Memory, Material Culture, and Experience of Resistance in Early Twentieth-Century Finland

Abstract Our article will consider the development of the material culture of resistance and nationalism in northern Finland in the early 20th century. Finland’s status as an autonomous grand duchy of Russia came into dispute in 1899 when Tsar Nicholas II issued the February Manifesto, asserting the Russian Empire’s right to govern Finland. This started the so-called period of Russification in Finland. One part of the population resorted to active and armed resistance against the Russian authorities in the country and eventually Finland secured its independence in 1917. We will discuss what role material culture had in the resistance to Russia in Finland and how that resistance has been memorialized. We will use stamps and smuggled arms as examples of passive and active resistance, respectively. We will discuss how the resistance and the Jaeger movement, the fighters for Finnish independence trained by Imperial German forces, have been memorialized.