A senior Israeli Holocaust historian is praising Finnish authorities for publishing a report concluding that Finnish troops likely participated in the mass murder of Jews during World War II.

Efraim Zuroff, of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, on Sunday lauded the determination of the National Archives of Finland to release its findings even if it was "painful and uncomfortable" for Finland. He called it an "example of unique and exemplary civic courage."

The report concluded Finnish volunteers in Nazi forces took part in the massacre of thousands.

Finland's actions contrast with those of eastern European nations engaged in a wave of World War II-era revisionism. Those countries have sought to diminish their culpability in the Holocaust while making heroes out of anti-Soviet nationalists involved in the mass killing of Jews.