Paying the war: reparation ships from Turku

After the war Finland had to pay the Soviet Union, not in money but in ships, machines and houses. For eight years the yards and factories worked for the bill, and Turku built almost half of the ocean schooners.

Wartime · Republic

The big story

Paying the war: reparation ships from Turku

In September 1944 the fighting stopped, but the war was not over for Finland’s factories. The peace terms included a huge bill, to be paid in goods. For eight years ships, locomotives, machines and houses went east. Turku, with its shipyards, was right in the middle of it.

The bill

The armistice. Finland signed the Moscow Armistice on 19 September 1944. Among its terms were war reparations to the Soviet Union worth 300 million US dollars, counted at 1938 prices Well documented.
Goods, not money. The reparations were paid in goods. A special body, the War Reparations Industry Delegation, was set up in October 1944 to organise production and deliveries Well documented.
More time, a smaller bill. At first Finland had six years to pay. In late 1945 this was extended to eight years, and in summer 1948 the total was cut to 226.5 million dollars Well documented.
The last train. The final reparations train crossed the border at Vainikkala on 18 September 1952. About 340,000 railway wagonloads had been needed in all Well documented.

Ships from the Aura

Crichton-Vulcan. Turku’s main shipyard stood near the mouth of the Aura. It was formed in 1924 from two older yards, Crichton and Vulcan, and became part of the Wärtsilä company in 1936–38 Well documented.
Warships first. Before the war the yard had built the coastal defence ships Ilmarinen and Väinämöinen and several submarines for the Finnish navy Well documented.
Over 600 vessels. Finland delivered 619 vessels as reparations. Among them were 91 three-masted ocean schooners of 300 tonnes deadweight Well documented.
Schooners from Turku. 45 of the 91 schooners, each with a 225-horsepower diesel engine, were built by Laivateollisuus in Turku. One reparations schooner, Vega, is now a museum ship in Jakobstad Well documented.
What we do not know. We have not found exactly what Crichton-Vulcan built for the reparations, or how many people worked on them in Turku Well documented.

More than ships

A long list. Besides ships Finland sent 525 narrow-gauge locomotives, 52,500 electric motors and 840,000 square metres of prefabricated wooden houses Well documented.
New skills. Finland had to make many machines it had hardly built before. To manage this, the metal and engineering industry had to grow fast Likely.
After the bill. When the deliveries ended in 1952, the factories and yards kept working, now for paying customers Likely.
A new yard. In the 1970s Wärtsilä built a larger shipyard at Perno, about 8 km from the city centre. It is today’s Meyer Turku (stop 49). The last ship built entirely at the old yard was the ferry Rosella, launched in 1979 Well documented.

How do we know?

The reparations were counted down to the last wagon, because each delivery was checked and recorded. The totals on this page come from an overview of the reparations. Its list of 619 vessels is not fully explained, so we say “over 600”. For the Turku yards themselves we would need company records, which we did not find online.

The war reparations: the bill year by year, what Finland delivered, and the schooners built in Turku.Figures for the whole of Finland, except the schooners.

Why it matters

The war reparations were a heavy load for a poor country that had just lost a war. But they also forced Finland to build up its metal industry quickly. The yards in Turku kept building ships after 1952, and shipbuilding is still one of the city’s biggest industries today.

On the lighter side

Rationing and fake coffee

For more than ten years Finns needed a coupon for almost everything they ate or wore. Sugar was weighed in grams, and real coffee became a dream. People drank roasted dandelion roots instead and called it korvike, “substitute”.

Life with ration cards

Half a year of food. In September 1939 the Ministry of Food worked out that the country’s food stocks would last only about six months at normal use Well documented.
Cards for everything. Rationing began after the Winter War. Imported goods such as coffee and petrol came first, and soon almost everything was rationed, “from sugar to rubber boots” Well documented.
Not the same for everyone. How much you got depended on your sex, your age and your work. Coffee, petrol, sugar, tobacco and butter were the most wanted goods Well documented.
Shopping took time. Shopkeepers cut and glued the coupons and weighed out the goods, so there were queues everywhere. In restaurants the waiter cut coupons from your card, and a beer was paid for with the grain card Well documented.

Sugar and fake coffee

250 grams. The sugar ration was first 1 kg a month and later only 250 g a month, about 3 kg a year. Today Finns eat about 32 kg of sugar a year Well documented.
Illegal buns. Using sugar in baking was banned, so a sugar-coated bun was against the law Well documented.
Korvike. You could get at most 1.5 kg of coffee substitute a year. It was made from dandelion roots and oak acorns. Today Finns drink about 10 kg of real coffee per person a year Well documented.
The black market. What the cards could not give, the black market (musta pörssi) sold, at high prices and against the law Well documented.

The end of the cards

Worse after the war. The worst shortages came in 1945–46, after the war and the loss of Karelia Well documented.
Step by step. Domestic fish and grain were freed first, then meat and potatoes. Coffee and sugar came last, and coffee rationing ended for good in 1954 Well documented.
In Turku. We found no stories or numbers that are only about Turku. The rules were the same across the country, so Turku families queued like everyone else Likely.

Tap a coupon to cut it out.

A ration card: cut a coupon to see what it bought, then see the order in which rationing ended.A made-up card; the rules and amounts are real. Finland-wide.

How do we know?

Rationing was run by the state, which printed the cards and set the amounts, so the rules are well documented. The numbers on this page come from an archive article by the Finnish broadcaster Yle. How people really got by, with the black market and food from the countryside, is known more from memories than from records.

Why it matters

Rationing shows how a whole country shared when there was not enough. Your great-grandparents may have queued with their cards and drunk korvike for years. For many who lived through it, the habit of saving and never wasting food stayed for life.

Sources and further reading

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