Arkeologalaš roggamiin, maid ordnejit II máilmmisoađi áigásaš duiskalaš buohcceviesu birrasis 1.-5.8.2016, leat máŋggat rabas dilálašvuođat álbmogii ja mediai. Roggamiid sáhttá boahtit čuovvut maŋŋebárgga ja duorastaga. Dutkit maiddái vurkejit olbmuid muitalusaid báikkálaš soahtehistorjjás.  

Lappi sevdnjes kulturárbi -prošeakta (Helsset ja Oulu universitehtat) ja sámemusea Siida ordnejit ovttasráđiid dábálaš olbmuide dárkkuhuvvon arkeologalašroggamiid II máilmmisoađi áigásaš duiskalaš buohcceviesu birrasis Anáris 1.–5.8.2016. Roggamiidda váldet oasi dutkiid ja studeanttaid lassin eaktodáhtolaččat, geat leat ovddal gihtii almmuhan iežaset mielde. Olbmot besset čuovvut roggamiid guovtti beaivve áigge. Dasa lassin leat eahketlogaldallamat, main gieđahallet arkeologalaš gieddebarggu ja álbmotdilálašvuohta, mas beassá oahpásmuvvat girkosiidda soahtehistorjjálaš čuozáhagaide. Logaldalliid joavkkus leat guokte britannialaš dutki, geain lea earenoamáš dovdámuš bures soahtegittiid ja konflivttaid dutkamis. Álbmotdilálašvuođaide ii leat sisabeassanmáksu, iige daidda dárbbaš sierra almmuhit iežas.

Bures boahtin oahpistuvvon tuvrii, mii ordnejuvvo rogganbáikái ja preassadilálašvuhtii, mii ordnejuvvo oahpistuvvon tuvrra maŋŋá gaskavahkko  3.8.2016 (tuvra álgá dii 14:30, vuolgga Siidda šiljus ja preassadilálašvuohta Siidda auditorias dii 15:30 rájes).

Roggamiid ovdáneami sáhttá čuovvut sosiála medias:

Twitter @DarkLapland ja Instragram @dig_Inari  #InariDig

VAHKU PROGRÁMMA:

VU 1.8.
17:00-18:00 Lappi sevdnjes kulturárbi -prošeavtta ovdanbuktin, prof. Vesa-Pekka Herva, Siidda auditoria

MA 2.8.
14:00-14.30   Oahpisteapmi rogganbáikkis, vuolgga Siidda šiljus (oahpisteapmi suoma- ja eaŋgalsgillii)

GA 3.8.
14:30-15.00   Oahpisteapmi rogganbáikkis mediai, deaivvadeapmi Siidda šiljus.
15.30-16.30   Preassadáhpáhus, Siidda auditoria
17:00-18.00   Eaŋgalsgielat logaldallamat, Siidda auditoria / Lectures by our guests Dr. Iain Banks (Centre for Battlefield Archaeology, University of Glasgow), and Dr. Gabriel Moshenska (Institute of Archaeology, University College London), Auditorium of Siida

DU 4.8.

14:00-14.30   Oahpisteapmi rogganbáikkis, vuolgga Siidda šiljus (oahpisteapmi suoma- ja eaŋgalsgillii)

16:00-16:15   Tarinoiden Inari -prošeavtta ovdanbuktin, prošeaktabargi Merja Vaattovaara         Siidda auditoria
16:15-19:00   Tarinoiden Inari -prošeakta jearahallá olbmuid, Siida

BE 5.8.
17:00-18:00   Rogganbohtosiid ovdanbuktin, dutki Oula Seitsonen ja professor Vesa-Pekka Herva, Siidda auditoria

LÁ 6.8.
10:00-11.30   Oahpásmuvvantuvra Anára girkosiidda soahtehistorjjálaš čuozáhagaide, Matti Lehtola, vuolgga Siidda šiljus (johtin iežas biillain)

Lassedieđut:

Lapin synkkä kulttuuriperintö -prošeakta: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/lapland-dark-heritage/
dutki Oula Seitsonen oula.seitsonen(at)helsinki.fi, tel. 050 4487778 /
dutki Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto eerika.koskinen-koivisto(at)helsinki.fi, tel. 050 448 7519

Sámemusea Siida http://www.siida.fi
arkeologa Juha-Pekka Joona juha-pekka.joona(at)samimuseum.fi, tel. 040 167 6145

Tarinoiden Inari -prošeakta: http://www.tarinoideninari.fi/
girjerájusdoaimma hoavda Eija Leivo eija.leivo(at)inari.fi, tel. 040 8304886 /
prošeaktabargi Merja Vaattovaara  merja.vaattovaara(at)inari.fi, tel. 040 8305892

Guest talks next wednesday

As part of our field work week, our research collaborators visiting from the UK are giving guest talks at Siida Museum on Wednesday 3rd August. The lectures are in English, and start at 17.00 in the Auditorium of Siida.

