Under the leadership of the mighty Greater Germany, the peoples of Europe have had a great reckoning with our enslaver, Bolshevist Russia. On the longest front in the world, from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea, the power of Moscow has suffered one crushing defeat after another. The destruction of Bolshevism has come and at the same time the resurrection of the enslaved peoples.

We Karelians have asked for nothing more from life than to be free men and women, free to cultivate in peace the beautiful, harsh land we inherited from our fathers. But this happiness was not given to us for centuries. Both tsarist and bolshevist Russia have sought, when by force and when by cunning, to completely destroy our national existence.

However, the spirit of freedom has not been banished from the lands of Karelia. Time after time, White Sea and Olonets regions have risen up in unequal armed struggle against the hordes of their oppressors. Due to the weakness of our forces, all these attempts have been choked with blood and fire, but free guerrillas continued to operate in the hidden depths of our forests. Thousands of our citizens have been forced to leave their homelands as refugees. Thousands died in Russian prisons and forced labor camps. Those who remain have been shackled to a Bolshevik system of coercion, alien to our people. They have tried to deprive us of our faith in the protection of the Almighty and in the God of our fathers. Church services were prohibited. Churches and prayer rooms have been turned into havens of anti-religious propaganda. But in the midst of all our troubles, we still had hope. And that hope has not been in vain. The Finnish People's Army has now arrived in our country, bringing with it the fulfilment of our hopes. Village after village is throwing off the yoke of foreign oppression and our liberators, in whose ranks thousands of sons of White Sea and Olonets regions are fighting, are rushing further and further eastwards. The great commander-in-chief of the victorious Finnish army, Field Marshal Mannerheim, has addressed us, the Karelians, with the manifesto, calling us to join with him in the common struggle for freedom in order to create a happy future and lasting peace for the whole Finnish tribe with the help of God. Karelians! Let’s follow that call with increasing numbers. Now, as many times before, it is not a question of a fleeting dream, but of ensuring that the freedom that comes to us now will remain forever, blessing the work of our hands.

Realising that, the National Assembly, held in Voknavolok Village on 20 July, has triumphantly declared the separation of White Sea and Olonets regions from Russia. At the same time, it was unanimously decided to join our country forever to Finland, with whose people we are bound by one blood, one language and the Finnish nature of the area where we live. United with Finland, whose peasants have always been free and prosperous, and which is among the foremost civilised nations in Europe, White Sea and Olonets regions are entering the period of revival and unprecedented prosperity.

Karelians! Let’s all together support the Finnish-Karelian liberation army in every possible way! Our brothers who have been taken by force to the ranks of the foreign oppressor, throw down your weapons and join the holy and victorious cause of our fathers! Those of you have remained at home, let’s immediately start the reconstruction work in our ruined villages! To our labour front will come our citizens who have moved to the West as refugees over the decades, and soon those who will be released from prisoner-of-war camps. Our brothers who were once deported far to the East will also join them later. The people of Karelia are returning home. The freedom of the White Sea Karelia and the dawn of the Olonets Karelia have already come. Let's prove that we are worthy of them!

The leadership of the Karelian Liberation Movement,
elected at the Karelian Assembly
held in Voknavolok on July 20, 1941