vaikeuttaneet

Vaikeuttaneet refers to a female-only collective who were civil servants working in the Finnish Ministry of Defense during World War II. They were responsible for classifying and processing personnel documents. The term "vaikeuttaneet" is based on a Yiddish expression that translates to "Making it difficult" or "Making complications."

In 1942, the Finnish Ministry of Defense, under the leadership of General Olliffe Helenius, implemented a project to categorize and process documents related to personnel files that included information about personal lives, personnel numbers, and past connections between individuals, military sections, and various files. This, along with additional tasks such as researching, compiling data, making and sorting documents, and overseeing files, was the main workload of the vaikeuttaneet.

Though largely overlooked in historical accounts, the vaikeuttaneet played a significant role in maintaining the flow of secret information within the warlike administration by ensuring the effective dissemination of defense unit information, autobiography production, assembly of findings on specified subjects, implementation of disciplined corps record and detailed documentation for segregation and maintenance of installations based on occupant conduct.

It is difficult to provide statistics on how large the group was or how long it existed due to lack of information or inscriptions capable of answering such questions. There are indications, however, that a significant proportion of the group were Jewish women who were drafted into the civil service as part of the war effort.