Hanko - Tulludden
At the far end of Hanko peninsula is an area called Tulludden, where the Soviet Union during it’s occupation (March 1940 to December 1941) built two cottages as a army accommodation. When Finland recaptured Hanko in December 1941, Tulludden was rented out to the Germans, who had the camp expanded with around a hundred barracks with a capacity of about 4,000 people. Tulludden then became a transit camp for German soldiers on their way to and from leave. In addition to accommodation barracks, there were also a cinema, hospital and mess halls. After Finland signed a separate peace with the Soviet Union in September 1941, the transit camp was liquidated and used as a quarantine camp for soviet prisoners of war before being sent back to the Soviet Union. Most barracks were subsequently demolished or sold. In 1948, a women’s prison was established at Tulludden, which was in use until the sixties.
Current status: Demolished with information boards (2025).
Location: 59°49'14.56"N 22°54'25.12"E
Get there: Car.
Follow up in books: Nenye, Vesa, and others: Finland at War: The Continuation and Lapland Wars 1941–45 (2016).
Tulludden is a nature protected area but there is a nature trail along the beach you can walk along to get out to the camp. On the beach are debris from the cargo ship Palawan, which burned in 1932 after it caught fire off the coast. In order for Palawan not to sink, the ship was towed closer to shore and set aground. But in the forties, a mine drifted into Palawan and split it in two. Over the years, debris has washed up on the beach. In the forest at Tulludden there are derelict remains left of the German transit camp. They are in deplorable condition and several have collapsed or are in the process of collapsing and have therefore been fenced in as a security measure.