Antroblogi, a blog by Anthropology students , published an article last week about project researcher Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto’s on-going research concerning the Norvajärvi German Cemetery in Rovaniemi. This cemetery is the only official monument commemorating the German military presence in Finnish Lapland and its capital city, Rovaniemi. Project members have visited there several times this year, including one visit with a guide who is also responsible for the cemetery’s maintenance. Koskinen-Koivisto is preparing a journal article about the experiences of visitors to the cemetery. The main body of her research material consists of blog entries and online travel diaries by Finnish people, featuring accounts of personal experiences of visiting the cemetery. Many of the writers have paid more than one visit to Norvajärvi cemetery because of the uniqueness of the place.

As a result of warfare during WWII in Finnish Lapland, about 15 000 German soldiers died in Finnish frontiers. Unlike Finland, Germany did not bring the bodies of the fallen soldiers back to the home country, but buried them on foreign ground. Most of the 15 000 who died in Finland between 1941–1945 are buried in the area of the former Salla municipality, which is today on Russian ground. However, there are two German soldiers’ cemeteries established in Finland: one in Vantaa, close to Helsinki, and one at Norvajärvi, Lapland.

Above: Vantaa German cemetary. Below: Mausoleum in Norvajärvi German Cemetery. Photos by Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto and Suzie Thomas.

The Norvajärvi German cemetery is located in a scenic spot by a lake on a pine forest cape about 18 km from the center of Rovaniemi. The cemetery was opened in 1963. It is owned and administrated by German state-based agency Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, and maintained in collaboration with the local Rotary club. The cemetery’s mausoleum, designed by German architect Otto Kindt, contains the remains of over 2 700 German soldiers who fell during the Second World War. The building consist of two halls: in the entry hall there is a sculpture “Mother and son” by Ursula Querner, and the floors and walls of the main hall hold stones are carved with the names of fallen soldiers, their date of birth and time of death and military ranking.

The cemetery receives about 10 000 visitors every year. The majority of them are Finnish and about one quarter of them are foreign. Finns visit the site both individually and in groups. Many of them are drawn to the site by its uniqueness and natural beauty, but also by the fact that the site bears testimony to the complex history of the area and the Second World War. Although this is a non-religious cemetery, there are many religious symbols in its setting and many visitors see the visit as spiritual endeavor, a chance to spend a moment reflecting on the nature of human kind.

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).

Project researchers Suzie Thomas and Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto  have visited Siida, the Sámi Museum and Nature Centre in Inari, the Gold Prospector Museum in Tankavaara, and the Military Museum in Helsinki.

We were interested to see how the Lapland War and the period of German presence before it were interpreted and treated in these three different museums. Obviously the Lapland War and the German presence are not central themes to all museums in Finland or indeed Lapland specifically, but given the significant impact of the events of the Second World War on communities and landscapes (for example through evacuation and the ‘scorched earth’ tactics of the retreating German military), it is reasonable to imagine that there would be some acknowledgement of this tumultuous period.
In Siida, we spent time getting to know the whole museum – which has indoor permanent and temporary exhibition spaces as well as an open air museum section – and noting in particular the places in which the Second World War was mentioned. In the outdoor museum section, alongside the traditional Sámi buildings, there is also a trench from the Second World War. Although there is little information on the ground about this particular feature, there is a mobile app available – and the text is reproduced online for those unable to access the app while visiting.

Sign with app for Second World War information at the outdoors section of Siida. Photo: Suzie Thomas, August 2015.

Within the permanent indoor exhibition spaces, the War, and the experiences in Lapland especially concerning the Sámi communities (such as the evacuation of the Skolt Sámi as a result of territories gained by the USSR), are mentioned, but are clearly not a central theme to the overall interpretation offered.

Part of the permanent exhibition in Siida. Photo: Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto, August 2015.

Similarly in Tankavaara at the Gold Prospector Museum, there is only very brief mention of the Second World War within the main exhibition. The museum has not chosen its impact on the various communities in Lapland (including gold prospectors), notably through the mass destruction of the Lapland War, as a central theme to discuss.

The first main exhibition area of the Gold Prospector Museum focuses on the story of gold prospection in Lapland, and in particular provides biographies of notable individual gold prospectors. One individual mentioned is German national Werner Thiede, who came to Finland in 1936, but as the exhibition panel explains, was expelled in 1939, with (according to the interpretation panel) “the threat of war and German state policy” as “the ghosts in the background” to his expulsion. Even more interestingly, it turns out that a gold prospector’s hut close to the museum building – and a rare survivor of the Lapland War devastation – belonged to none other than Thiede, and there were apparently rumours that he had used personal contacts within the German military to ensure that it was not burned down.

