It occurred to me the other day that while I’m familiar with the awful fate that awaited Soviet troops who were captured by the Germans, I have no idea how that worked out on the Finnish front. In short: Did all prisoners remain in Finnish custody (or were they handed over to the Germans) and b) if they were left in Finnish custody, what sort of treatment would they expect?
Also, for clarity’s sake I’m referring to ‘41+, not the Winter War.
Most Soviet prisoners taken by the Finns remained in Finnish custody. About 65,000 prisoners were taken in the Continuation War, and about 30% of them died in captivity, mostly disease and starvation, but also some shot while attempting to escape, and some executions, and some murders (while most post-war war crimes trials relating to POWs were due to Soviet pressure, there were war crimes charges that originated in wartime, within the Finnish system, due to mistreatment of POWs).
Some prisoners were handed over to the Germans, between 2500 and 3000, in exchange for about 2200 prisoners of Finnic ethnicity (Karelians, Ingrians, etc.).
Most of the deaths in the POW camps occurred in the first year of the war (which is also when most of the prisoners were captured). After this, conditions in the camps improved, and were not strained by large numbers of new prisoners.
POWs were also at risk when returned to the Soviet Union, after the war. Some were tried and executed, and some were sentenced to camps in Siberia (where many died).
German POWs taken by the Finns during the Lapland War were handed over the the Soviet Union.