Figure Descriptions

Figure 3.1

Finland is a tall country, roughly 1,160 kilometres from north to south, bordered in the southwest by the Gulf of Bothnia, in the northwest by Sweden, by Norway in the north, and by Russia in the east. The Gulf of Finland lies immediately to its south. The shape of the country is faintly reminiscent of a human figure. Its northern half resembles a torso, with a head sticking up at the top and a short “arm” angled northwest, sandwiched between Sweden and Norway. Roughly halfway to the south, the figure narrows into a “waist,” but there are no legs. Finland’s southern half instead has an ovoid shape, approximately twice as wide as the north. The northern half of the country tilts slightly northwest and the southern half slightly to the southwest.

In the far northeast, another long but relatively narrow piece of territory, labelled “Petsamo,” juts out on a northeast diagonal, its tip ending at a short stretch of the Arctic coast. This is one of the territories that Sweden lost during the war. Not too far south of Petsamo, another slender piece of territory, oriented north-south, runs along Finland’s eastern border, adjacent to Russia. This is Salla, another of the territories lost. The Salla area extends south about as far as Finland’s “waist,” at which point the eastern border continues south and slightly to the east, before turning southwest approximately halfway down the southern half of the country. Roughly at the point where it turns, it intersects with an area labelled “Karelia,” which runs along Finland’s southeastern border on a northeast-southwest diagonal. This is the third major piece of territory that Finland ceded to the Soviet Union.

Karelia consists of a shallow strip of land from which two rectangular pieces of territory extend farther southeast into the Russian territory. The two pieces are separated by Lake Ladoga, a large body of water that straddles the Finnish-Russian border. The more northerly piece, which is known as Ladoga Karelia, lies immediately to the north of the lake and extends southeast to a point roughly halfway along the lake’s northeastern shore before ending at the border with Russia. Immediately north of Ladoga Karelia is another large body of water, Lake Onega, which lies entirely within Russia. The southern piece—the Karelian Isthmus—runs along the southern shore of Lake Ladoga to a point roughly halfway to the end of the lake. From there, it extends southwest to the eastern end of the Gulf of Finland, which lies on a northwest-southeast diagonal. Rather than spanning the entire eastern end of the gulf, however, the Finnish section of the Karelian Isthmus ends about three-quarters of the way down, not very far north of the Russian city of St. Petersburg (although the city is not marked on the map).

From the Karelian Isthmus, the Gulf of Finland extends west, forming Finland’s southern border. Finland’s capital city, Helsinki, is situated on the south coast, slightly to the west of centre. The Porkkala peninsula, which Finland temporarily leased to the Soviet Union, lies a short distance west of Helsinki, while the islands that Finland ceded are located in the eastern part of the gulf, not far southwest of the Karelian Isthmus.

Figure 3.2

Map of Finland showing the maximum extent of the Finnish advance into Soviet territory, during the Continuation War. Finland is shown with Sweden and Norway to the west and the Soviet Union to the east. In the north, Finland still has a northeastern arm—the Petsamo region, which was ceded only in 1944. The key area in the map is the Karelian territory in the southeast that Finland lost to the Soviet Union in 1940. The southeast border as it stood in 1940 runs along a northeast-southwest diagonal. To the southeast of that border are Ladoga Karelia, to the north of Lake Ladoga, and, below it, the Karelian Isthmus, as described in the text accompanying figure 3.1. Both were part of Finland in 1920, and the map marks that 1920 border. In the autumn of 1941, Finnish forces pushed that border yet farther southeast, and the map shows the Russian territory that Finland captured. In the Karelian Isthmus, the border moved only a short distance farther southeast. Territorial gains were considerably greater in Ladoga Karelia, however, such that Finland’s border with Russia now ran from the southern end of Lake Ladoga northeast to the southern end of Lake Onega. As the map shows, Finland thus controlled the entire northern shore of Lake Ladoga and the southern shore of Lake Onega, as well as all the territory in between.

Figure 3.3

Map of Finland showing the location of the eleven cities in which focus groups were held. The northernmost city is Rovaniemi, situated about two-thirds of the way down the northern half of Finland, a little to the west of centre. Almost due south of Rovaniemi is Oulu, which lies at the top of the Gulf of Bothnia, roughly at Finland’s “waist.” Halfway down Finland’s Bothnian coast is Vaasa, and almost due south from there is Turku, which sits at the northwest corner of Finland, at the point where the Gulf of Bothnia meets the Gulf of Finland. To the east of Turku is Helsinki, located approximately midway along Finland’s south coast. A very short distance northeast of Helsinki is the city of Vantaa, and a little farther northeast is Lahti. More or less due north of Lahti is Jyväskylä, situated almost in the very middle of Finland’s southern half. The remaining three cities lie in the southeast, in what remains of Finland’s Karelian territory. The southernmost is Lappeenranta, located not far from Finland’s southeastern border with Russia, roughly on a parallel with Lahti (150 kilometres to the west). Not far northeast of Lappeenranta is Imatra, which is very close to the border. Finally, considerably farther to the northeast and somewhat more distant from the Russian border is Joensuu, which lies not far from the top of the diagonal stretch of Finland’s southeast border. Also marked are two cities in Russian territory: Vyborg, situated at the northeastern end of the Gulf of Finland, and St. Petersburg, at its southeastern end.

