During World War II, the country of Finland was actively involved in the war, and military service was mandatory. Many of the healthy young men were drafted into the army. This caused a difficulty for our faithful church members. Leo and Teuvo Marttinen (the brothers of Timo Marttinen and Leila McTavish—Teuvo being the father of Eva Lammes), were among those who were drafted into the Finnish army.
Leo And Teuvo Marrttinen received the order to go to the Oriveden Military Training Centre on September 14, 1942. Teuvo was only 19 years of age at the time. Since they refused all military service it resulted in their imprisonment for 10 months. One lieutenant said to them, “Here you will be to feel the real taste of hell.” They were not allowed their own bed. They were not given a food plate, but had to buy food from the store. There was always a long lineup to buy food and it was given to them with cursing and swearing.
One day a lieutenant took Teuvo into the woods and cut a stick from a tree and commanded him to drop to the ground and come up again, faster and faster; and every time he did, the lieutenant kept hitting him. Once in a while he asked, “Are you now ready to take a weapon?” Finally, he took his baton and attached his handkerchief to it and started to hit him with that. All this time Teuvo kept repeating Bible texts to him, hoping to get him to stop the beating. Finally the lieutenant said, with tears in his eyes, “I will not hit you anymore, because you have the true faith.” After this beating Teuvo had to spend three nights in a sitting position because he could not lie down due to the pain. Only when his brother supported him could he even stand up. It took three weeks before he recovered.
The two brothers were then taken to the prison in Hämeenlinna, and from there to the prison in Konnunsuo. Here they made new experiences. Leo was made to dig deep drainage ditches. Not being used to that kind of work his hands became blistered and started bleeding. At night they healed somewhat; however, the next day, they were bleeding again. The gloves were always wet from the blood. But he wrote to his home saying that he was glad and thankful to God because what else can the child of God expect in this world.
Teuvo had a weak stomach when he came to prison, and soon started bleeding blood from his stomach. For this reason, for six days he could not put anything into his mouth.
At one time they were working in a swamp and it was raining for the whole day. It was cold and windy and the loose prisoner’s clothing provided little protection. Their teeth were chattering from the cold. Leo complained to the guard that he was freezing, and that it was difficult for him to work. The answer was, “Then you have to work harder and that will make you warm.” Teuvo was so weak that he could barely carry an empty shovel.
After the prison sentence was finished, the brothers returned home. They were home for only five days and had to leave again. This time to Kuurila, to a different type of prison camp. This was a place where the worst of criminals were taken. Such men were taken who would not submit and obey. They were taken there to break their will. Some of those working there were military officers who had been demoted. There were always two officers against one man. These military officers had, to the best their ability, to get men to submit. They did this in the hopes of receiving their former position back. Arriving there, the brothers told the highest commander their stand against military service, to which he answered, “From such a stand you will soon be removed.”
The brothers were told that they need to work in the gravel pit. They were then forced to put on a soldier’s uniform, and a shotgun was put around their neck. The brothers dropped the shotguns down and the guards complained to the captain, asking what should be done with these men. The captain answered, “They deserve to be hung.” This did not happen, thankfully, but after this they received much greater and greater punishments. Their hands were tied behind the backs of their heads and they were made to crawl in the trenches. The brothers were having difficulty breathing when fine sand went into their throat and lungs because they could not use their hands to protect themselves. This kind of punishment, as well as many other types, went on every day from morning until night.
Finally, the brothers thought it was too difficult and they were wondering if they would eventually collapse or fail or die. Now they started to plan for escape, which was possible only on Sunday and in the middle of the day. Leo escaped first and it was told to Teuvo that if you will try to escape also you will receive no mercy, but will be shot immediately. It was Thursday morning when Teuvo was lying on his bed and it sounded like someone behind him told him, “Teuvo, go away.” He turned to look, but there was nobody. Then he heeded this word of exhortation. In that place there were men who had committed the greatest of crimes and they prohibited others from leaving that compound. It was well protected. Teuvo went around the place several times and everywhere there were officers. Then he prayed to God, “If you want me to get out of here, then you must blind the men. Cover me from their sight.” Teuvo made a test by walking in the front of the officers, watching their eyes. Their faces were looking towards him, but nobody seemed to recognize or acknowledge that they saw him. Then he walked to the fence, and he climbed up, but nobody came to ask him where he was going. Once over the fence, he walked for one kilometer in the open fields. It was the time of year when the grain was just starting to grow, so it was not very high, and nobody called to him to go back. Then he even went to swim in the lake nearby, which was very visible to the compound. Along the way two soldiers came towards him and asked him, “Where is you I.D.? Have you lost your I.D.?” (It was some badge that was attached to his hat.). With the two officers in front of him, Teuvo did not think of anything else, but he calmly took his hat into his hand in such a manner that the officers would not see I.D. on his hat. They did not notice.
