Last year's Tieto-Finlandia Prize for the best non-fiction book of the year has gone to historical researcher Elina Sana for her book Luovutetut, which reveals that the number of prisoners and refugees handed over by Finland to the German Gestapo during the war was much greater than previously acknowledged.

   

In her research Sana found that Finland sent more than 500 political and Jewish prisoners of war to Germany: previous accounts put the number of deported Jews at just eight.

   

Since its publication in November the book has sparked considerable debate in Finland, and has been the focus of some attention abroad as well.

   

When the Simon Wiesenthal Center learned about the findings, it called for an extensive study on the matter. The Finnish government responded by ordering such an investigation.

Journalist Hannu Taanila, who chose the winner, praised the book for being a straightforward account of the events, without moralising or apportioning blame.

   

On Thursday Sana pondered that perhaps she should write her next book on those that Finland sent back to the Soviet Union.

   

Asked how she would use her EUR 26,000 in prize money, the 56-year-old Sana said that she has been paying off her housing loan with unemployment compensation money, and at the current rate she would be 90 years old before it is paid. "I have calculated that with this cheque I can start taking it easy already at 80."