Dr Gabriel Moshenska, University College London: “Air Raid Protection: An International Heritage Perspective.”

Dr Iain Banks, University of Glasgow: “In the Hands of the Enemy: PoW Camps in the Second World War.”

Each talk will last approximately 30 minutes. All are welcome!

Vierailuluentoja ensi keskiviikkona

Osana kenttätyöviikkoa saamme vieraiksi ulkomaalaisia tutkijoita. Keskiviikkona 3.8.  kaksi vierailevaa tutkijaa luennoi Siida-museon auditoriossa. Luennot ovat englanniksi ja alkavat kello 17:00.

Dr Gabriel Moshenska, University College London: “Vieraiden käsissä: Toisen maailmansodanaikaiset sotavankileirit.”

Dr Iain Banks, University of Glasgow: “Ilmatorjunta. Kansainvälisen kulttuuriperinnön näkökulma.”

Molemmat luennot kestävät noin puoli tuntia ja ovat avoimia kaikille. Tervetuloa!

Provincial museum / Lapin maakuntamuseo

Projektiryhmä on kasvanut tuomalla mukaan muutaman opiskelijan ja esittelyvuorossa on arkeologian opiskelija Anni Tolppanen Aberdeenin yliopistosta. Kentältä löydettävien materiaalisten jäännösten lisäksi Anni osallistuu Inarin kaivauksiin haastattelemalla paikallisia. Lisätietoa Annin suunnitelmista kandinsa suhteen löytyy esittelysivulta.

The project has grew with few additional student members and this time it is we are introducing Anni Tolppanen. Anni is an archaeology student from University of Aberdeen. She is not only interested in the material findings of the upcoming excavations but she also plans to interview locals in Inari. More insight to her undergraduate dissertation in the introduction page.

Anni by the shore / Anni rannalla

Projektiryhmä on kasvanut tuomalla mukaan muutaman opiskelijan. Ensimmäisenä esittelemme maisterivaiheen opiskelijan, Mirkka Hekkuraisen, joka on mukana tekemässä graduaan osallistavasta etnografiasta ja synkästä kulttuuriperinnöstä. Mirkka tutkii osallistamista kaivausten lisäksi sosiaalisessa mediassa ja hänen(kin) työtään pääsee seuraamaan myös kotisohvalta käsin. Esittely ja linkit sosiaaliseen mediaan on vain klikkauksen päässä.

The research team grew with few students and first we will introduce master student Mirkka Hekkurainen. Mirkka is doing her master thesis about participatory ethnography and dark heritage. She does her research at the open excavation and in the social media. You can follow her (and others) work comfortably from your home couch. The introduction and the links to social media is only one click away.

Mirkka and a tar pit / Mirkka ja tervahauta

Our latest article was recently published in the international journal World Archaeology.

‘I have better stuff at home’: treasure hunting and private collecting of World War II artefacts in Finnish Lapland is written by Vesa-Pekka Herva, Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto and Suzie Thomas, and has the following abstract:

Almost all archaeologists encounter collectors of different kinds of artefacts at some point in their career, whether it is the private collectors of financially valuable antiquities or ‘amateur archaeologists’ who have amassed personal collections of local finds. In our research into the material legacy of the German presence in northern Finland during World War II, we have encountered both artefact hunters (primarily but not exclusively metal detecting enthusiasts) and artefact collectors (sometimes the same people) with a specific interest in military remains from this location and period. In this article, we explore these alternative perspectives on collecting, and frame them within the context of treasure hunters, militaria collectors and other history hobbyists, and their relationship to the ‘official’ heritage managers and curators.

The article forms part of a special issue on archaeologists and collectors, which will be published in full later in the year.