Asking around Teuvo found Brother Rantanen in his home at Viiala. He stayed here overnight. It was in this home, a little earlier that Leo had come also. It was here that Leo had changed his prison clothing to a suit that Brother Rantanen gave him. When Leo was there, Brother Rantanen had taken him in a little boat to Pirkkala, to the home of one of the church members. They were living there in a rented apartment; but the landlady of the house, who lived upstairs, informed the police when she saw Leo coming and staying there. The police came and looked at Leo’s papers. He had nothing else but an old passport. The police said, “Now it is 8:15, and the bus leaves from here at 8:45. I will go and change my clothing and then you come and meet me at the bus station, which is near my home so that when the bus comes we can go fix your papers.” The bus was a restricted bus, so the police had to accompany him. The lady of the house kept on watching from the window to make sure that Leo would not escape. The window was situated so that she could see whole front yard. It was not possible to leave the house without her seeing it. Then Leo said to the brother in whose home he was, “What shall I do now?” And the brother answered, “Certainly you have to escape.”
This brother and sister prayed earnestly to God to blind the sight of this lady of the house so that she would not see Leo escaping. After a while the police realized that he had made a mistake by leaving Leo, and came back and asked where he was. The brother answered, “I don’t know. He just left from here.” But the landlady said,” I have been watching from my window the whole time and nobody has left. They must have hid him.” So, they all started to help the police search for him. Every corner was searched, including the upper part of the house. The police could not make a report of this incident because he is the one who had made the mistake in leaving Leo there.
It was raining heavily, and Leo started walking through the forest to Lempäälä. When he arrived there he began searching for a brother in the church named Brother Ahola. He arrived in the city at night at around 3:00 a.m., but he did not know which house Brother Ahola lived in. It was dangerous to walk around in the middle of the night during the war, and he did not dare to go and wake anybody up. While walking he found, in the front yard of one house, a small piece of white paper. He picked it up and read the words that were written there, “Let thy light so shine”. It was written in the hand writing of a child. The child had written it and dropped it on the front lawn. Leo then knew that he had come to the right place. Light shines. He then had courage to go and look in the window; through the window he could see a Bible, the Sabbath School Lesson, and a Songbook on the table. In this house he could stay only a few days.
From Lempäälä, Leo went to Parkano, to the house of one of our church sisters. He went by bicycle. On the way he stopped by one night in the home of his parents, in Vatiala. The next morning he continued his trip. His mother went some distance with him. She went to the railway station. Soon after Leo left home, the police came to the Marttinen home, asking for Leo and Teuvo. There were only two young children at home (Timo and Leila). Timo answered and told the police he did not know where his brothers were.
The whole summer Leo was in Parkano. Then came fall time. While there, every Sabbath he and the sister he was staying with went to Sabbath School at the house of another brother who lived five km away. One Sabbath morning the brother saw a police car drive up to his home. There came two government policemen and one local policeman into his house. They told him that they had been informed that it has been seen that there is a tall man who nobody in the area recognizes, who comes there every Sabbath. Four times they came inside the house, asking him questions. After that, they remained sitting in their car for one hour at the front gate, waiting for Leo. This brother was afraid that soon Leo would come to Sabbath School and be arrested. He tremblingly kept looking down the road to see when Leo and the sister would be coming. The police seemed to know the sister with whom Leo was staying and had been informed that they normally came together to Sabbath School. Finally, the police car left and started to drive in the direction of the home of the sister where Leo was staying. They drove along the road that they would be walking on. The road to the house of Lepisto took a 90 degree turn, and those who walk that road normally cut the corner through the woods. A little pathway had been made at this corner through the woods. As Leo and the sister were walking along this pathway, while they were in the middle, they saw the police car driving towards to the house of Lepisto—the house they had just left a moment ago. If they would have been in the house Leo would have been arrested. If they would have been through the pathway and back on the road, the same thing would have happened. After seeing this they turned and walked deeper into the woods away from the road, in the event that the police car would return to look for him in the house of the brother.
It was the marvelous leading of the Lord that the police did not leave immediately, but remained for one hour in front of the brother’s house. Otherwise, Leo would have been caught. They would not have reached this pathway in the corner in time.
In the late afternoon, Brother Toivo took food for Leo, who was still in the woods. He was easy to find by following his footsteps, because the first snow had just fallen. From here, Leo went to an elderly woman’s house nearby who was somewhat influenced by the Advent Message.
Now back to Teuvo. From Viiala, from the house of the Rantanen’s, he came to Tampere. There his mother was already waiting for him and gave him civilian clothing to wear. In this city he found a safe place to stay with one of our brothers. He stayed with him for several weeks. From there he went to Jyväskylä to stay with our brother Lumme, who was a chimney sweep. He gave Teuvo employment and the equipment to clean chimneys. Teuvo had many different experiences during this time. One time the chimney broke and a brick fell on his foot. It injured him so severely that he could barely move. The people in the house told him to go to the doctor. He could not do that as he would be arrested again. He was barely able to leave the house and on the way he found a barn that was full of hay where he hid himself. His foot was swollen and in a lot of pain. Here he expected to die. This would free him from all his sufferings. After three days, however, the swelling started to go down so that he could walk a little. He was then able to get some water to quench his raging thirst. Once while riding his bicycle on the way, there was a police checkpoint, where all those passing by were to be examined. Teuvo had to think fast. He did not want to stop so he rode his bicycle as fast as he could and rode right past the checkpoint, escaping it. Perhaps it helped that he was dressed as a chimney sweep, having the equipment with him. For such a person the police seemed not to be so concerned, so they did not bother to stop him. In the fall Teuvo came back and stayed with Brother Jokisalo.
