MY ROOTS IN FINLAND
As somebody who’s been fortunate enough to have travel the world over, who’s lived in several countries, my roots are still very deep in Finland, the country where I was born. However, I almost wasn’t born a Finnish citizen. Here’s why.
From the 13th century Finland was part of Sweden. The Russo-Swedish war raged on and off until 1809 when Finland pledged allegiance to Russia’s Tsar Alexander I, but remained an autonomous Grand Duchy in the Russian Empire. The degree of Finland’s autonomy varied. There were periods of censorship, political and religious persecutions. Throughout history, the Jews have been through hardship. Under the Russian boot their situation was precarious.
In the Grand Duchy of Russia between 1809 and 1917, Jews were not allowed to dwell in Finland. Jewish men were sent there to serve in the army for twenty-five years. The Russians dispatched trainloads of Jewish women for these soldiers, avid for female company. The men, accompanied by a rabbi, met the train with its cargo and were married to a woman, any woman, right there on the railway platform. Most Jews in Finland were retired soldiers, allowed to settle in Finland as trades- and craftsmen, which sounds good, but in actual fact they were permitted to trade only in old clothing. After Finland declared independence in 1917, her Jews along with the general population were granted full Finnish citizenship rights.
My mother, born in Vyborg on the Karelian Isthmus, Finland, didn’t talk much about her family history. Her father, Abraham was born in Tallinn, Estonia, was allowed to settle in Finland in 1908, married Maria from Vilnius, Lithuania. My mother was the youngest of four girls, six years senior to a fifth child, a boy. I can imagine how wonderful it would have been to grow up with lots and lots of cousins, but apart from my mother, only one of her siblings had a child. The only story I remember my mother telling is that of her aunt being deported by the Germans and died in a concentration camp. I’m named after this aunt.
My information is pretty sketchy when it comes to the two eldest of my forefathers on my father’s side. Some of it comes from stories my father told about his ancestors. I remember well evenings listening to him spin yarns about this great aunt or that great-uncle as he puffed away on his pipe. He was a wonderful storyteller.
My great-great-grandfather, Rashmiel, was born in 1818 in Vilnius, Lithuania, then under Russian rule. Rashmiel had several children; Chaim, was my great-grandfather, born in 1844 in Vilnius, Lithuania. Archives in Helsinki show he moved to Helsinki, Finland, in 1871.
Samuel, my grand-father, was born in 1883 in Helsinki. He obtained permission to remain in Finland on March 8, 1909 after he did his military service. During WWI, between 1915 and 1917, he lived with his family in Copenhagen, Denmark, where my aunt Sarah was born. When Finland declared her independence in 1917, my grandfather and his family obtained Finnish citizenship.
My father, Chaim, born in 1912 in Helsinki, obtained Finnish citizenship along with all Finns and Jews when Finland became independent. Russia’s invasion of Finland on November 30, 1939 started the Winter War. My father fought in the army through this and the Continuation War, which ended in 1944. The injuries he sustained exempted him from fighting in the Lapland war between 1944 and 1945.
Let me mention as an aside that Finland fought the Winter War alone against Russia, the Continuation war with Germany against Russia and the Lapland War between 1944 and 1945 against the Germans. Finland along with other countries signed The Paris Peace Treaties in February 1947. This allowed Finland, Italy, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria to resume their responsibilities in international affairs and their independence. This also qualified these countries for membership in the United Nations.
Throughout the war years, Finland was independent. I was born long after Finland obtained her independence—the first in my family, the first in five generations born a Finnish citizen.
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I love tracing roots. I thought my family was pretty boring until I started digging deeper. Now I’m finding interesting things, odd branches of the tree and things that really make me wonder 🙂
Roxanne, it’s amazing what one discovers by digging into the past. Family history is fascinating.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
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