The cornerstone of unity

32 THE RESETTLEMENT OF KARELIANS
The Winter War and the Continuation War between Finland and Soviet Union ended with peace treaties 
(Moscow 1940 and 1944, Paris 1947) which obliged Finland to cede the Province of Viipuri to the Soviet Union 
and organise a massive evacuation of its Karelian inhabitants to Finnish territory, as defined in the Paris Peace 
Treaty. This cost Finland 10% of its territory. Forty-four municipalities, including 3 cities, were ceded to the 
Soviet Union, and the new border between the states divided 21 municipalities into two parts. 
This was history repeating itself. For two millennia the Karelians have straddled two cultures, two churches 
and two great powers. Since the Pähkinäsaari Peace Treaty of 1323 the border between the two countries has 
divided both the Karelian people and their territory in two; the border has moved nine times, so there was 
nothing new about this. 
When the Winter War ended in March 1940, a total of 440,000 people were evacuated from Karelia and thus 
obliged to leave their homes and possessions. When the first evacuees arrived in early autumn 1939, their 
resettlement was organised by local committees that had been founded for this purpose. However, the next 
January saw the number of evacuees multiply and arrangements were centralised to an ad hoc national organ, 
whose director was Urho Kekkonen, a Karelian MP who would later become President of Finland. In April 1940 
the Karelian evacuees organised themselves and founded the Karelian Association to defend their interests. The 
Finnish Parliament (innovation no. 1) enacted the Prompt Settlement Act in June and a Compensation Act for 
property lost in ceded territory in August 1940. After the Continuation War in 1945 a complementary Land 
Acquisition Act was established. The resettlement legislation obliged Finnish municipalities, congregations and 
private farms to cede part of their land to the state, and these lands were in turn ceded to Karelians who had lost 
their own. 
The execution of the legislation was 
entrusted to the Ministry of Agriculture’s Resettlement Department, which 
was directed by Veikko Vennamo, who was himself a Karelian evacuee. The resettlement operation was huge in 
both Finnish and global terms, for no other country had carried ever out such a complete operation. The Land 
Acquisition Act included a Resettlement Programme for each municipality and town, which stressed the 
importance of maintaining former community and neighbourhood relationships. This aimed to relocate Karelians 
to regions which would resemble their former homes with regards to natural conditions, transport network and 
economic opportunities. 
Resettlement was based on the free will of the people. People who had lived in e.g. the western part of Finnish 
Karelia were all resettled on the Finnish-speaking southern coast, but Karelians were relocated to every part of the 
country except the Swedish-speaking regions and the far north. On the insistence of Prime Minister J.K. Paasikivi, 
a special language section was included in the Land Acquisition Act which stated that the relocation of Karelians 
should not change the language balance of the region. 
Both the Act and the Resettlement Programme were agriculturally oriented and emphasised resettlement in 
Southern Finland and rural parts of the country. The size of farm allotted to each farmer was defined by the size 
of the farm he had possessed in Karelia. In general terms, farmowners received the best compensation while 
landless people and urban workers were in a more vulnerable position. The situation was no easier for 
smallholders, who were relocated to small empty farms in infertile marshlands. Urban workers were better off, 
however, as growing towns were actually competing for a new labour force. 
Things were difficult at first for both evacuees and their new neighbours, because Finland had only started to 
recover from the war. People felt homesick and found it difficult to adjust to their new conditions, neighbours and 
culture. Harassment, discrimination at school and cultural suspicions that lasted for years did not make things 
any easier. 
Karelians looked to each other for support, which unified those who had earlier been divided into numerous 
subcultures. Orthodox fishermen from the tiniest village and fine ladies from Viipuri suddenly formed part of the 
same group of Karelian evacuees, and organisations and associations of people originating from the same 
parishes were founded to cherish Karelian culture. 
The value of Karelian culture was generally recognised by the beginning of the 1970s. The ice had melted, 

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and being Karelian was suddenly trendy. Finns have become more interested in their roots since the country 
joined the EU, and this upsurge in interest in genealogy has revealed that more than two million of Finland’s five 
million inhabitants have Karelian roots. There is a growing interest in Karelian culture and traditions, which are 
even considered the cradle of Finnish culture. This is all because Karelians remained Karelians, never losing 
their identity despite the loss of their homeland. That is why every bakery in Finland, no matter its size, makes 
Karelian pies, a popular beer logo boasts the Karelian emblem of two clashing swords, and the Karelian anthem, 
composed by J. Hannikainen, is more popular than any other provincial anthem in Finland. 
Hannu Kilpeläinen 
– Executive director of
the Karelian Association 2003
–2007