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The Dispersal of the Ingrian Finns

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Ian M. Matley
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Before the 1917 Revolution, about one hundred and thirty thousand people of Finnish origin lived on Russian territory on the south shore of the Gulf of Finland—from the Narva River in the west to the Neva River in the east, and in the region north of St. Petersburg. Their numbers remained fairly constant during the 1920s and early 1930s, but, after the Second World War, a great decrease was evident in the total Finnish population of the region, with only about twentyfour thousand recorded in the 1970 Soviet census. This drop in population is attributable not only to the ravages of the war but also to movements of people, including deportations that took place during the 1930s and 1940s.

Type
Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , March 1979 , pp. 1 - 16
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1979

References

1. Sjögren, A. J., Über die Finnische Bevölkerung des St. Peterburgischen Gouvernents und über den Ursprung des Namens Ingermannland (St. Petersburg: Akademie der issenschaften, 1833), p. 63.Google Scholar.

2. It should be noted that the northern limit of settlement by the Ingrian Finns before 17 was the boundary between St. Petersburg guberniia in the south and Vyborg guberniia the north. In 1918, this boundary became the frontier between Finland and Russia. The corporation of the Finnish part of the Karelian Peninsula into Leningrad oblast at the end the Second World War did not add to the total Finnish population of the oblast, since all elians and Finns living there were evacuated to Finland. The adjustment of the boundary een Estonia and Russia in 1920 led to the incorporation of an area of Estonia with a 11 Finnish population, known as “Eestin InketTpSiEstonian Ingria), in what is now 'ngrad oblast.

3. Laanest, A., Izhorskie dialekty: Lingvo-geograficheskoe issledovanie (Tallinn: Akademiia Nauk Estonskoi S.S.R., 1966), p. 9.Google Scholar

4. Ibid., p. 8.

5. Ibid., p. 9.

6. Ibid., pp. 8 and 10.

7. Tolstova, S. P. et al., Ocherki obshchei etnografii, Evropeiskaia chasf S.S.S.R. (Moscow: Izdatel'stvo “Nauka,” 1968), p. 330.Google Scholar

8. Toivo, Vuorela, The Finno-Ugric Peoples (Bloomington: Indiana University Publications, 1964, p. 95 Google Scholar; Gyula, Decsy, Die linguistische Struktur Europas (Wiesbaden, 1973), p. 71.Google Scholar

9. Väinö Auer, and Jutikkala, Eino, Finnlands Lcbensraum: Das Geographische und \ Geschichtliche Finnland (Berlin: Alfred Metzner, 1941, p. 49.Google Scholar

10. Kulha, Keijo K., Inkerin snomalaisten historia (Jyväskyla: K. J. Gummerus, 1969), I map on p. 69 Google Scholar.

11. Auer and Jutikkala, Finnlands Lebensraum, p. 48; S. S., Gadziatskii, “Bor'ba russkikh , ; liudei Izhorskoi zemli v XVII veke protiv inozemnogo vladychestva,” Istoricheskie zapiski, 16 (1945): 14.Google Scholar

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13. Ibid., p. 47.

14. Ibid., pp. 47, 48, 20, 41.

15. Salminen, Väinö, “Inkerin suomalaiset,” in Kannisto, A. et al., Suomen suku (Helsinki: Otava, 1926, pp. 274–75.Google Scholar

16. D. A., Zolotarev and E. E., Blomkvist, Zapadnye Finny (Leningrad, 1927), p. 5.Google Scholar

17. Z. M. Dubrovina, “Iz istorii finskogo naseleniia Leningradskoi oblasti,” Vestnik Leningradskogo Univcrsiteta, no. 20, Seriia istorii, iazyka i literatury, 1962, no. 4, pp. 117-19; Volmari, Porkka, Über den Ingrischen Dialckt mit Berücksichtigimg der übrigen Finnischingermänlandischen Dialektc (Helsingfors: Frenckell, 1885 Google Scholar, map at end of book.

18. Heinrich, Laakmann, Ingermanland und die Ingermanländischen Fitmen (Berlin: Papritz und Kohte, 1942, p. 15.Google Scholar

19. Herman, Gummerus, “Finnarna i Ingermanland,” Finsk Tidskrift, 111 (July 1931): 20.Google Scholar

20. Sulo Haltsonen, “Inkerin kansan entistä elämää,” in Kulha, Inkerin suomalaisten historia, pp. 247-48.

21. For tables of population by parish from 1842 to 1917, see Sulo Haltsonen, “Inkerin suomalaisen kirkon vakiitumisen aikakausi (1800-1917),” in Kulha, Inkerin suomalaisten historia, p. 186.

