On March 4th, the Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center in conjunction with the Institute of European Studies, was pleased to co-sponsor a guest lecture by Dr. Olga Filippova, who presented “Ukrainian Forced Migrants in Finnish Memoryscapes: How “Immigration into History” Sparks Reconsideration of the Past and Self-Identity.”
In her lecture Dr. Filippova discussed her difficult experience leaving Kharkhiv, the second largest city of Ukraine at the onset of the Russian Invasion. Dr. Filippova was one of many Ukrainians who were forced by the invasion to seek refuge abroad as Kharkhiv came under siege. Fortunately, Dr. Filippova was aided by a network of scholars and humanitarians who helped her migrate to Finland where they arranged a position for her at the Karelian Institute. For the past several years Dr. Filippova, in collaboration with other scholars, has been involved in a research project examining how memory politics affect the integration of migrants into society. When migrants arrive in a host country, they bring along their own understanding of history of both their former homeland and their new host country. Dr. Filippova focused on this phenomenon among Ukrainian forced migrants in Finland who are confronted with Finnish discourse on 1939 – 40 Winter War which contrasts with how the period of the Second World War is discussed in Ukraine.
Dr. Filippova discussed how in Finland, the Second World War is discussed in separate stages: the Winter War, the Continuation War and the Lapland War. The Winter War involved the Soviet invasion of Eastern Finland in an attempt to conquer the region of Karelia and install a more subservient government in Helsinki. Despite Joseph Stalin believing the war would be over in mere weeks, Finland put up a stiff resistance and the Soviet advance was stalled. Although Finland lost substantial territory in Karelia during this war, they managed to retain their independence. With the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, many parallels have been drawn with the Winter War. Particularly in regard to Ukraine’s fierce determination in the face of Russian aggression. Similarly to Stalin, Putin also believed his war would last only a few days.
In addition, Dr. Filippova discussed how Ukrainian forced migrants in Finland are confronted with acknowledging their own country’s complicated history in the Winter War. During the Winter War many soldiers for the Soviet Army were recruited from regions of Ukraine, such as Zhytomyr. Many of these Ukrainians perished in battles with the Finns around Suomussalmi. This has led to introspection amongst forced Ukrainian migrants, reconciling their people’s role in the Winter War. Despite the awareness in Finland of Ukrainians role in the Winter War, Dr. Filippova discussed how the Finns are extremely supportive of Ukraine in their own current conflict with Russia. Another interesting point which she discussed involved differing perceptions of the Second World War in both Russia and Ukraine – mainly that in Ukraine the consensus is “never again,” whereas in Russia the viewpoint is “we can do it again.” Overall Dr. Filippova’s guest lecture was an incredibly interesting examination of historical memory regarding how different peoples understand past events.