There were dozens of camps and thousands of work camps for Soviet Red Army prisoners in Finland during the Continuation War in 1941-2. The POWs played a part in the ideological and financial War.

'Camps Of Death' reveals how the concentration camps were designed and how they were run. The film's four main characters were influential individuals in the Finnish military, politics and industry. Through these chracters a story unfolds of a dream of victory and how the dream drifts towards a swelling catastrophe.

The number of POWs grew rapidly, food rations did not reach them, the camp managers were not equipped for the winter conditions and diseases were raging. The guards were those unqualified and discharged from live action and many suffered from mental problems. Increasingly, they turned to violence to secure order at the camps. A third of the 70 000 Russian prisoners died during this time. Nobody wanted to claim responsibility.

Most of the POW camps' records were systematically destroyed before the end of the Continuation War. It is still difficult for the Finnish public to deal with these events. 'Camps Of Death' documentary film draws from recent research and includes footage and photographs that have not been broadcast before.