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).

Oula Seitsonen takes part in ‘Dialogues with the Past’ seminar at the Pitt-Rivers Museum, Oxford. Oula presents a paper titled “‘Where the f… is Vuotso’ or ‘Can you love a Nazi?’: Dark Heritage of German Second World War presence in Lapland, Northern Finland”, exploring the diverse complexities and politically-inclined aspects related to our research of Second World War material heritage. Paper presents two case studies, first dealing with the German material legacy at Vuotso, Sodankylä and its commemoration, and the other with Provincial Museum of Lapland’s “Wir waren freunde – We were friends” exhibition’s advertisement matchboxes, banned in 2015 by the municipality.

Finnish and German flags fly side by side on the birthday of Marshall Mannerheim (SA-kuva).

Matchbox used for for advertising the “Wir waren freunde” exhibition, later banned by the municipality (Kuva: Bikka Puoskari / Yle).

We wish everybody peaceful and happy holidays! Soon after New Years we will update information on our upcoming, exciting public excavations at German sites in Inari, Lapland, and about our community heritage plans in summer 2016.

Christmas on front in 1942, Santa Claus has arrived (SA-Kuva).

Oula Seitsonen will be presenting our project to the Finnish Association of Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology (FAFAA) on December 4th. Presentation gives a general overview of the Lapland’s Dark Heritage project, of our research questions, and of the field studies in Lapland this summer. Special attention is paid on the themes related to World War 2 forensic archaeology and anthropology in Lapland, such as mass graves at the Prisoner-of-War camps, searching and collecting of bodies left on field, and repatriation issues (for more information, in  Finland: Sotavainajien muistonvaalimisyhdistys, in Germany: Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, in Russia; German central military graveyards in Finland: Rovaniemi Norvajärvi, Vantaa Honkanummi). In the years after the war searching and collecting of bodies of German and Russian soldiers was a profitable enterprise for many locals, resulting in emptied graves, some of which we have located also on field (see the photograph below).

Officially marked PoW mass grave in Lapland / Virallisesti merkitty sotavankien joukkohauta Lapissa (Photograph: Oula Seitsonen).

Unofficially marked PoW mass grave in Lapland / Epävirallisesti merkitty sotavankien joukkohauta Lapissa (Photograph: Oula Seitsonen).

Remains of orthodox crosses, possibly an emptied PoW mass grave in Lapland / Ortodoksiristien jäänteitä, mahdollisesti tyhjennetty sotavankien joukkohauta Lapissa (Photograph: Oula Seitsonen).

Russian PoW graveyard at Ivalo / Venäläisten sotavankien hautausmaa Ivalossa (Photograph: Oula Seitsonen).

German military graveyard at Honkanummi / Saksalaisten sotilashautausmaa Honkanummella (Photograph: Oula Seitsonen).

Lapin synkkä kulttuuriperintö esittäytyy Suomen forensisen arkeologian ja antropologian seuralle

Oula Seitsonen esitelmöi projektistamme Suomen forensisen arkeologian ja antropologian seuran (FAFAA) kokouksessa 4.12. Esitys antaa yleiskuvan Lapin synkkä kulttuuriperintö -projektin tutkimuskysymyksistä ja viime kesänä Lapissa tekemistämme kenttätöistä. Erityisesti keskitytään toisen maailmansodan forensiseen arkeologiaan ja antropologiaan liittyviin teemoihin, kuten sotavankien joukkohautoihin, kentälle jääneiden ruumiiden etsimiseen ja kokoamiseen sekä palautukseen liittyviin kysymyksiin Lapissa (Lisätietoa näistä teemoista, Suomessa: Sotavainajien muistonvaalimisyhdistys, Saksassa: Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, Venäjällä; saksalaisten sotilashautausmaat Suomessa: Rovaniemi Norvajärvi, Vantaa Honkanummi). Sodan jälkeen saksalaisten ja venäläisten sotilaiden ruumiiden etsiminen oli tuottoisa sivutulojenlähde monille paikallisille: olemme löytäneet kenttätöissämme myös joitakin heidän jäljiltään tyhjäksi jääneitä hautakuoppia (kts. kuva yllä).

Kesän kenttätyömme herättivät huomiota sekä paikallisten keskuudessa että tiedotusvälineissä (esim. Sompio-lehti, Barents Observer). Tällä kertaa olimme tähän hieman paremmin valmistautuneita kuin aiemmin. Vuonna 2007, kun aloitimme toisen maailmansodan kohteisiin liittyvät tutkimukset Lapissa, saimme ensimmäiset vihjeet aiheen nauttimasta mielenkiinnosta, ja tutkimuksista julkaistiin useita meidän ja muiden kirjoittamia artikkeleita paikallisissa sanomalehdissä.