All this time, the mother of Leo and Teuvo was waiting for the time when the river between Sweden and Finland would freeze, hoping that her sons could cross to Sweden, which was a neutral country during the war.
The situation of these men was so close to their mother’s heart. Day and night she was praying to heaven that her sons would be safe. For years, the mother had been writing to old friend that she had from the SDA church who lived in the north. She was now asking this friend if the river between Finland and Sweden was frozen. It finally did freeze over in the end of March. The woman said that everyone was talking about how the police are watching and checking all the houses around there. But the mother asked for a sign, through which God would show His will regarding her sons’ escape. She was sure that God would protect them on their way.
Brother Ahola then went to Parkano to get Leo. Their mother took Teuvo from Tampere and they were united in Haapamaa. Brother Ahola had permission from the head of the employment department to travel with his helpers to the city of Tornio. Tornio was a border town with Sweden and people were not allowed to travel there without permission. He did receive permission; however, while in the train the police told them that they could not arrive in Tornio with the papers that they currently had. Teuvo had borrowed his brother’s passport and the photo was similar; however, Leo was travelling with a different person’s passport and the photo was not similar (Leo did feel a bit guilty about this afterwards). Other people had told them the same thing—that they would have difficulty when they arrived in Tornio.
While they were in the Oulu train station they waited for a long time because the train was delayed for 6 to 7 hours. Meanwhile, Sabbath had begun and the next train was just coming. Leo said that he should inform the friend of their mother’s in Tornio by telephone that they were on the way, but were late. He was told to go make that phone call right away, while they wait. Brother Vartija answered the telephone and said, “Good, then we will come to meet you at the railway station.” And this was their salvation, because, in the middle of the day, Brother Vartjia could not have come to the station. In the evening he was free to come. The train was late and Sabbath had begun, so he came to the train station when it finally arrived in Tornio. When they arrived, the locks in the doors of the train were opened. All the doors had been locked 10 km before Tornio so that no one could try to escape. Leo was arrested immediately and taken to the police station. Brother Ahola tried to speak in his behalf but in vain. Finally Brother Ahola searched for, and found Brother Vartija, and took him to the police station. Brother Vartija was asked if these two men were his visitors. He said, “Yes, they are my visitors.” Then the police stated that Leo could go and spend the night at his house because the police station was closed in Tampere, and they could not get the necessary information that they required to be sure of his identity. They were told to come back to police station at 9 a.m. Then began the dangerous crossing of the border.
In the middle of the night, at 2 a.m., Leo and Teuvo made their dangerous crossing of the border—across the river. They did it that very night because they were afraid that the police would come to look for them in the house of Brother Vartija.
The two men’s mother was with them when they went around the police checkpoints. They went to the river where the ice had just frozen. In one place it was still weak, and Leo fell into the water up to his shoulders. He got completely wet. Regardless of all this, they were still able to cross the river to a place called Haaparanta. As they walked further into Sweden, the police arrested them and took them back to Haaparanta. They gave dry clothing to Leo, and the police chief told them that they cannot stay in Sweden. No one had been allowed to stay there who had escaped from Finland. Some people were handed over to the Finnish authorities, while others were given the opportunity to return to Finland secretly. Nevertheless, their situation was sent to the government to decide. The decision of the government was that the citizens of Finland, Leo and Teuvo Marttinen could not remain in Sweden. The decision of the government was then taken to the king of Sweden so that he would confirm it. The king supported the government’s decision, but he wrote in the end in his own handwriting, “Do not send them back to Finland against their will.” Two months had passed since they crossed the river and were arrested in Haaparanta.
Now they were free. The rejoicing of the brothers knew no limit. So many times when they had been threatened by death, they could not do anything else but to cry, “Praise be the God Almighty.” His name is to be praised for this wonderful experience. There had been tens of thousands of people who escaped to Sweden and had been sent back by the government, but these two who had escaped, and had their request presented to the king, were permitted to remain. The brethren had no money and no lawyer and they were very poor citizens. They were the first citizens of Finland who had escaped from there, that were allowed to stay in Sweden.
Finally, these brothers received freedom in Sweden and they could get in touch with the brothers and sister in the faith. Their difficult experiences were over. The enemy did not gain the victory; glory be to the Lord.
Teuvo spent the rest of his life in Sweden, where he got married and raised a family. The older brother, Leo, came to Canada later, and lived there for the remainder of his life.