Studia Historica Septentrionalia 45
Kari Alenius, Olavi K. Fält, Jouko Vahtola (Toim.), Vieraat sotilaat. Seminaari Oulun yliopistossa 5.2.–6.2.2004. Pohjois-Suomen Historiallinen Yhdistys, Rovaniemi 2004. 276 pages

Summary:
Sinikka Wunsch, From hordes of cossacks to bombing fliers. Exploiting the stories of oppression during the period of Great Hate in the image of the enemy during the Winter War.

Vieraat sotilaat. Studia Historica Septentrionalia 45 (2004), 65–82.

Also before in history the Russians have rampaged as assassins in this country and… have rampaged especially here in Kainuu. During the period of Great Hate they burned homes, raped women and butchered children by impaling them on fence posts and leaving them to suffer… But after the years of oppression the oppressors witnessed how the Finnish people arose again just as tenaciously and strongly and thirsting for life.

The above text was published in Kainuun Sanomat on February 13, 1940 during the Winter War. The quotation illustrates the most essential allegory of the image of the enemy in the Winter War: an example that paralleled the current struggle was found two centuries before, from the period of Great Hate. During the Winter War the enemy was not able to occupy Finland. However, it was present at another level, in people’s minds, or as we would say today, in a virtual form. My presentation concentrates on how this virtual enemy was exploited by the wartime press and how it was used to create a defensive, fighting spirit in the people, and where the roots of this image were.

Two poems present an authentic image of the enemy during the period of Great Hate. One was written by Bartholdus Vhael, vicar of Ilmajoki: “A grievous elegy of the sorrowful Finnish people, the inhabitants of the far North” was originally published in Sweden in 1714 in Finnish. “Finnish poems of sorrow” by Gabriel Calamnius, a clergyman in Kalajoki, was written in 1720 when Calamnius was a captive of the Russian occupiers.

A more extensive and recent source of stories about oppression that were exploited during the Winter War is found in the narratives about the years of war and oppression stored in the archives of folklore. They were mainly collected in the early 1900s and mid-1930s. They include many stories of oppression connected to the period of Great Hate as told by the people, which shed light on the roots of the image of the enemy, at least during the Winter War. The process by which they have been passed on by the people until the 1900s and finally appeared in newspaper articles during the Winter War would be an interesting topic of research and contemplation.

That a clear model of the enemy in the Winter War was found over two hundred before is logical, based on general conformity to the laws of the process of creating images of the enemy. The occupation during the period of Great Hate (1713–1721) is an exceptionally difficult time in Finland’s history, and in a certain sense the events can be viewed as genocide. On the other hand it contains a comforting message: even then the Finns, who were forsaken by all to fend for themselves, were finally able to survive their oppressors and enemies.

In the image of the enemy in the Winter War, especially the bombers represented the hordes of Cossacks that terrorised civilians in the old image of the enemy. They were an example of what would happen to the people if the enemy was able to enter the country.

Takaisin Studia Historica Septentrionalia 45