People from the Suojärvi region and their transnational networks in the Stalin’s Soviet Union

Authors

• Ira Jänis-Isokangas Kansallisarkisto

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33345/idantutkimus.113912

Keywords:

transnationalis, stalinism, gulag, Finns

Abstract

This article explores transnational networks of the people emigrating from the Finnish region of Suojärvi to the Soviet Union in the 1930s. The article analyses their networks and the impact of these networks in their lives in the Soviet Union. The article is based on a study of letters, which the people from Suojärvi have sent from the Soviet Union. The letters, which are part of the archival collection of the Finnish state police, are analysed through three different aspects: information, aid, and identity. The study of these letters reveals that the Suojärvi people’s transnational networks had significant impact on their decision making and survival in the Gulag-system and on their fate during the years of Stalin’s repressions.