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Traces of History
Finland
Anna Sievälä
Born 1991 in Mänttä, Finland
Student (European Law and Integration Government, University of Eastern Finland)
"Coexistence of art and industry" (2010)
This group project focuses on the historical background of the small city of Mänttä located in the province of Western Finland by following its industrial and artistic development. It seems that the welfare of the community has been always depending on the local paper factory founded by Gustav Adolf Serlachius in 1868. Because they had the money and the right connections, the Serlachius family had a decisive influence on the everyday life of Mänttä. They commissioned the construction of a church and many apartment houses, were in charge of the healthcare of the inhabitants, as well as supported many Finnish artists. In 1933 an art foundation bearing the Serlachius name was established and with it an art museum in Mänttä containing most of the family collection. Since 1987 when the paper factory merged with a bigger company the management of the city was no longer in the hands of the Serlachius family. That meant that art and industry were no longer developing at the same pace. Today the artistic component of the city is more prominent, although the people feel they still owe a lot to the factory and the Serlachius family, without which Mänttä would have not existed.
Annielina Mehtatalo
Born 1992 in Oulainen, Finland
High school student (“Oulainen High school“)
“The civil war in Finland” (2008)
In her entry Annielina tries investigating and explaining the causes that have led to a civil war in the Finland of the 1918s, by contrasting the two major groups of interest at that time: the People’s Deputation of Finland, commonly called Reds which were supporting communist Russia and the non-socialist rich owners, most of them members of the conservative-led Senate and better known as Whites. These events were crucial in shaping Finland’s future as a nation, after its separation from the Russian Empire and its proclaimed independence in 1917. Although the Whites were shortly successful in establishing a Finnish monarchy led by a German king, Germany’s defeat in World War I, let Finland emerge from the civil conflict as a free and democratic country.
“The civil war in Finland” was awarded the fourth prize in the Finnish national history competition.
Antti Vanhoja
Born 1992 in Miehikkälä, Finland
High school Student (“Hamina High School“)
"The construction works of the "Salpa" line in Kylmälä 1940-41" (2009/2010)
Around the small village of Kylmälä, in the south-east of Finland goes the Salpa Line (salpa asema), a fortification wall built between 1940 and 1941 to protect Finland’s new borders from Russia. The author documents how life was like in Kylmälä, the village where his grandfather still lives today, by interviewing him and other locals that were involved in the heavy work and by accessing a nearby history archive. The picture of this region during the war differs dramatically from the one today. In the past it attracted a huge number of people (soldiers, women of a paramilitary organisation and construction workers) that came to build a new defensive line for Finland and that also chose to settle down here. Seventy years after, Kylmälä has only 30 permanently occupied houses and is inhabited mostly by senior citizens. The nineteen bunkers, the almost 5 km of trenches and the tank obstacle stones are nevertheless witnesses to the bursting life from the past and the efforts which were done to keep Finland independent.