Kun aloitimme toisen maailmansodan kohteiden kaivaukset vuonna 2009 saksalaisten tukikohdassa ja vankileirillä Inarin Peltojoella, olimme kuitenkin ällistyneitä tutkimusten osalleen keräämästä huomiosta. Toisen maailmansodan kohteita oli tutkittu aiemmin Suomessa hyvin vähän ja kaivausten herättämä kiinnostus yllätti meidät täysin, kun eri televisiokanavien ja sanomalehtien toimittajat sekä paikalliset vierailijat alkoivat piipahdella paikalle seuraamaan kenttätöitämme.

Osaltaan tämä julkinen kiinnostus ja eri ihmisten aihetta kohtaan osoittamat kiihkeät tuntemukset ja mielipiteet innostivat meidät aloittamaan nykyisen tutkimusprojektimme suunnittelun. Sen vaikutuksesta kiinnostus suuntautui tarkemmin siihen miten eri yhteisöt ja ihmisryhmät, kuten paikalliset asukkaat, sotahistoriaharrastajat tai metallinilmaisinharrastajat, ovat suhtautuneet ja suhtautuvat kohteisiin. Vuoden 2009 tutkimusten myötä Oulaa pyydettiin myös avustamaan asiantuntijana kahdessa dokumenttiprojektissa: venäläisistä sotavangeista kertovan “Jäämarssi”-dokumenttielokuvan valmistelussa ja “Suojele minua”-sarjan jaksossa, jossa tutustuttiin Inarin Nangujärven alueen saksalaisten vankileireihin.

Joku sotahistoriaharrastaja on ladannut Youtubeen kaksi uutisfilmiä vuoden 2009 kaivauksista (tekijänoikeuksista välittämättä…):

https://youtu.be/VqRP6wYgc5I?list=PL0CFDA33427210464

https://youtu.be/_REoa-OAzlw?list=PL0CFDA33427210464

Aki Romakkaniemi Inarin Nangujärven eteläpään vankileirillä, taustalla hyvin säilynyt saksalaisten hirsirakennus / Aki Romakkaniemi at the German-run PoW camp at Inari Nangujärvi, a well preserved German WW2 log cabin on the background (Kuva: http://yle.fi/vintti/yle.fi/teema/sites/teema.yle.fi/files/nangujarvi_ehdotus.jpg).

Our summer’s fieldwork raised interest both amongst the local public and media in our study areas (e.g. Sompio-lehti, Barents Observer). This time we were little more prepared for this than earlier. Back in 2007 when we started research on World War 2 (WW2) sites in Lapland, we got our first glimpses of the public attention to this subject, which resulted e.g. in articles in local newspapers by us and others.

However, we were amazed of the public interest when we launched the excavations of Lapland’s WW2 installments in 2009, at the German-run military base and prisoner-of-war camp at Peltojoki, Inari. WW2 sites had been studied in Finland only occasionally before that and the public and media interest our studies got both during and after the fieldwork completely surprised us, when the different TV channels and newspapers started sending their reporters out to the site and frequent visitors dropped by to observe fieldwork.

In part it was this public interest and people’s passionate feelings towards and opinions of the WW2-era sites in Lapland, which initiated the planning of our current project, and got us to inquire more closely how the various communities, such as local residents, war history buffs, or metal detectors, have signified and engaged with those sites. As a follow-up to our 2009 excavations Oula was asked to take part as a specialist in some documentary projects: the preparation of documentary film “Jäämarssi” about Russian PoWs and an episode of the “Suojele minua” (Eng. Protect me, a series about preserving Finland’s built heritage) documentary series dealing with the German PoW camps in Inari Nangujärvi.

Some war history enthusiast has also uploaded two of the news clips from 2009 excavations on Youtube (probably a copyright violation…):

https://youtu.be/VqRP6wYgc5I?list=PL0CFDA33427210464

https://youtu.be/_REoa-OAzlw?list=PL0CFDA33427210464

Oula Seitsonen took part last week in geoarchaeological surveys of Finnish Civil War (1918) mass grave sites with the Finnish Association for Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology (FAFAA). Forensic archaeology applies archaeological research methods in the forensic and crime scene studies.

FAFAA field studies aim at comparing and developing advantageous non-invasive survey methods for working with the contemporary (and historical) mass grave sites and other burials. FAFAA co-operates with the Lapland’s Dark Heritage project, and archaeo-geophysical surveys of for example World War 2 plane crash sites and mass graves in Lapland have been planned.