22. Hämeen-Anttila, Y. S., Inkeri, maantiedettä ja historia (Helsinki: Otava, 1941, p. 69 Google Scholar, gives a figure of 126, 463; Sulo, Haltsonen, Entistä Inkeriä. Inkerin suomalaisasutuksen vaiheita ja kulttuurihistorian piirteitä (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1965, p. 63 Google Scholar, rounds off Hämeen-Anttila's figures; see also Metiäinen, Aappo and Kurko, Kaarlo, Entisen Inkerin Luterilaisen Kirkon 350-vuotismuistojulkaisu (Helsinki: Inkere, 1960 Google Scholar, passim. From the parish data for 1917 given in the text, a total population of 126, 140 is obtained; Juuso, Mustonen, Inkerin suomalaiset seurakunnat (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1931), p. 20, Google Scholar gives a figure of 130, 000; a total of 140, 370 Ingrian Finns in 1917 is given by the Ingrian Committee, Ingrian Finns (Helsinki, 1935), p. 15, and later by Laakmann, Ingermanland und die Ingermanliindischen Finnen, p. 6, and Kulha, Inkerin suomalaisten historia, p. 359. This figure seems high and is not supported by church book data.

23. Antti, Inkinen, “Die Ingermanländer—Schicksal eines Volkssplitters unter Sowjetrussischer Herrschaft,” Osteuropa, 15, no. 10 (October 1965): 698.Google Scholar

24. Ingrian Committee, Ingrian Finns, p. 3.

25. Antti, Tiittanen, Inkeri, Kotikasvatusyhdistyksen Kotiopintokirja, no. 6 (Helsinki, 1922), p. 55 Google Scholar; Inkeri, 1943, no. 3, p. 42; Kulha, Inkerin suomalaisten historia, p. 359. Figures for refugees range from 7, 000 to 8, 500.

26. Ingrian Committee, Ingrian Finns, p. 4.

27. Kulha, Inkerin suomalaisten historia, p. 359.

28. Ingrian Committee, Ingrian Finns, p. 4.

29. Kulha, Inkerin suomalaisten historia, p. 359.

30. Mustonen, Inkerin suomalaiset seurakunnat, p. 23.

31. Ibid., map at end of book at a scale of 1: 300, 000. Figure 2 on page 8 is based on Mustonen's map, the Soviet census of 1926, and church book material.

32. Suomalainen Inkeri, Vuosijulkaisu [yearbook], no. 9, 1940-44, p. 9.

33. Dekker, Nikolai K. and Lebed, Andrei, Genocide in the U.S.S.R. (Munich: Institute for the Study of the U.S.S.R., 1958), p. 56.Google Scholar

34. Kulha, Inkerin suomalaisten historia, p. 361.

35. Laakmann, Ingermanland und die Ingermanlaändischen Finnen, pp. 19-20.

36. Ingrian Committee, Ingrian Finns, p. 12; Kulha, Inkerin suomalaisten historia, p. 359; Hämeen-Anttilä, Inkeri, maantiedetta ja historia, p. 97.

37. Lemetti, I. M., Sovetskaia Ingermanlandiia (Moscow-Leningrad: Gosudarstvennoe sotsial'no-ekonomicheskoe izdatel'stvo, 1931), p. 53.Google Scholar

38. Kulha, Keijo K., “Inkeriläisten siirtäminen Suomeen II maailmansodan aikana,” Historica II, Studia Historica Jyväskyläensia, vol. 5 (Jyväskylä, 1967), p. 224 Google Scholar; Kuusaari gives 4, 500 Ingrian refugees in Finland (see Eero, Kuusaari, Suomen suimntiet [Helsinki: Suomen Heimosoturien Liitto, 1935], p. 221).Google Scholar

39. Ingrian Committee, Ingrian Finns, p. 14. These figures are quoted in several other sources.

40. Juuso, Mustonen, “Nykypäivien Inkeri,” Suomalainen Inkeri, no. 6, 1937, p. 40 Google Scholar; Y. S. Hämeen-Anttila, Inkeri, maantiedettä ja historia, p. 104; Kulha, Inkerin suomalaisten historia, p. 359.

41. Dekker and Lebed, Genocide in the U.S.S.R., p. 56; Ingrian Committee, Ingrian Finns, p. 13; Mustonen, “Nykypäivien Inkeri,” p. 38.

42. Mustonen, “Nykypäivien Inkeri,” p. 40; Kulha, Inkerin suomalaisten historia, p. 359; Keijo K. Kulha gives another figure—40, 000—for the 1928-38 period (see Kulha, 'Inkeriläisten sürtäminen suomeen II maailmansodan aikana,” p. 226).

43. “Karel'skaia A.S.S.R.,” Bol'shaia sovetskaia entsiklopediia, vol. 31 (Moscow, 1937), p. 513 (hereafter cited as BSE).

44. Antti Inkinen gives a figure of “scarcely more than 75, 000” Ingrian Finns in 1941, based on their own estimates which he obtained during the German occupation, but it is not clear if this figure applied to the whole region or only the German-controlled area (Inkinen, Ingermanland und die Ingermanländischen Finnen, p. 697).

