Finland

Dec. 6th, A Finnish Day of Independence…….

Finnish soldiers who fought against the Soviets in the Winter War, and in the Continuation War during WWI, are the one’s responsible for enabling Finland to maintain its sovereignty from Soviet Communist rule.

The list of Finnish heroes –including my father-in-law, who was severely wounded at Tali-Ihantala— is very long, and through their own personal sacrifices, Finland was not over run by the Red Army, and thus spared the misery of Soviet totalitarianism.

Finland celebrates its Day of Independence on December 6th, with this year seeing the Finnish democracy achieving its 90th birthday. The country is well aware of when it achieved its independence from Russia back in 1917, but more importance is placed on Finland’s stubborn tenacity in maintaining that independence.

I believe that it is that same pride in being Finnish, living in a Finnish state, as well as holding the Soviets (read= Russians) at bey, that keeps Finns well aware of their own cultural identity. In all honesty, they’re are damn proud of who they are.

As I write this post, in the background I can hear Väinö Linna’s epic story of the “The Unkown Soldier“, (in Finnish “Tuntematon Sotilas”) on TV.

The novel has no single central character (it both begins and ends with an ironic play on the narrator’s omniscience), and its focus is on different responses to the experience of war. It tells the story of a machine gun platoon in the war from mobilisation to armistice. A picture of the whole nation in microcosm, the men come from all over the country (a result of Linna’s unusual patchwork regiment[1] – units were normally made up of men from the same region.)

The men have widely varying social backgrounds and political attitudes, and they all have their own ways of coping, but the general picture is one of a quite relaxingly businesslike attitude, and the men’s disrespect for formalities and discipline is a source of frustration for some of the officers. They are all there just to get the job done, and official propaganda, both their own and that of the enemy, is to them a source of amusement or outright offensive.

Linna’s own description of the men in the novel’s final sentence is “aika velikultia” — something like “good old boys”. The main officer characters are three lieutenants who embody different attitudes: one strict and aloof, one relaxed and fraternal, one idealistic and later disillusioned but brave and loyal to his men.

The movie has become a classic in Finland and a mainstay for its Independence day celebrations. I would like to wish all of the Tundra Tabloids’ Finnish readers a very Happy Independence Day, and that Finland would continue to remain steadfast and true to its own cultural identity and heritage. We have a lot to be proud of. *L* KGS

3 Responses

  1. It is posts like this that make me proud to have KGS as a co-citizen. Happy Independence Day to Central Finland!

  2. Thanks Vasarahammer,I appreciate your kind words.

    When you review the situation in the rest of Scandinavia which sees the mere waving of one’s own state flag as being “racist” (Sweden & Norway exm.), you begin to appreciate the genuine affection the average Finn has for his/her own homeland.

    That kind of patriotism and nationalism is “a good thing”, and we shouldn’t let the multiculturalists on the Left define for the rest of us, how we should feel about our Finnish state or how we feel about being Finns.

    The only danger about nationalism, is when it’s connected with socialism, and used as a means to promote one’s own ethnic group as being “superior” to others.

    I’m glad to be a fellow Finn!

  3. Thank you for this post. I’m a Finnish/Egyptian living in Cairo and you have no idea how much I appreciated it.

Leave a Reply to KGS Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.