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Lotta Svärd was a Finnish voluntary auxiliary organisation for women. During the Finnish Civil War it was associated with the Suojeluskunta. After the war Lotta Svärd was founded as a separate organisation on September 9 1920. The name, from a poem by Johan Ludvig Runeberg describing a fictional woman named Lotta Svärd taking care of wounded soldiers in the Finnish War, was suggested by marshal Mannerheim.
The organisation expanded during the 1920s and it included 60 000 members in 1930. By 1944 it included 242 000 volunteers, the largest voluntary auxiliary organisation in the world, while the total population of Finland was under four million. During the war some 100 000 men whose jobs were taken over by "Lottas", were freed for military service. The Lottas worked in hospitals, at air-raid warning posts and other auxiliary tasks in the armed forces.
When the Continuation War ended the Soviet Union demanded that all organisations considered by them to be fascist and semi-fascist were to be banned. The Lotta Svärd organisation was one of the organisations which the Soviet Union demanded to be disbanded. This happened November 23 1944. A new organisation called Suomen Naisten Huoltosäätiö was however started which took over much of the old property.
The Finnish Lotta Svärd organisation has inspired similar organisations in other countries and there is still a Lotta Svärd organisation in Sweden (Lottorna), the same model is also used in Denmark and Norway.fi:Lotta Svärd fr:Lotta