For more information about this article and other publications, contact the project team.

Project researcher Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto has studied the experiences of Finnish people visiting the Norvajärvi German cemetery, located 18 kilometers north of Rovaniemi town center. Her article “Reminder of the Dark Heritage of Humankind – Experiences of Finnish Cemetery Tourists of Visiting the Norvajärvi German Cemetery” is published in Finnish Death Studies Association’s open access journal Thanatos.

The Norvajärvi cemetery was founded in 1963 and is the only official commemoration site and monument of the WWII German presence in Finnish Lapland. In her article, Koskinen-Koivisto studied blogs in which Finnish ‘cemetery tourists’ introduce and reflect on their experiences of visiting the cemetery. She has also interviewed the person responsible for the maintenance of the city, as well as Rovaniemi city guides. The analysis is based on a phenomenological framework: attention is paid to sensual experiences and reflections.

Koskinen-Koivisto’s analysis shows that the Finnish cemetery tourists who visit Norvajärvi German cemetery are aware of the difficult history and the dark heritage of the Lapland War. The visit to the site deepens the visitor’s understanding of WWII and results in reflections over the consequences and irrationality of war. The cemetery thus acts as many other war memorials: reminding us of the contradictory history of the humankind.

Kaikki paikat yleisökaivauksille ovat täyttyneet ja ilmoittautuminen on suljettu. Kiitos kiinnostuksesta.

The registration is full and closed. Thank you for your interest.

Oula Seitsonen, Suzie Thomas, Anu and Vesa-Pekka Herva tutkimassa vankileiriä Inarin Kankiniemessä 2015. Kuva: Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto.

Lapin synkkä kulttuuriperintö -projekti (Helsingin ja Oulun yliopistot) ja saamelaismuseo Siida järjestävät yhdessä yleisökaivaukset toisen maailmansodan aikaisella saksalaisten sairaala-alueella Inarissa 1.–5.8.2016. Toivotamme vapaaehtoiset tervetulleiksi ottamaan osaa kaivauksiimme, joko yhdeksi päiväksi tai vaikka koko viikon ajaksi (päivittäinen kaivausaika klo 10–12 ja 13–15).

Kaikkien vapaaehtoisten tulee rekisteröityä ilmoittautumislomakkeella (alle 16-vuotiaat voivat osallistua kaivaukseen vain huoltajan seurassa; huoltaja rekisteröi myös heidät kaivaukselle, kts. ilmoittautumislomake). Kaivaukseen pystyy osallistumaan 10 vapaaehtoista päivässä, ja paikat täyttyvät ilmoittautumisjärjestyksessä. Kaivamisen lisäksi tarjolla on päivittäin asiantuntijoiden pitämiä yleisöluentoja, opastuksia ja muuta ohjelmaa.

Vapaaehtoiset tulevat ottamaan aktiivisesti osaa Lapin sodan aikana vuonna 1944 poltetun saksalaisten sotilassairaala-alueen raunioiden kaivamiseen ja dokumentoimiseen yhdessä Helsingin ja Oulun yliopistojen sekä Siida-museon kokeneiden ammattiarkeologien kanssa. Projektin johtaja Vesa-Pekka Herva ja tutkija Oula Seitsonen ovat työskennelleet Lapin toisen maailmansodan aikaisen kulttuuriperinnön parissa vuodesta 2007 lähtien. Vapaaehtoisten tulee järjestää oma asumisensa (Inarissa on useita majoitusvaihtoehtoja, voimme tarvittaessa auttaa tässä) sekä päivittäinen kulkemisensa kaivauspaikalle.

Auton raato saksalaisella sairaala-alueella Inarissa. Kuva: Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto.

Projektimme tutkii Lapin toisen maailmansodan kulttuuriperintöä monitieteisesti arkeologian, historian ja kansatieteen näkökulmista. Toisen maailmansodan aikaisia sairaala-alueita ei ole aiemmin tutkittu arkeologisesti Suomessa tai muuallakaan Euroopassa: konfliktiarkeologiset tutkimukset ovat yleisimmin keskittyneet sotilaallisempiin kohteisiin, kuten puolustusasemiin ja sotilas- sekä vankileireihin. Tiedämme haastatteluista, että saksalaisten sotilaiden lisäksi kohteella hoidettiin myös inarilaisia ja kohde on tärkeä osa paikallista kulttuuriperintöä: paikkakuntalaiset ovat tunteneet kohteen aina, mutta kulttuuriperintöviranomaisilla ei ollut mitään tietoa kohteesta ennen vuotta 2015.

