WITNESSarchive

W–014 · Documentary photograph and sources

Execution near Rugozero

On 5 November 1942, a Finnish serviceman shot an unarmed person near Rugozero. Military photographer V. Hollming photographed the execution. The Soviet-Finnish war of 1941–44—known in Finland as the Continuation War—was under way. Rugozero was then controlled by the Finnish army, far east of Finland’s pre-war border.

1. Before the execution

A man with raised hands faces a Finnish serviceman pointing a pistol at him. He looks towards the camera. The archive does not name him.
A man with raised hands faces a Finnish serviceman pointing a pistol at him. He looks towards the camera. The archive does not name him.
Provenance and sources for frame 1

Part of Finnish wartime photograph series SA-kuva 23239–23243, made at Rugozero on 5 November 1942 by ensign V. Hollming. The Finnish Military Museum lists the series under CC BY 4.0; this is a published digital copy, not a claim that every online reproduction is an archival master. Displayed file: 1200 × 898 pixels. The cited archive lists a CC BY 4.0 licence. Full image record in Russian.

finna.firarehistoricalphotos.comView image file

Five consecutive frames survive. Finland’s Military Museum lists them under the same date, place and caption: Ryssän desantti kohtaa loppunsa, or “The Russian paratrooper meets his end.” The first Finnish word is a slur for a Russian. The caption does not name the person being executed.

Popular accounts call him a Soviet scout or spy. The archival word desantti could mean a parachutist, saboteur or agent dropped behind the lines; it does not establish his actual assignment. The open catalogue record gives neither his unit nor an accusation against him. It contains no interrogation record, sentence or evidence of a trial.

2. The shot

The man with raised hands leans to one side. Opposite him, a Finnish serviceman holds a pistol at arm’s length. From V. Hollming’s Rugozero execution series.
The man with raised hands leans to one side. Opposite him, a Finnish serviceman holds a pistol at arm’s length. From V. Hollming’s Rugozero execution series.
Provenance and sources for frame 2

Part of Finnish wartime photograph series SA-kuva 23239–23243, made at Rugozero on 5 November 1942 by ensign V. Hollming. The Finnish Military Museum lists the series under CC BY 4.0; this is a published digital copy, not a claim that every online reproduction is an archival master. Displayed file: 1200 × 829 pixels. The cited archive lists a CC BY 4.0 licence. Full image record in Russian.

finna.firarehistoricalphotos.comView image file

The series became widely known in November 2006, when Finland released some three hundred previously closed photographs showing executions, bodies and other disturbing subjects.

Some publications describe the man’s expression before the shot as a smile, reading fearlessness in the face of death. No words of his survive in the available records. The five frames show the course of the execution; they do not explain his expression or tell us what he knew in his final moments.

3. The body on the snow

The man lies dead on the snow while a Finnish serviceman stands beside him with his pistol lowered. Photograph by V. Hollming, 5 November 1942.
The man lies dead on the snow while a Finnish serviceman stands beside him with his pistol lowered. Photograph by V. Hollming, 5 November 1942.
Provenance and sources for frame 3

Part of Finnish wartime photograph series SA-kuva 23239–23243, made at Rugozero on 5 November 1942 by ensign V. Hollming. The Finnish Military Museum lists the series under CC BY 4.0; this is a published digital copy, not a claim that every online reproduction is an archival master. Displayed file: 1200 × 1735 pixels. The cited archive lists a CC BY 4.0 licence. Full image record in Russian.

rferl.orgrarehistoricalphotos.comView image file

4. Enhanced with AI

Generative AI version: a man with raised hands faces a Finnish serviceman pointing a pistol at him
AI-derived version of frame 1. Fine details and textures may be synthetic and cannot be used as historical evidence.Original photograph: Hollming / SA-kuva · Rukajärvi, 5 November 1942 · Enhanced with AI, 2026
Provenance and sources for frame 4

File and rights
Enhanced with AI. Made with generative AI from frame 1. AI may have changed or generated fine details, facial features and textures. This version cannot establish historical details absent from the source reproduction. This modern version was supplied by the WITNESS owner in 2026. The 1450 × 1085 PNG is retained without re-encoding. It is a derivative file, not an archival scan. See frame 1 for the original photograph’s authorship, provenance and reuse terms.

Historical photograph sourceFile on this site · 1450 × 1085