Thiede’s gold prospector hut, situated next to the Gold Prospector Museum. A rare survivor of the Lapland War. Photo: Suzie Thomas, August 2015.

Close to the Gold Museum are various hiking paths, including the War Trail for 2 km, which highlights some of the features left from that period. The trail is organised by Metsähallitus in partnership with the Gold Museum, the Sodankylä Municipality and the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment.

One of the signs along the War Trail at Tankavaara. Photo: Suzie Thomas, August 2015.

Most recently we have been to the Military Museum in Helsinki – the largest military museum in Finland and a part of the National Defense University. This museum, founded in 1929, covers military and war history for the entire country, and as might be expected features large exhibition spaces for both the Winter and Continuation Wars (1939-40 and 1941-44 respectively). The Lapland War is acknowledged as one of three wars affecting Finland during the Second World War, and there are notable exhibits within the museum, such as the uniform of Colonel General Eduard Dietl (commander of the German Army in Lapland). However, the Lapland War does not get the same amount of coverage as the other two wars, and there is almost no mention of the destruction caused by the retreating German soldiers (although mine clearing in the years after the war is mentioned).

Interpretation panel on the Lapland War, Military Museum, Helsinki. Photo: Suzie Thomas, October 2015.

Uniform of Eduard Dietl, commander of the German troops in Finland during the Second World War. Photo: Suzie Thomas, October 2015.

We plan to make a detailed study and discussion of the extent to which the Lapland War and the experience of northern Finland in the Second World War are featured in a selection of permanent museum exhibitions in a forthcoming journal article.

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

On Thursday 22nd of October, project’s researcher Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto will present a paper at the Biennial Conference of the Finnish Anthropological Society “Landscapes, Sociality and Materiality” in Tieteiden Talo, Helsinki. She attends the panel “Landscape and memory” with a paper  entitled ” Reminder of Lapland’s Dark Heritage – Norvajärvi German Cemetery as a site of commemoration”.

The abstract of the session is:

Landscapes anchor, embody and evoke social memory and are intrinsically tied to the formation of people’s identities. They are understood to do so not as passive platforms onto which meanings are pasted and through which they are articulated, but rather as themselves formed through engagement with particular people, their cultural practices and memories. In this sense landscapes may be regarded as mnemonic devices to recall a shared history and to act as moral guides. In remembering landscapes, natural elements – such as mountains, hills or rivers – or human built forms – such as ruins, shrines or monuments – may be used as mnemonic tools and arenas of moral debate that enable people to remember and talk about the past. For groups of people removed from the places they remember through migration or diaspora, this commemorative aspect of landscapes becomes particularly significant and may engender various kinds of pilgrimage and memory travel. Another area where the connection of landscape, identity and memory is pertinent is the debate concerning heritage. Heritage sites as loci of commemorialization often dramatize the history of a nation/place or commodify its past, while material objects like monuments and memorials are tied in complex ways to social discourses of remembering.

This panel invites papers that ethnographically examine issues related to the ways in which landscapes and their memories are tied to people’s identity processes as well as papers that explore the commemorative aspects of landscapes such as heritage, memory travel, or material triggers of memory. More theoretical analyses of the above issues are also welcome.

Eerika’s abstract is:

After the Finnish-Soviet ‘Winter War’ (1939–40), Finland turned to Germany for help and came to cooperate with Germany’s 1941 attack on the Soviet Union. Some 200,000 German troops were based in Finland, mostly in the northern parts of the country. Towards the end of WWII, Finns turned against their former German brothers-in-arms, which led to the so-called ‘Lapland War’ and large-scale devastation of northern Finland when German troops ended up ‘burning down Lapland’. As a result, about 15 000 German soldiers died in Finnish frontiers.

The question of Finnish-German relations has remained a sensitive topic for a long time and only recently become critically reassessed. This heritage of a difficult and traumatic period is largely unvalued, ignored and intentionally forgotten. Nonetheless, the remains of German sites and material do constitute an element of northern landscapes that locals and tourists have come across and lived with since the war. Recently, the value and meaning of that German material heritage has also become subject to public discussion in northern Finland.