Kesän 2016 tutkimusten päätavoitteina on dokumentoida ja analysoida kohteen rakenteita ja tilanjakoa sekä tutkia millaista esineellistä materiaalia kaivauksissa löytyy. Tutkimusprojekti pyrkii selvittämään moninaisia kulttuurisia merkityksiä ja arvoja, joita saksalaisten toisen maailmansodan aikaiseen kulttuuriperintöön on liitetty ja liitetään. Pohjois-Suomen toisen maailmansodan kulttuuriperinnön merkittävyyttä arvioidaan osana Lapin alueen laajempaa historiallista, kulttuurista ja ympäristöllistä vuorovaikutusta.

On tärkeää, että vapaaehtoiset ilmoittavat rekisteröityessään mahdollisista sairauksista tai lääkityksistä, jotka voivat vaikuttaa hyvinvointiin kaivauksilla, sillä kaivaminen on fyysisesti kohtalaisen vaativaa. Osallistujilla tulee olla voimassaoleva vapaa-ajan tapaturmavakuutus, joka kattaa mahdolliset henkilökohtaiset vahingot, sekä viimeisen 10 vuoden kuluessa annettu jäykkäkouristusrokote. Kaikkia osallistujia pyydetään myös allekirjoittamaan suostumuslomake osallistumisesta tieteelliseen tutkimukseen. Kaivauksiin osallistuminen maksaa 5 € / päivä tai 20 € koko viikko. Osallistumismaksu kattaa kaivauskulut, välineet ja päiväkahvit.

Lisätietoa sähköpostilla DarkHeritageLapland[at]gmail.com tai puhelimitse Oula Seitsonen: +35850 448 7778 / oula.seitsonen(at)helsinki.fi

Kenttäkeittimen jäänteitä maastossa.  Kuva: Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto.

Public excavations at a Second World War German military hospital site in Inari 1.-5.8.2016

Lapland’s Dark Heritage research project (Universities of Helsinki and Oulu) is organizing, together with the Siida Sámi Museum, a public excavation at a Second World War (WWII) German hospital site in Inari, Lapland, on 1.–5.8.2016. We welcome volunteers to take part in the excavations, either on one or more of the days or all week (excavation daily 10–12 am and 1–3 pm).

All volunteers need to pre-register (volunteers under the age of 16 have to be accompanied by a responsible adult who also registers them, see the registration form). We can accommodate up 10 participants per day at the excavations, and places will be filled on a first come, first served basis. Besides excavation, there is a daily programme of other events, such as public presentations by specialists and special guided tours (TBC).

We invite volunteers to participate in uncovering and documenting the remains of a German military hospital site which was destroyed and burned in 1944, during the Lapland War. They will excavate alongside, and be guided by, professional archaeologists from the Universities of Oulu and Helsinki and Siida Museum, who have been working with WWII sites in Lapland since 2007. Volunteers need to arrange their own accommodation (there are several choices in Inari, if needed, we can help with that) and organize their daily transport to and from the site.

The research project draws from multidisciplinary study of Lapland’s WWII heritage, including archaeological, historical and ethnographical aspects. WWII hospital sites have never been archaeologically explored before in Finland, or elsewhere in Europe for that matter: earlier ‘conflict archaeology’ studies have typically concentrated on more martial sites, such as fortifications and military and prisoner-of-war camps. We know from interviews that, besides German soldiers, Inari villagers were also treated at the hospital by German doctors and nurses, and the site forms a pertinent part of the local heritage. The site has always been known to the locals, but it was not known to the heritage authorities before 2015.

The main aims of the excavation in Inari are to document and analyze the spatial layout of the site, and to explore the kinds of material culture that will show up. The project also seeks to understand the diverse cultural values and meanings associated with the material heritage from the German military presence in Lapland. As part of this we will be talking to the volunteers about their thoughts and impressions while they are on site. The significance of northern Finland’s WWII heritage will be considered broadly against Lapland’s wider historical, cultural and environmental context.

