Page - 43 - in Mobile Culture Studies - The Journal, Volume 4/2018

Mobile Culture Studies. The Journal 4 2o18 Tuulikki Kurki | Border Crossing Trauma 43 borderland area of Karelia has become a crystallized example of the Finnish-Russian borderlands as a traumatizing environment that serves also as a stage for Arvi Perttu’s novels. From the 12th century until the early 19th century, Finland belonged to Sweden and the border divided the region of Karelia between Russia and Sweden. During the centuries of Swed- ish reign, the national border that divided Karelia shifted on several occasions. In 1809, Finland was separated from Sweden and annexed to Russia, where it became an autonomous grand duchy. Then, the whole region of Karelia became part of Russia. In 1917, Finland became inde- pendent from Russia, and in 1918, the national border was defined between the two countries, dividing Karelia between Russia and Finland. According to Nick Baron (2007, 24–27), the po- rousness of the Russia-Finland border is exemplified by the fact that despite its existence, army troops and also civilians continued to move across the border in both directions. This level of mobility decreased significantly after 1922 when Soviet-Russia and Finland signed a treaty that confirmed the border, and border guards were placed to monitor the treaty’s enforcement. The border was shifted twice more: first after the so-called Winter War (1939–1940), and a second time after the so-called Continuation War (1941–1944), both of which were fought between Finland and the Soviet Union. After the Continuation War, the border was set in its current location. Today, the border divides Karelia into two halves: Russian and Finnish Karelia, and Karelia thus exists on both sides of the national border. For the past hundred years, people have migrated across the Finnish-Russian national bor- der in both directions. According to Finnish historians (Rislakki and Lahti-Argutina 1997, 17–19; Paastela 2003, 68, 76–77; Vettenniemi 2004, 47; Engman 2005, 387), approximately 15,000–20,000 people (25,000–30,000 according to some estimations) moved from Finland to the Soviet Union in the early decades of the 20th century. While the reasons for migration were mostly political, many migrants looked to find work and start a new life on the Soviet side of the border. In addition, the wars between Finland and the Soviet Union resulted in a large-scale mobility across the border, where over 400,000 people were evacuated from the borderland and re-settled in other areas of Finland (Raninen-Siiskonen 1999, 15). After the Second World War and up until the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the border between Finland and the Soviet Union functioned as a manifestation of the Cold War. The border, the ‘Iron Curtain’, effectively hindered mobility across the border. For ordinary citizens, opportunities for interactions across the border were minimal, and what little interaction there was mostly took place through var- ious cultural and political organizations. However, this was a standard practice in other Soviet borderlands, and not restricted to Finland (Chandler 1998, 83). When the Soviet Union disin- tegrated, the border opened up, and mobility across the border became both livelier and a part of everyday life.4 During the post-Soviet era, migration from Finland to Russia has been of a low level, involving approximately 6,600 people (Statistics Finland 2016). However, 54,000 people have moved from Russia to Finland (Statistics Finland 2016), and include 30,000 people who moved to Finland as part of the returning migration program launched by the Finnish govern- ment in the 1990s. The program allowed Finnish expatriates and people with Finnish ancestry 4 For example, in 2013, passenger traffic peaked as the Finnish-Russian border was crossed over 13 million times. In 2017, the border was crossed just over nine million times. (Individual border crossings 2012–2017).