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Repatriation and identification of the Finnish World War II soldiers.

ABSTRACT: AIM: To present a summary of the organization, field search, repatriation, forensic anthropological examination, and DNA analysis for the purpose of identification of Finnish soldiers with unresolved fate in World War II. METHODS: Field searches were organized, executed, and financed by the Ministry of Education and the Association for Cherishing the Memory of the Dead of the War. Anthropological examination conducted on human remains retrieved in the field searches was used to establish the minimum number of individuals and description of the skeletal diseases, treatment, anomalies, or injuries. DNA tests were performed by extracting DNA from powdered bones and blood samples from relatives. Mitochondrial DNA sequence comparisons, together with circumstantial evidence, were used to connect the remains to the putative family members. RESULTS: At present, the skeletal remains of about a thousand soldiers have been found and repatriated. In forensic anthropological examination, several injuries related to death were documented. For the total of 181 bone samples, mtDNA HVR-1 and HVR-2 sequences were successfully obtained for 167 (92.3%) and 148 (81.8%) of the samples, respectively. Five samples yielded no reliable sequence data. Our data suggests that mtDNA preserves at least for 60 years in the boreal acidic soil. The quality of the obtained mtDNA sequence data varied depending on the sample bone type, with long compact bones (femur, tibia and humerus) having significantly better (90.0%) success rate than other bones (51.2%). CONCLUSION: Although more than 60 years have passed since the World War II, our experience is that resolving the fate of soldiers missing in action is still of uttermost importance for people having lost their relatives in the war. Although cultural and individual differences may exist, our experience presented here gives a good perspective on the importance of individual identification performed by forensic professionals.

SUBMITTER: Palo JU

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2080560 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Repatriation and identification of the Finnish World War II soldiers.

Palo Jukka U JU Hedman Minttu M Söderholm Niklas N Sajantila Antti A

Croatian medical journal 20070801 4

<h4>Aim</h4>To present a summary of the organization, field search, repatriation, forensic anthropological examination, and DNA analysis for the purpose of identification of Finnish soldiers with unresolved fate in World War II.<h4>Methods</h4>Field searches were organized, executed, and financed by the Ministry of Education and the Association for Cherishing the Memory of the Dead of the War. Anthropological examination conducted on human remains retrieved in the field searches was used to esta ...[more]

PMID: 17696308

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Project description:Importance:Although there is evidence that adverse childhood experiences are associated with worse mental health in adulthood, scarce evidence is available regarding an emerging concern that the next generation might also be affected. Objective:To compare the risk of psychiatric hospitalization in cousins whose parents were vs were not exposed to the Finnish evacuation policy that involved a mean 2-year stay with a Swedish foster family. Design, Setting, and Participants:This multigenerational, population-based cohort study of Finnish individuals and their siblings born between January 1, 1933, and December 31, 1944, analyzed the association of evacuee status as a child during World War II in the first generation with the risk of psychiatric hospitalization among offspring in the second generation. Evacuee status during World War II was determined using the Finnish National Archive's registry of participants in the Finnish evacuation. Data on evacuee status were linked to the psychiatric diagnoses in the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register from January 1, 1971, through December 31, 2012, for offspring (n = 93 391) born between January 1, 1950, and December 31, 2010. Sex-specific Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios for risk of psychiatric hospitalization during the follow-up period. Because offspring of evacuees and their nonevacuated siblings are cousins, the Cox proportional hazards regression models included fixed effects to adjust for confounding factors in families. Data analysis was performed from June 15, 2016, to August 26, 2017. Exposures:Parental participation in the evacuation during World War II (coded 1 for parents who were evacuated and placed in foster care and 0 for those not evacuated). Main Outcomes and Measures:Offspring's initial admission to the hospital for a psychiatric disorder, obtained from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register from January 1, 1971, through December 31, 2012. Results:Of the 93 391 study persons, 45 955 (49.2%) were women and 47 436 (50.8) were men; mean (SD) age in 2012 among survivors was 45.4 (6.58) years. Female offspring of mothers evacuated to Sweden during childhood had an elevated risk of psychiatric hospitalization (hazard ratio for any type of psychiatric disorder: 2.04 [95% CI, 1.04-4.01]; hazard ratio for mood disorder: 4.68 [95% CI, 1.92-11.42]). There was no excess risk of being hospitalized for a psychiatric disorder among women whose fathers were exposed to the Finnish evacuation policy during World War II or among men whose mothers or fathers were exposed. Conclusions and Relevance:In a prior follow-up study of the Finnish evacuees, girls evacuated to Swedish foster families during World War II were more likely to be hospitalized for a psychiatric disorder-in particular, a mood disorder-in adulthood than their nonevacuated sisters. The present study found that the offspring of these individuals were also at risk for mental health problems that required hospitalization and suggests that early-life adversities, including war-related exposures, may be associated with mental health disorders that persist across generations.

Dataset Information

Repatriation and identification of the Finnish World War II soldiers.

Publications

Repatriation and identification of the Finnish World War II soldiers.

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