It is important that, when registering, you mention any medical requirements and conditions that might affect your well-being at the site: excavation work is physically moderately demanding. Participants need to have valid insurance covering any personal accidents on site, and have to confirm that they have been vaccinated against tetanus within the past 10 years. All participants are also asked to sign a consent form at the site. The participation fee is 5 € / day or 20 € for whole week. The fee covers excavation gear, tools and coffee.

For more information, contact  DarkHeritageLapland[at]gmail.com or  Oula Seitsonen: +35850 448 7778 / oula.seitsonen(at)helsinki.fi.

Suzie Thomas is participating in the third Association of Critical Heritage Studies, which is taking place in Montreal, Canada. She speaks on 6th June, with a presentation entitled “Locals, Incomers, Tourists and Gold Diggers: Space, Politics, and the “Dark Heritage” Legacy of the Second World War in Finnish Lapland”, in the session “Flexible Scales and Relational Territoriality in the Meaning-Making of Cultural Heritage”. The abstract is as follows:

In different circumstances and at different times, the actions of countries, communities, and even individuals may be prioritized and celebrated, forgotten or silenced, or even re-packaged for different audiences. This can happen in order to conform to state-approved historical narratives, to privilege one group’s experience over another’s, to create distance from more shameful or painful events, to reconcile with past traumas, or simply to find a way to coexist in the present. Contested heritage in this sense has been readily discussed within cultural heritage studies for some time. This paper will focus on one such region in which the material legacy of twentieth-century conflict has had significant impact on the landscape and on how it can be regarded as a space with competing meanings, and levels of significance, for different actors. 

Finland’s experience in the Second World War has been regarded variously as heroic—through the telling and re-telling of the exploits against the Soviet Union in the Winter and Continuation Wars; embarrassing—through the alliance with Nazi Germany for much of the war; shameful—through the often brutal treatment of prisoners of war on Finnish soil; and painful—through the lost territory in the East that resulted in forced migration, and the evacuations of Lapland during the 1944-1945 Lapland War. 

Finnish Lapland in particular had conflicting experiences of the Second World War. From 1940 to 1944 some 200,000 German soldiers were based in Finland, mostly in Lapland. Local recollections from that time often focus on the friendliness of interactions between Finnish and Sámi people, and the German military. Also present were numerous prisoner of war camps, run by both Finns and Germans, and populated mostly by Eastern European and Soviet prisoners. 

The 1944-1945 retreat of the German military from Finland into Norway included “scorched earth” tactics, destroying almost all infrastructure and buildings in Lapland; deleting much of the historic environment in the process and requiring the mass evacuation of almost all residents. This meant that those returning after the mass evacuations were confronted with a landscape that was at once familiar and irrevocably different, with profound implications, for example, for cultural memory.

The legacy of the Second World War in Lapland, and in particular of the mass destruction, is currently at times both omnipresent and hidden. The material culture left by now-departed Germans is noticeable for its abundance in the landscape, with different local, national, and even international actors taking ownership and agency over the material remains in different and often-conflicting ways. Meanwhile, in the context of the national narrative, some Lapland locals feel that their experiences are diminished, even silenced, relative to the celebrated experiences in the south of Finland. Coupled with this is the continued view of Lapland as a somehow liminal, exotic, and “other” space compared to other places, even within Finland, and the “dark” lens through which cultural heritage connected to war is often viewed. This is inspired by the concept of “dark tourism”: the touristic experience and consumption of sites connected to conflict, murder, execution, and other atrocities. 

In this paper I will explore how the “dark heritage” connected to Lapland’s experience of the Second World War is perceived, exploited, enjoyed, forgotten, or avoided by different parties and on different spatial levels. This includes those residents who returned from evacuation after the war, “incomers” who have been drawn to Lapland through fascination with this period for various reasons, and those responsible for official and “authorized” narratives of Finland and Lapland. Common throughout my discussion are the tensions and power struggles as different perspectives and values are privileged or marginalized over or in favour of others.

Part of Montreal’s skyline.

There are plans to publish the session in some format after the conference. We will update with more information in due course.

Vapaaehtoiset ovat tervetulleita osallistumaan saksalaisten toisen maailmansodan aikaisen sairaala-alueen kaivauksiin Inarissa elokuun ensimmäisellä viikolla (maanantai 1.8.-perjantai 5.8.). Kaivaustutkimukset järjestää yhteistyössä projektimme ja saamelaismuseo Siida.

