Operation Alaska facts for kids

Operation Alaska, Finalaska or New Finland was a proposed plan by some US officials to take Finnish refugees into Alaska if the Soviet Union would have conquered Finland. There were plans to take Finns into Alaska, both during the Winter War and the Continuation War. New Finland would have been established in Central Alaska around the Tanana River.

The plan was opposed by Alaskans, mainly because of the Finnish language which is difficult to learn and not commonly used in the region.

Background

In the United States during the winter war, a genocide of the Finns was feared, so it was proposed that America would save the Finns by evacuating them into Alaska. Alaska was chosen because it was thought to be suitable for Finnish people and because it had a very low population. During the continuation war there was also a plan to take Finnish refugees, however on a larger scale, because America was ready to evacuate the whole Finnish population and a populated Alaska would have been better secured in the upcoming Cold War against Soviet offensives.