoners’ wounds and other illnesses were so debilitating during the transport that many never made it 

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home. The soldiers of the Central Powers that died on the way were buried in Haparanda; the Russians, in 
Tornio.
Due to the Russian Revolution, it became difficult to run the Tornio hospital in April 1917. It became difficult to 
provide the prisoners with care and food, and the funding was delayed. The last POW trains arrived in January 
1918.
It is remarkable that the opponents were able to carry out an extensive humanitarian operation in the middle 
of and after the war’s atrocities. Finland played an important role in this unique series of events in the history of 
the world. Finland has also late
r tried to participate in the world’s crises “more as a doctor than as a judge”.
Seppo Seitsalo 
– professor, former medical director of Orton Hospital