Thread: Heinrich Himmler's obsession with Finland 
In the 1930s, there still existed a living tradition of paganism in the rural areas of Karelia. Old bards sung poetry in the traditional Kalevala meter and played the traditional instrument Kantele. Traditional magic rituals were still performed.
As the Karelian traditions were documented, interest in them increased abroad. The researchers of Deutsches Ahnenerbe believed that living oral traditions would give far more insight into the life of their ancestors than modern anthropology ever could.
When Heinrich Himmler stumbled upon a Finnish university student Yrjö von Grönhagen, he hired him to work for the Ahnenerbe to collect material from Finland in order to study what Himmler believed were the common roots of the Aryans.
Himmler saw that Finnish traditions could prove that the Aryan birthplace lied in the far North. Despite objections by Grönhagen and other researchers, he insisted that Finns and Germans had the same ancestors and that ancient German traditions resembled those of the Finns.
Grönhagen made trips to Karelia where he documented the pagan traditions and used modern sound recording technology from Germany to audiotape the bards singing and magic spells. He sent the materials to the awestruck Germans.
Himmler was especially fascinated by the Kantele, which he saw as a proto-instrument played by ancient Germans. He ordered 10 of these zithers for the SS for study. He also kept a picture of Finnish Rune-singer Timo Lipitsä in his room.
The research of the Ahnenerbe was interrupted by the invasion of Poland, but during the continuation war, Himmler made a couple trips to Finland. Most of these visits had to do with inspections of SS-units in Northern Finland.
https://twitter.com/armas_aallontie/status/1231270710817042432
Himmler met with Mannerheim and other General staff. In their discussions, Himmler often emphasized the resilience and excellent racial qualities of the Finnish people. Mannerheim didn’t think highly of Himmler but still complimented him for the achievements of the Waffen-SS.
Himmler also had a week's vacation in the Finnish countryside. He stayed at the villa of Eino Suolahti, a former Jaeger and far right politician, then the surgeon general of the Finnish army. (Fun fact, he was also the great uncle of Pentti Linkola)
An Agrologist by trade, Himmler spent his time at the villa’s gardens and forests, collecting mushrooms and berries. He asked the Finns for the blueprints of a Finnish potato cellar and sauna. He believed these inventions would greatly benefit German people.
Himmler also had a personal relationship with Finland through his physical therapist Felix Kerstén, who was a Finnish citizen and served as his interpreter in Finland. He had learned Tibetan massage and Himmler called him his Finnish Buddha.
In conclusion, Himmler believed the Finnsh traditions would reveal the truth about the Aryan people. Now look at his phenotype and tell me if he looks like an Indo-Aryan or whether he was actually Finno-Ugric. Why did he want to conflate Finnish and German history?
Also lmfao @opaa_s is one of the first results if you put "finnish phenotype" into google images
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