The
Ingrian Finns (inkeriläinen or
inkerinsuomalainen) are the
Finnish population of
Ingria (now the central part of
Leningrad Oblast of Russia) descending from Lutheran Finnish immigrants introduced to the area in the 17th century, when Finland and Ingria were both part of the
Swedish Empire. In the
forced population transfers before and after
World War II they were relocated to other parts of the
Soviet Union. The Ingrian Finns still constitute the largest part of the Finnish population of the
Russian Federation. According to some records, some 25,000
Ingrian Finns have returned or still reside in the
Saint Petersburg region.
History
Origins
The Ingrian Finns originate mainly from the
Lutheran resettlers and work-migrants who resettled to Ingria during the period of
Swedish rule 1617–1703 from
Savonia and
Karelian Isthmus (mostly from
Äyräpää), then parts of the
Swedish realm[Kurs, Ott (1994). . GeoJournal 33.1, 107-113.]; and to lesser extent from more or less voluntary
conversion among the indigenous
Finnic speaking
Votes and
Izhorians were was approved by the Swedish authorities. The proportion of Finns in Ingria made up 41.1% in 1656, 53.2% in 1661, 55.2% in 1666, 56.9% in 1671 and 73.8% in 1695.
After the
Russian reconquest and the foundation of Saint Petersburg (1703), the flow of migration was reversed.
Russians nobles were granted land in Ingria and Lutheran Ingrian Finns left Ingria, where they were in minority, for
Old Finland, i.e. Russia's 18th century gains north of the
Gulf of Finland, where Lutherans were a large majority. There they assimilated with the
Karelian Finns.
Developments in the 19th century
In 1870, printing of the first Finnish language newspaper
Pietarin Sanomat started in Ingria. Before that Ingria received newspapers mostly from
Vyborg. The first public library was opened in 1850 in Tyrö. The largest of the libraries, situated in Skuoritsa, had more than 2,000 volumes in the second half of the 19th century. In 1899 the first song festival in Ingria was held in Puutosti (Skuoritsa).
By 1897 the number of Ingrian Finns had grown to 130,413, by 1917 it had exceeded 140,000 (45,000 in Northern Ingria, 52,000 in Central (Eastern) Ingria and 30,000 in Western Ingria, the rest in
Petrograd).
Ingrians in the Soviet Union
After the
October Revolution, Ingrian Finns inhabiting the southern part of
Karelian Isthmus seceded from
Bolshevist Russia and formed the short-lived Finland-backed
Republic of North Ingria, which was reintegrated with Russia in the end of 1920 according to the conditions of the
Treaty of Tartu, but enjoyed a certain degree of national autonomy. In 1928-1939 Ingrian Finns of North Ingria constituted the Kuivaisi National District with center in
Toksova and
Finnish as the official language.
The
First All-Union Census of the Soviet Union in 1926 recorded 114,831 Leningrad
Finns, as Ingrian Finns were called.
The 20th century
Soviet rule, and the
German occupation (1941–1944) during the
World War II were as disastrous for the Ingrian Finns as for other small ethnic groups. Many Ingrian Finns were either executed, deported to Siberia, or forced to relocate to other parts of the Soviet Union. There were also refugees to Finland, where they assimilated.
In 1928
collectivization of agriculture started in Ingria. To facilitate it, in 1929-1931, 18,000 people (4320 families) from North Ingria were deported to
East Karelia, the
Kola Peninsula as well as
Kazakhstan and
Central Asia. The situation for the Ingrian Finns deteriorated further because of the Soviet plans to create
restricted security zones along the borders with Finland and
Estonia, free of the Finnic peoples, which were considered politically unreliable.
[Matley, Ian M. (1979). . Slavic Review 38.1, 1-16.][Martin, Terry (1998). . The Journal of Modern History 70.4, 813-861.] In April 1935 7,000 people (2,000 families) were deported from Ingria to Kazakhstan, Central Asia and the
Ural region. In May and June 1936 the entire 20,000 Finnish population of the parishes of
Valkeasaari,
Lempaala,
Vuole and
Miikkulainen near the Finnish border were transferred to the area around
Cherepovets. In Ingria they were replaced with people from other parts of the
Soviet Union.
In 1937 Lutheran churches and Finnish-language schools in Ingria were closed down and publications and radio broadcasting in Finnish were suspended.
In March 1939 the Kuivaisi National District was liquidated.
Initially during the
Winter War, the Soviet policy was mixed. On the one hand, Stalin's government largely destroyed Ingrian culture, but on the other hand, the maintenance of Finnish-speaking population was desired as a way to legitimize the planned occupation of Finland. The failure of the puppet state
Terijoki government led to the ultimate result: in 1941, Moscow officially decided that Ingrian Finns were unreliable, and in 1942 Ingrian Finns were mostly internally deported to Siberia. During the Finnish and German occupation of the area, Ingrian Finns were evacuated to Finland. However, after the
Continuation War, most of these Ingrians, who were Soviet citizens, were forcibly returned to the Soviet Union, where they were dispersed into Central Russia. Ingrian Finns were largely forgotten during the reign of presidents
Juho Kusti Paasikivi and
Urho Kekkonen.
After the war many Ingrian Finns settled in Soviet-controlled
Estonia.
Present day
After the
collapse of the Soviet Union a significant number of Ingrians have moved to
Finland, where they are eligible for automatic
naturalization in the Finnish
Law of Return. The number of people who declared their nationality as Finnish in the 2002 Russian census was 34,000 (down from 47,000 in 1989 (
RSFSR).
As many Ingrian Finns, including mixed families, who moved to Finland did not speak another language than Russian and in many cases identify themselves as Russians, mostly the younger generation, there are social integration problems similar to those of any other migrant groups in Europe, to such an extent that there is a political debate in Finland as to the maintenance of the
Finnish Law of Return. On the contrary, native Finnish-speakers easily assimilate to mainstream Finnish culture, leaving little trace of original Ingrian traditions.
See also
