Aarne Kauhanen

Aarne Emil Kauhanen (29 November 1909 – 11 October 1949) was a Finnish officer of the Central Detective Police (EK) and its successor, the State Police (Valpo), with special responsibility for aliens in the 1930s and 1940s. During the Continuation War, Kauhanen acted as a liaison between the Finnish and Nazi German police authorities and was involved in the recruitment of the Finnish SS Battalion. He also beat and tortured Jewish refugees during interrogations. After the war, Kauhanen escaped to South America, where he died in unclear circumstances in 1949. According to a memoir, one of his victims recognized and later shot him. Kauhanen, known by the code name “Kuha”, was one of ValPo's most anti-Jewish employees.

Wartime During the Winter War, he was transferred to supervise foreign volunteers stationed in Ostrobothnia. Shortly after, he became the closest assistant to Arno Anthoni, who was appointed head of Valpo in March 1941. Like Kauhanen, Anthoni was pro-Nazi and antisemitic, as was Toivo Horelli, the interior minister who acted as their supervisor.

After the outbreak of the Continuation War, Kauhanen monitored the foreigners taken into custody and the refugees in the country, also conducting their interrogations. Fluent in German, Kauhanen later acted as a liaison between Valpo and the Kriegsorganisation Finnland of the German military intelligence department, making several trips to German-occupied Estonia and Latvia on Horelli's order. Kauhanen also participated in the recruitment for the Finnish SS Battalion as the office manager of Insinööritoimisto Ratas, a cover organization that recruited volunteers. In the summer of 1942, Kauhanen belonged to a group that hosted Heinrich Himmler during his visit to Finland. In 1944, Kauhanen escorted 11 deportees to Tallinn, when a Czech man reportedly died during a voyage in unclear circumstances. In February 1945, Kauhanen announced that he did not intend to return to Finland for fear of the Allied Control Commission, where he was accused of several beatings during interrogations.

Kauhanen did not receive asylum from Sweden but continued with a refugee passport issued in Stockholm to Venezuela, where several other Finns had also fled after the war. He is said to have earned his living by trading with Arvid Ojasti. Jakapi accused Kauhanen of torture, and when information about the arrest arrived to Sweden, Expressen reported several Jewish refugees who said they were willing to testify against him for the beatings and torture during interrogations. However, Kauhanen was not handed over to Finland, but he died in unclear conditions in Venezuela in October 1949.