In this presentation I scrutinize the experiences of Finnish people who visit the only official monument of WWII German presence in Finnish Lapland, the Norvajärvi German cemetary located in Rovaniemi found in 1963. I analyze blog writings and virtual travel diaries as well as interviews and writings of the visitors of the cemetery. What motivations drove them to visit the site and how do they describe the experience? How do they see and relate to Lapland’s dark heritage?

On Wednesday 2nd September, the 21st Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists gets underway, hosted by the University of Glasgow, Scotland.

Researchers from the Lapland’s Dark Heritage project are active on Saturday 5th September in a session titled ‘Dark Heritage: The Archaeology of Internment and Forced Wartime Migration’.  Suzie Thomas is co-chairing the session, and Oula Seitsonen is presentinga paper entitled ‘World War 2 forced migrations in the Arctic: Cultural heritage and the evacuation and destruction of Finnish Lapland in 1944’.

The session abstract is:

Last year’s EAA conference session ‘Archaeologies of War(s)’ considered a century of conflict from a perspective focused
mainly, though not exclusively, on battlefield archaeology. The last one hundred years has also seen the making of war on
civilians developed to an unprecedented level and it is perhaps timely to contemplate the cultural legacy of civilian detention,
internment and forced migration which has become a significant aspect of industrialised and sometimes global war. Systematised restriction of civilian populations, sometimes involving privation and even mistreatment, was by no means a new departure at the onset of WWI, and was pursued with still greater purpose during WWII. Even the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has not entirely prevented 21st century iterations of such behaviours, particularly where political and terrorist issues are involved.The deliberate displacement, concentration and incarceration of mass populations had many side-effects which have left varied physical and cultural legacies among both victims and perpetrators. For most it was a shocking or sometimes even fatal experience; for others an opportunity to seek diversions which resulted in extraordinary cultural and
artistic achievement. For those responsible it has led variously to guilt, redemption, cover-up and acknowledgement. In many
cases there is a distinctive residue of sudden mixing or removal of peoples and their material and ephemeral cultures. We consider the archaeological, museological and interpretative consequences of this dark heritage through contributions focused mainly, though not exclusively, on internment and forced displacement during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Oula’s paper’s abstract reads:

In the later part of World War 2 Finland and Nazi Germany were co-belligerents, with over 200 000 German soldiers holding the frontal responsibility in the northern half of Finnish eastern front. As a consequence of a major Russian offensive in 1944, Finland made a cease fire treaty with the Soviet Union: this treaty demanded Finns to drive out the German troops which resulted in a Finno-German “Lapland War” in 1944-45. Practically the whole civilian population of Lapland was evacuated to the southern parts of Finland and to Sweden before the outbreak of hostilities, excluding some reindeer herders who stayed behind in the fjells to look after the animal herds. Germans used the scorched earth tactics during their retreat to Norway, and destroyed the infrastructure within their reach and littered the landscape with explosives. In 1940-44, before the Lapland War, the relations between German troops and civilians in Lapland were generally cordial, but the post-war memories have been taken over by the powerful images of a homeland destroyed by fire and explosion, in both the official and private accounts. This appears to also colour the views of and engagement with the cultural heritage of the era. In this paper I review the experiences of Lapland’s evacuees, and assess the effects these incidents might have had on the way different communities signify the material remains of German presence. Also the material heritage of the evacuation itself is considered, for instance the refugee camps established in Sweden.

University of Glasgow Main Building, creative commons licence image by Deshi’

Oula and Suzie will be live-Tweeting from the conference on their accounts @oulaseitsonen and @SuzieElizabethT, as well as the project’s Twitter account @DarkLapland.

Project Researcher Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto will attend the 33rd Nordic Ethnology and Folklore conference: “CO” – Co-productions, collaborations, contestations coming together in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her paper appears in panel 22: Collectors and collections. The panel conveners are Tove Fjell, Bergen University, Charlotte Hagström, Lund University, Lena Marander-Eklund, Åbo Academy, and Susanne Nylund Skog, Uppsala University.

Panel description:

In this panel we invite papers on collectors and collections, including both material and immaterial collections. We welcome discussions ranging from collections of glassware and rare books to the practices of bird watching and train spotting. The intention is to touch on issues such as the relationships between compilation and collection, private collections and museums, the process of acquiring things and the knowledge needed and attained in this process, as well as the aims of collections and where and how they are stored/listed, kept and displayed. The main question of interest concerns systemizing and normalizing aspects of the practices of collecting.

