‘War junk' and cultural heritage : Viewpoints on the Second World War German material culture in Finnish Lapland (original) (raw)
Related papers
War & Peace: Conflict and Resolution in Archaeology. Proceedings of the 45th Annual Chacmool Archaeology Conference. Chacmool Archaeology Association, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, CA. Editor Benfer, Adam K. 2017. , 2017
This paper maps diverse attitudes towards the heritage of the World War II German military presence in Finnish Lapland of northernmost Europe. As part of Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union, German troops had the frontal responsibility in northern Finland in 1941–1944. After a cease-fire between Finland and the Soviet Union in 1944, increasing Soviet pressure forced Finland to turn against the Germans, resulting in the “Lapland War” between the former allies. During their retreat to Norway, German troops destroyed their military bases and Lapland’s towns, infrastructure, and private property. The Germans, from a Finnish perspective, were both friends and foes who provided important support in the war against the Soviet Union, but who also “burned down Lapland.” Not surprisingly, World War II Finnish-German relations have been a sensitive subject in Finland. Remains of German military sites are abundant in Lapland, but lack official heritage status and have been often regarded in public in negative terms. Archaeological research, among other forms of engaging with the difficult heritage of the German presence, could put this material heritage into positive uses while helping to reconcile with this troubled episode in recent Finnish past.
This article addresses the functions and meanings of Second World War German material heritage in northern Finland from a haunting perspective and in terms of magical thinking. While archaeologists and heritage professionals have primarily been interested in the historical information that Second World War sites and military material culture may contain, this article explores how encounters and engagements with Second World War materialities in the northern wilderness of Lapland can be considered to affect people and manipulate their perceptions, awareness and understanding of the surrounding world. Second World War sites and matériel may be taken to promote a kind of magical consciousness which enables a degree of restructuring of relationships between the self and world and the past and present.
Ethnologia Fennica, 2018
The Second World War left considerable material remains in Finnish Lapland, ranging from remnants of structures destroyed in the 1944-45 Lapland War, through to small artefacts connected to soldiers, prisoners of war and civilians. These material remains have variously been saved and cherished by survivors and their families, forgotten or disregarded as 'war junk', 'discovered' by hob-byists, amassed and exchanged by private collectors, and/or accessioned into official museum collections. These various processes represent engagements with material culture of war that take on various meanings and embodiments, depending on the different individuals and organizations involved. We have conducted interviews with different individuals engaging with Lapland's wartime history, and observed the treatment of material culture, for example through exhibitions (both public and private) or through personal meaning-making practices. While some objects become accessioned to state-sanctioned collections, others remain 'officially' unknown and unrecognized (although known-even exchanged-through private channels). We discuss how different values and practices of treating the material war heritage emerge, depending on the actors involved, reflecting and reconstructing the culture commemoration.
Journal of Field Archaeology, 2016
Sites connected to the Second World War (WWII) are increasingly recognized as worthy of archaeological investigation. Researchers are also becoming aware that that the collectors market in objects connected to WWII, particularly those connected to Germany, is encouraging the stripping of conflict landscapes in the search for “collectors items.” Finnish Lapland is sometimes regarded as peripheral compared to more centrally located regions of Europe. Archaeologists working here nonetheless find themselves in direct competition with enthusiastic treasure hunters. This is complicated even further by the myriad ontologies employed by different individuals in the construction of their relationship with the material culture connected to recent conflict periods, and on specific “other” or “exotic” landscapes, such as Lapland. This paper examines what might be learnt about the nature of treasure hunting for and trading in WWII material from Lapland, and its position within the emerging research on broader trends in “dark” approaches to and encounters with heritage.
ISKOS 28, 2024
In the summer of 1942, construction of the large transition camp Deutsches Lager Hanko (until 1943 Deutsches Lager Hangö) commenced on Cape Tulliniemi at the southernmost tip of Finland. The camp was large for Finnish circumstances and built to facilitate the transports of the evergrowing number of German soldiers travelling on furlough between Finland and Germany. During its little over a two-year-long existence German soldiers, Ukrainian auxiliary volunteers and female auxiliary helpers in the camp defied the ever- changing and at times very harsh conditions on the windy cape and found ways to adapt to nature and to interact with the local community. Archival material on the German military presence in Hanko and the German transition camp on Cape Tulliniemi during the Second World War is virtually non-existent. Multidisciplinary modern conflict archaeology can therefore play a vital role in trying to understand the history and make sense of the reality of life in the large camp. Conflict archaeology research of the remaining constructions and the finds and features buried in the soil illustrate the daily life of men and women in transit. The diverse materiality of the camp provides clues and answers to questions such as how the camp was built, how waste disposal was organized and how the men and women in the camp lived and interacted with the surrounding nature and the townspeople of Hanko. A broader and perhaps more creative approach than what is usually associated with archaeology is necessary for achieving an understanding and appreciation of extensive and complex Second World War sites like Deutsches Lager Hanko. This new approach includes a rethinking of the excavation and documentation methods used, as well as careful consideration when making decisions where the finds are kept for future generations and about what to conserve, preserve and not to preserve post-excavation. To get a more complete picture of life in the camp from the individual perspective of the German soldiers and their interactions with the civilian community in Hanko it is necessary to find new and sometimes unorthodox ways to trace relevant research material. Collecting war memorabilia is a huge business, and collectors’ constantly hunger for Second World War items. Finds like photographs, personal diaries, letters as well as lost artefacts related to the camp in Hanko can therefore be found on internet web auction sites, in estate sales and in personal collections all over the world. These finds help fill in the blank spots and explain the materiality found in the ground. The addition of photographic art research to modern conflict archaeology research facilitates the analysis of the finds and surviving structures of the camp by allowing them to be studied in close detail and from many different perspectives. Modern conflict archaeology research of the German transition camp in Hanko increases the knowledge of and interest in the Second World War among the public, especially among schoolchildren. The excavation finds, which mostly consist of mundane everyday civilian artefacts, offer a new and almost totally overlooked glimpse into the materiality of the Second World War. The finds from the dumpsites of the camp bring humanity and the individual experience of war to the fore and provokes relevant discussions and thoughts about the role of ordinary humans caught up in a World War. Second World War camp sites should be considered cultural heritage sites, despite their relatively young age. Sites like Deutsches Lager Hanko provide an important research and tourism potential for future generations and are part of the historical cultural landscape much in the same way as prehistoric dwelling sites and medieval villages or building foundations from the 18th century.