The Winter War began exactly 80 years ago, on November 30, 1939. To commemorate this tragic day, I visited with family the Hakasalmi Villa's exhibition State of Mind - Helsinki 1939-1945. The exhibition was impressive with text posters, films and large photo enlargements that illuminated the everyday life in the shadows of bombing. Already on the first day of the war, Helsinki was bombed, along with 15 other locations, and nearly a hundred were killed. Fortunately, bad weather disrupted the bombing and evacuations could be started. Of the 250,000 inhabitants of Helsinki, only about 65,000 remained in the city.
This is the Helsinki University and their furniture on the street.
The exhibition focuses on how life was like in the shadows of bombing and how the evacuations affected moods. I had never known anything about the Secret State of Mind Intelligence, which had recruited thousands of ordinary citizens to report moods, rumors, and dissent in the workplace, in town and on public transport. The information was passed on to the military commanders to provide a picture of the civilian mindset that affected the combat capabilities of the frontline soldiers.
The State of Mind Intelligence office was located in the center of the city and disguised as
New Correspondence Association. The office employed about a dozen people in 1942 and
there were over 2,500 registered ’agents'. Part of the archive was burned in the autumn of 1944.
The material that could be preserved has been deposited in the National Archives.
On the label it reads Finlands barn - Children of Finland.
One quarter of all war children were from Helsinki. The metropolitan area sent
20,000 children to Sweden and Denmark during the war years.
Children's train departed from Helsinki railway station twice a week.
The Arcturus, which evacuated children, always carried five hundred children at a time
from Turku to Stockholm.
The most valuable were taken from Helsinki to the provinces and even to Sweden:
children, women, the elderly, treasures of science and art, and public sculptures.
Helsinki got really empty. Especially after the bombings, people crowded at the bus
and train station and paid an overcharge for a taxi ride. It is estimated that in 1944 from
February to March alone 102,000 - 120,000 people departed.
and train station and paid an overcharge for a taxi ride. It is estimated that in 1944 from
February to March alone 102,000 - 120,000 people departed.
The exhibition is designed and curated by author Anna Kortelainen.
The combination of works of art, photographs, objects and mindset quotes
acts as a barometer of contradictory feelings, moments of joy, suspicion, fear and defiance.
My text is based on the exhibition's text posters, Hakasalmi villa’s exhibition info and Wikipedia.
LIFE IN TRENCHES
This war-time song was very popular among the Finnish front-line soldiers during the wartime. Film material on this video is taken from the Finnish classic movie Tuntematon sotilas (The Unknown Soldier, 1955) by Edvin Laine. The story is about the Continuation War (1941-1944) between Finland and the Soviet Union as told from the viewpoint of ordinary Finnish soldiers.
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#uudet värikollaasit #wandering camera #willy-nilly #watw
#uudet värikollaasit #wandering camera #willy-nilly #watw