How do collectors motivate and make their collecting practices meaningful? When and how does collecting and collections cross the borders of normality? What is accepted and what is deemed inappropriate when, why and for whom?

We welcome papers in the Scandinavian languages as well as in English addressing issues of gender, age, ethnicity, economy, cultural capital and so forth, focusing on any or all of the following: the process (the collecting), the individuals (the collectors) and the outcome (the collections).

 Eerika’s title abstract for the panel is as follows:

Collectors of Dark Heritage: WWII memorabilia in Finnish Lapland

In my current research project I study local people’s understanding of the material heritage associated with the German military presence in northern Finland (Lapland) during WWII. This heritage of a difficult and traumatic period is largely unvalued, ignored and intentionally forgotten. Nonetheless, the remains of German sites and material do constitute an element of northern landscapes that locals and tourists have come across and lived with since the war.

My project is part of larger interdisciplinary project entitled Lapland’s Dark Heritage in which scholars from the fields of archaeology, museology and ethnology explore the values and meanings of difficult or dark heritage and address the relationships between the modern war, material culture and memory. We are interested in the activities like ‘dark tourism’ or the looting and collecting of war memorabilia, but also to broader fascination with, for instance, the Nazis in popular culture. In this presentation I ask how should we understand and approach the collections and collectors of dark heritage and how does these collections and activities shape our understanding of the past and the present.

Eerika will also live-tweet from the conference, you can follow her on @EerikaKK and also follow our project account on @DarkLapland.

Copenhagen’s skyline. By Ibrahim50, available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.

Hankeryhmä on vieraillut kuluneella viikolla useilla Saksalaisten rakentamilla ja myöhemmin tuhoamilla paikoilla.  Osasta rakennuksia on jäljellä vain perustukset, mutta  paikoin raunioista voi vielä päätellä, missä käyttötarkoituksessa ne ovat olleet. / Over the past week, our project group has visited several sites built and later destroyed by  Germans. In many cases, only the foundations are left but  sometimes one can clearly see what purpose a building served.

Olemme löytäneet monia inhimillisiä ja taiteellisia jälkiä tästä sinänsä synkästä kulttuuriperinnöstä. Myös luonto on ottanut pikku hiljaa omansa. / We have found many humane and artistic traces of this dark heritage.

Vuosien kuluessa sotajätteelle on löydetty erilaista käyttöä. Vankileirien piikkilankaa on siirretty esimerkiksi laitumille. / Along the decades the war junk has found many places. The barbwire from prison camps, for example, has been reused in farming.

Joihinkin sodanaikaisiin kohteisiin on piilotettu geokätköjä. / There are some geogaches to be found around wartime sites.

Helsingin ja Oulun yliopistojen tutkijoista koostuva tutkimusryhmä vierailee elokuussa Inarissa ja Sodankylän Vuotsossa. Tutkijat kartoittavat toisen maailmansodan aikaisia saksalaiskohteita maastossa, vierailevat paikallisissa museoissa ja haastattelevat sodanaikaista kulttuuperintöä tuntevia asiantuntijoita ja harrastajia. Tutkijoita kiinnostaa myös toisen maailmansodan käyttömahdollisuuden kulttuuriturismissa.

Lapin synkkä kulttuuriperintö -hankkeessa tutkitaan erityisesti Lapissa toisen maailmansodan aikana toimineiden saksalaisjoukkojen aineellisen kulttuuriperinnön arvoja ja merkityksiä. Tutkijat ovat kiinnostuneita erilaisista tavoista hyödyntää kulttuuriperintöä. Yksi esimerkki hyödyntämisestä ovat historiaan liittyvät harrastukset kuten esimerkiksi sotaan liittyvien muistoesineiden keräily ja etsintä sekä geokätköily.

Inarissa tutkijat jatkavat jo aiemmin aloitettua vankileirien kartoittamista (Seitsonen & Herva 2011). Vuotsossa tutkimusryhmä vierailee muun muassa paikallisessa koulussa kertomassa arkeologisesta tutkimuksesta ja kartoittaa paikallista saksalaisiin liittyvää kulttuuriperintöä.

Internet news service Barents Observer has published an article entitled “70 years after the war, Finland looks back“. The journalist interviewed several members of the Lapland’s Dark Heritage team and quotes Oula Seitsonen directly.

The article also features lots of great images from the “Wir waren Freunde” exhibition, and is well worth a read!