45. These estimates are based on the 1926 census figures and Mustonen's map.

46. Calculations based on data from the church books for 1917 and 1919 suggest a figure of some 20, 000.

47. If we assume the figure of some 85, 000 Finns living in Leningrad oblast in 1939 and then subtract the numbers on Soviet-controlled territory (20, 000 in northern Ingermanland and 2, 000 in western Ingermanland) we arrive at a figure of some 63, 000 Finns on Germancontrolled territory. Keijo K. Kulha gives a figure of 65, 000, which seems reasonable (Kulha, Inkerin suomalaisten historic!, p. 379). It should be emphasized that the above figures are too vague to be reliable as a basis for calculations.

48. Ibid., pp. 378 and 379. The figure of 30, 000 Finns behind the Russian lines was also given by Pentti, Kaitera, “Tärkeitä tietoja inkeriläisille,” Inkeri, 1943, no. 19, p. 283.Google Scholar The figure of 78, 000 Finns in the German-controlled region was given in Itä-Karjala, no. 13 (July 19, 1944), p. 2. This figure seems high.

49. The history of the evacuations is given in Kulha, Inkerin suomalaisten historia, pp. 377-404 and in Kulha, “Inkeriläisten siirtäminen Suomeen II maailmansodan aikana,” pp. 224-60. Photographs of the evacuation are contained in Hämäläinen, Antti, Kadonnutta Inkeriä (Porvoo-Helsinki: Werner Söderstrom, 1944)Google Scholar, no pagination, last section of book.

50. Kulha, “Inkeriläisten siirtaminen Suomeen II maailmansodan aikana,” p. 232.

51. Ibid., pp. 237 and 243.

52. Kulha, Inkerin suomalaisten historia, pp. 390 and 392; Kulha, “Inkeriläisten siirtäminen Suomeen II maailmansodan aikana,” p. 260.

53. Kulha, Inkerin suomalaisten historia, p. 393.

54. Kulha, “Inkeriläisten siirtäminen Suomeen II maailmansodan aikana,” p. 255.

55. “Inkeriläiset Suomessa,” Suomalainen Inkeri, 1940-44, p. 4.

56. Kulha, Inkerin suomalaisten historia, p. 402.

57. “Paluu Neuvostoliittoon,” Inkeri, 1944, no. 19, p. 284.

58. Kulha discusses this problem. Discussions with Finns on this subject suggest that fear of eventual compulsory repatriation was the strongest factor affecting the Ingrians' decision. They wished to avoid the stigma of being unwilling repatriates. That the Finnish authorities were worried about harboring ex-Soviet citizens is seen in the attempts in 1949-50 to uncover and repatriate the remaining Ingrians in Finland, a relatively unsuccessful operation (see Kulha, Inkerin suomalaisten historia, pp. 402-3).

59. Ibid., p. 402.

60. Ibid.

61. A Finnish informant had visited this village, no doubt one of several in the region.

62. Belitser, V. N. et al., Narody Evropeiskoi chasti S.S.S.R., vol. 2 (Moscow: Izdatelstvo “Nauka, 1964), p. 314.Google Scholar

63. In 1926, there were some 16, 000 Finns who were not of Ingrian origin. It is, however, impossible to apply this figure after the passage of forty years.

64. “Karel'skaia A.S.S.R.,” BSE, vol. 31, p. 513.

65. Dubrovina, “Iz istorii finskogo naseleniia Leningradskoi oblasti,” p. 119.

66. Laanest, A., Isurdi ja isuri keel (Tallinn: Eesti N.S.V. Teaduste Akadeemia Keele ja Kirjanduse Instituut, 1964)Google Scholar, map opposite p. 5.

67. U.S. Army Map Service, Eastern Europe, series N 501, 1: 250, 000, sheet N 035-3. Information on this sheet was compiled from 1936-44 topographic maps and 1943-44 air photography.

68. S. P. Tolstova et al., Ocherki obshchei etnografii, map opposite p. 464; V. N. Belitser et al., Narody Evropeiskoi chasti S.S.S.R., map facing p. 336.

69. Lytkin, V. I. et al., Osnovy finno-ugorskogo iasykosnaniia: Pribaltiisko-finskie, saamskii i mordovskii iasyki (Moscow: Izdatel'stvo “Nauka, 1975), p. 7.Google Scholar

70. Inkinen, “Die Ingermanlander,” p. 695.

71. The subject of assimilation of ethnic groups in the Soviet Union, as revealed by available statistical data, is discussed by Lewis, Robert A., Rowland, Richard H., and Clem, Ralph S., Nationality and Population Change in Russia and the U.S.S.R.: An Evaluation of Census Data, 1897-1970 (New York: Praeger, 1976, pp. 282–87.Google Scholar The population movements of the Ingrian Finns make it impossible to use the historical comparison of population data to determine rates of assimilation, as suggested by the authors.