Ground penetrating radar at the Tammisaari mass grave monument (Photograph: Oula Seitsonen).

Finnish Civil War mass graves have been studied by FAFAA, in co-operation with the Department of Geography and Geosciences, University of Helsinki, and the Finnish Defense Forces, with ground penetrating radar and other archaeo-geophysical methods at Tammisaari and Santahamina; studies at Tammisaari have been financially supported by the Kansan sivistysrahasto Tammisaari 1918 trust.

Mass graves at both Tammisaari and Santahamina derive from the Prisoner-of-War camps established by the victorious White side for the defeated Reds in 1918: Whites and their German allies captured tens of thousands of Red Guard members and associated people, including several thousand women and over 1000 children. Living conditions at the PoW camps were poor, and at the worst camp, Tammisaari, mortality rate exceeded 30 percent. Altogether ca. 1 percent of the country’s population was annihilated by the Civil War: only half in the battlefields and the rest by executions, disease and famine. This left the newly independent state severely divided for decades after the Civil War.

General map of the Tammisaari mass grave site showing the survey lines (© Oula Seitsonen).

More about the Finnish Civil War:

Haapala, P. & Hoppu, T. (toim. ) 2009: Sisällissodan pikkujättiläinen. WSOY.

Upton, A.F. 1980: The Finnish Revolution 1917-1918. University of Minnesota Press.

Finnish Civil War archaeology:

Seitsonen, O. & Kunnas, L. 2009: Ahvola 1918: Archaeological Reconnaissance of a Finnish Civil War Battlefield. Journal of Conflict Archaeology 5.

In the later part of the Second World War in 1940-44 Finland had close ties with Nazi Germany, even though there was no formal alliance between the two countries. German troops arrived to northern Finnish Lapland as part of Hitler’s Operation Barbarossa,
the attack on the Soviet Union. While effectively allying itself with Germany, Finland was eager to maintain the impression of two separate wars against the Soviet Union, and tried to avoid conflict with the other Allies, especially the United States. Great Britain, however, declared war on Finland in 1941.

At the peak of the German military buildup there were more than 200,000 German soldiers in Northern Finland. Germans officially took some 9,000 Soviet Prisoners-of-War (PoW) on the northern front, and brought ca. 20,000 prisoners more to Finland as a workforce. Germans established over a hundred temporary PoW camps, punishment camps, and work camps in the northern half of Finland; the Finns also established some twenty camps in the area.

Spatial distribution of the German-run and Finnish-run PoW and forced labour camps in 1941-1944 is shown in the map below, based on Lars Westerlund‘s historical studies (Westerlund, L. 2008: Saksan vankileirit Suomessa ja raja-alueilla 1941–1944. Tammi), field trips by the Lapland Military Historical Society and our own pilot field research in 2007-2014 (click the map to make it bigger):

The close Finno-German relations ended with the Lapland War in 1944-45 after Finland had made a cease-fire treaty with the Soviet Union and was demanded to drive out the German troops. The German troops resorted to scorched earth tactics during their retreat to Norway, which resulted in the so-called ‘burning of Lapland‘.

For more information see for example:

Kulju, M. 2013: Lapin sota 1944-1945. Gummerus.

Mann, C. & Jörgensen, C. 2002: Hitler’s Arctic War: The German Campaigns in Norway, Finland, and The USSR 1940–1945. Ian Allan Publishing.

Seitsonen, O. & Herva, V.-P. 2011: Forgotten in the Wilderness: WWII German PoW Camps in Finnish Lapland. In A. Myers, G. Moshenska (eds.), Archaeologies of Internment, One World Archaeology 171. DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-9666-4_10

Westerlund, L. 2008: Saksan vankileirit Suomessa ra raja-alueilla 1941–1944. Tammi.

Oula Seitsonen started working full time in the project in March. He has been involved in the archaeological research of World War II and other recent past sites since 2007, and directed our pilot surveys and excavations in Inari in 2009. Oula starts working on a PhD project on the material heritage of Hitler’s Arctic war both during and after the World War II. He is an archaeological odd-job man and will be in charge of the archaeological and geographical information systems studies in the project.

Oula’s first week is pretty much summed up by this photo series:

Monday: a desk

Tuesday: took a tablet along

Wednesday-Thursday: a heap of cardboard boxes had appeared, and out of them appeared heaps of wires and electronic things for time-consuming installation

Friday: Back in business