Ilmoittautuminen kaivauksille alkaa ensi viikolla! Toimi nopeasti, sillä pystymme ottamaan kaivaukselle mukaan päivittäin vain 10 vapaaehtoista varmistaaksemme, että kaikki saavat mahdollisimman hyvän kokemuksen ja huolellisen perehdytyksen! Paikat täyttyvät ilmoittautumisjärjestyksessä.

Lisätietoa kaivauksesta ja ilmoittaumisesta tulee ensi viikolla, eli kannattaa seurata tätä sivua! Ilmoitamme asiasta myös Twitterissä.

Innokas tutkijanalku auttaa metallinpaljastimen käytössä toisen maailmansodan saksalaisleirin kaivauksilla: kaikenikäiset vapaaehtoiset ovat tervetulleita osallistumaan tutkimuksiin (Valokuva: Oula Seitsonen). / Little future scientist helps with a metal detecting survey at the excavations of a Second World War German camp: volunteers of all ages are invited to participate in research (Photograph: Oula Seitsonen).

Coming up soon: Lapland’s Dark Heritage project and Sámi Museum Siida arrange public excavations in Inari, Finnish Lapland

Volunteers are invited to join in the investigations of a German Second World War military hospital site in Inari, Lapland, in the first week of August (Monday 1^st-Friday 5^th). Research is organized by our project in co-operation with the Sámi Museum Siida.

Registration for the excavations opens next week! it’s important to register as soon as possible if you want to take part, since only 10 volunteers per day can take part, to make sure that the volunteers receive the right supervision and training! Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

More info about the excavations and registration will be available next week, follow this page! We will also share the information in Twitter.

Finnish Association of Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology (FAFAA) arranged an excursion to the Vallisaari and Kuninkaansaari fortress islands outside Helsinki on 14th of May, when the islands were opened to the public. Both islands used to be closed military areas and have a long martial history since the 17th century. FAFAA was expertly guided by archaeologist Mikko Suha on the islands.

Battery at Kuninkaansaari; note the icon stand of Russian soldiers from 19th century in the middle, left of Mikko Suha (Photo: Oula Seitsonen).

Islands have a large number of well-preserved fortifications especially from the 19th century, when Russian empire was building a fortification chain to protect the St. Petersburg. Islands saw military action especially during the Crimean War when an allied British-French naval task force bombed them and the neighbouring Suomenlinna fortification island in summer 1855.

Military graffity on a battery wall (Photo: Oula Seitsonen).

Islands played also major role in the so-called Sveaborg rebellion of 1906, in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1905. Revolutionary soldiers from the island’s Russian garrison mutinied and took hold of the Vallisaari and Kuninkaansaari islands. Rebels became disheartened by the bombardment of Imperial Russian Navy and a massive explosion of powder storage on Kuninkaansaari, and the mutiny was suppressed in four days. Revolutionary leaders were executed: one of them is told to still wander the island as a headless ghost, and during the island’s military period in 20th century the soldiers reportedly refused to stand in guard alone.

Shoreline shaped by the explosion of powder storage during the Sveaborg rebellion (Photo: Oula Seitsonen).

After Finnish independence of 1917 islands acted as major ammunition storage of Finnish Defence Forces, which use lasted until a few years ago. Ammunition, torpedoes, and mines  were loaded and maintained in Vallisaari. Island is best known for a huge explosion in the so-called “Valley of Death” in 1937: tons of ammunition exploded, throwing  material all the way to the mainland, and resulted in the death of 12 people. Cause of the explosion is unknown: it might have been due to careless handling of explosives, but also sabotage has been rumoured.

Valley of Death (Photo: Oula Seitsonen).

During the Second World War German troops established a radar station known as “Raija” at one artillery battery on the Kuninkaansaari island. After the war islands remained as restricted military areas, but Vallisaari was inhabited by the military personnel’s families: at most there were over 300 people on the tiny island, and there was school, shop, and other services. Last inhabitants moved from the island in 1996, after which the islands remained uninhabited, and now they are on a threshold of new life as an interesting tourist destination just outside the center of Helsinki.

Mikko Suha presenting a photograph of the German Second World War radar station to Tiina Mikkanen at its former place at Kuninkaansaari (Photo: Oula Seitsonen).