Figure 3.4

Two hand-drawn outline maps, placed side by side, showing the shape of Finland before and after World War II. Both maps are obviously anthropomorphic, depicting Finland as a human figure. On the “before” map, the figure, which is labelled “Suomi” (Finland), has a happily smiling face and two outstretched arms, one extending northwest and the other northeast. On the “after” map, the smile has become an expression of distress and the northeastern arm is gone. In its place are the words “I lost me hand!” (not “my” hand). At the bottom right, the “before” map shows an otherwise smoothly curving southeast border interrupted by a roughly rectangular area (presumably representing Karelia) that extends beyond the convex curve of the border to include a parcel of territory farther to the southeast. On the “after” map, this rectangular area is gone. In roughly the place where it was is a large, heavy black dot labelled “Viipuri” (Vyborg), surrounded by a series of wide concentric circles, as if the city were at the centre of a whirlpool. This is the most visually arresting feature on the map.

Figure 3.5

Two more outline maps, side by side, showing the shape of Finland before and after World War II. Again, the maps are distinctly anthropomorphic. On the “before” map, the figure has a head with upward-curved eyebrows and two arms, drawn as long, narrow triangles, stretching out from the figure’s shoulders and ending in sharp points (the “hands”). Along the southeastern border is a slender, curved expanse of territory that extends eastward beyond the contemporary border, with “Karjala?” written next to it. At the south, a line extends eastward from roughly midway along Finland’s southern coast and then turns in on itself and heads to the west, forming a long oval area that presumably represents the Gulf of Finland. Below this area is the label “Viro” (Estonia). On the “after” map, the face on the head now wears a sorrowful look of dismay, and in the area where the northeastern arm formerly was are the words “I have been amputated.” In the southeast, the curved extension of territory no longer appears, and in the empty space is a black dot with “Viipuri?” written next to it. At the south, neither the Gulf of Finland nor Viro are marked: the map simply ends with the southern coastline.

Figure 3.6

Another set of hand-drawn outline maps showing the shape of Finland before and after World War II. These two maps are still somewhat anthropomorphic but far less so than the previous ones. In addition, the overall shape of Finland differs in ways unrelated to the war: the map on the left resembles a human figure, with an identifiable waist, while that on the right is longer and more rectangular. The “before” map shows Finland’s two “arms” in the north, but the figure’s head is little more than a rounded bump. On the “after” map, however, Finland’s northwestern arm has (mistakenly) been crossed out, with “mis toinen käsi?” (“Where’s the other hand?”) written above. By far the most striking feature on the map is a long, thick peninsula-like protrusion, totally black, on Finland’s southeastern border that sticks out, almost like a blade from a pocket knife, into an empty area to the southeast. It is labelled “Karjala” (Karelia), with a happy face drawn sideways next to it. Immediately to the south of the protrusion is a large black dot, clearly within Finland’s border but not labelled. On the “after” map, the black protrusion has vanished, and the words “Karjala takaisin” (“Give Karelia back”), with a sad face, have been written in the place where it was. In addition, the formerly convex border now has a concave depression where Karjala once was.

Figure 3.7

A fourth pair of hand-drawn outline maps, placed side by side, showing the shape of Finland before and after World War II. While still faintly anthropomorphic, these maps are very simple. Both have two rudimentary arms in the north, but with a downward curve between them rather than a head. They also have a torso-like area that narrows a little into a rather wide waist, below which is a bulging circular area that could resemble a billowing skirt. On the “before” map, the student has written “Karjala” near the southeastern border of the country, indicating that the area was part of Finland at the time. On the “after” map, the southeastern border has moved farther west, with a faint broken line marking its former location. To the right are the words “karjala menetetty” (“Karelia has been lost”), with an arrow pointing into the area now missing, and not far below “Viipuri (??),” with an arrow indicating the approximate location of Vyborg (Viipuri) within that lost territory. However, in the north, the border is unchanged: Finland’s northeastern “arm” is still there.