200 years of foreigners in finland antero leitzinger dr. pol. sc. researcher, finnish immigration...

200 years of Foreigners in Finland

Antero LeitzingerDr. Pol. Sc.

Researcher, Finnish Immigration Service

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

8.7.2009Antero Leitzinger

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Sources

• Archives of the Finnish Immigration Service (1918-), Finnish National Archives (1939-1950), provincial archives, etc.

• Database of naturalizations 1832-1946 (over 14.000 persons or families)

• Official statistics of foreigners in largest towns 1870, 1880, 1890, 1900, 1910, and 1920; nationally in 1920, 1922-1924, and since 1926

• Official statistics of naturalizations since 1928

• Biographies, family chronicles, local histories, articles...

• Researches only on some nationalities, professions, or periods


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Dissertation in Turku, June 2008

http://www.ewbhelsinki.com/

http://www.ewbhelsinki.com/


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Numbers

• no exact numbers are available because there were always gaps in the statistics, and f. ex. women naturalized through marriage have never been counted or researched

• comparable to Sweden until 1944• comparable to the population of the city of Viipuri (Wiborg)• records surpassed only in the 21st century


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Nationalities by 1917

• Russian Empire (> 22 %, incl. ethnic Finns, Estonians, Poles, etc. – Jews and Tatars not yet naturalized)

• Sweden (< 46 %)• Germany (< 19 %)• Denmark (< 4 %), Norway, Switzerland, Austria-Hungary,

United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, USA (Finnish emigrants), Ottoman Empire (Greeks), Italy, etc.


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Nationalities in 1920 / 1970

•Total numbers•Former Russian Empire / Soviet Union:

Former Russian subjects

Soviet citizens

Estonia

Latvia

Poland

Ukraine

24.451 / 5483 or 7325

61 % / < 1549

0 % / 341

4 % / -

1 % / -

3 % / 211

1 %


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Nationalities in 1920 / 1970 cont.

•Sweden•Germany•Norway•Denmark•USA•United Kingdom•Italy•Switzerland

4080 (17 %) / ?

1645 (7 %) / 1504 + 64

457 / ?

379 / ?

124 / 955

190 / 484

127 / 347

269 / 242


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Professions 1832-1917

• Merchants 246 naturalizations• Accountants 226• Peasants 182• Restaurateurs 163• Clerks 89• Soldiers (retired) 89• Engineers 83• Gardeners 79• Housewives 68• Tailors 60• Brewers 47


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Dramatic cases

• deportations of gypsies and Jews based on vagrancy laws throughout the 19th century; German beggars in 1859; swindlers from the Middle East at least in 1854-1908

• summer guests to the datchas of Terijoki• Russian Jews escaping pogroms in 1905 and Muslims seeking inspiration

for self-rule and westernization model• revolutionary refugees from the Russian Empire in 1900-1918, incl. Lenin

and Stalin; the bank robbery in early 1909• refugees from revolutionary Russia since 1917, incl. Grand Duke Kiril

whose son Vladimir was born in Haikko 30 August 1917, and two former gouvernor generals invited by the president in 1922

• Kronstadt rebellion in March 1921: some 8000 refugees overnight (only initial research made)

• Ingermanland and East Karelians after failed uprisings in 1919-1922• runaways from Solovetsk GULAG in 1929-1930


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Dramatic cases cont.

• Estonian right-wing activists in 1934-1936, remaining until 1944• Jews from Central Europe 1933-1941: some 400 remained through the war

years and 8 deported on 6 November 1942 (very well researched by Taimi Torvinen and Hannu Rautkallio, but still myths circulating specially in international media)

• Baltic refugees since 1940, incl. 6000 Estonians in 1943-1944• internment of Soviet citizens in occupied areas (Miehikkälä and East

Karelian camps)• evacuation of over 63.000 Ingermanlandians in 1942-1944• forced repatriation of Soviet prisoners-of-war, and some others in 1944-

1955 (research project by the Finnish National Archives)• 11 Finnish and 8 foreign "Leino prisoners" deported on 21 April 1945• 14 Estonian and 1 Lithuanian ex-soldiers deported in January 1948• Soviet defectors: ca 150 in 1945-1981, aliens' passports for East European

defectors


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Immigration administration

• centralized naturalization process since 1832

• centralization of immigration administration in 1918-1939

• State police (Valtiollinen poliisi) passport bureau until 1948 and separate Aliens' Bureau (Ulkomaalaistoimisto) since 1949, both in 1937-1970 under Aarne Kovero: constant under-funding

• Eila Kännö as chief 1970-1984: increasing critical publicity

• Name changes to Aliens' Centre (Ulkomaalaiskeskus), Aliens' Office / Directorate of Immigration (Ulkomaalaisvirasto) 1993-2007, and Maahanmuuttovirasto (Immigration Office/Service) since 2008

• extra concerns: epidemies, estate ownership, tourism, visa policy (liberal until 1976), State Refugee Assictance Centre (Valtion pakolaisavustuskeskus) in 1922-1958, work permits since 1927, international cooperation, crime, espionage, failures in bureaucracy


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Sweden

• separation by 1809 (with a transitional option of citizenships)• special regulations at the northern border• industrialists, restaurateurs, gardeners, architects, glasworkers,

goldsmiths, miners, prostitutes• Pehr Cerelius Rettig (1811-1871), Carl Ulrik Frietsch (1821-1881)• easy integration, difficult to distinguish from the old Swedish minority


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Other Scandinavian countries

• Norwegian fishmerchant: Sören Berner (1859-1902)• Norwegian photographer: Carl Nyblin (1856-1923)• Norwegian sawmill owners and workers: Hans Gutzeit (1836-1919),

Adolfsen family (later Ahtisaari)• communities in Kotka and Kemi• some research made (f. ex. by Merja Bertling)

• Danish seamen and dairyworkers• Danish cablemen's community in Uusikaupunki

• one Icelandic resident in 1931-1932


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Germany

• Prussia (41 %), Lübeck (12 %), Saxony (10 %), Mecklenburg (8 %), Hamburg (6 %), Hannover (5 %), Bavaria (5 %), and other states in the 19th century

• Prussian architect: Karl Ludwig Engel (1778-1840)

• Lübeck merchants: Heinrich Stockmann (1825-1906), Gustav Paulig (1850-1907)

• Hamburg musician: Friedrich Pacius (1809-1891)

• Bavarian brewers

• Bavarian or Swiss mystery woman: Alina Frasa (1834-1899)

• sometimes enemies or allies with special treatment (deportation in 1914-1918, internment in 1944-1947)

• German schools and (lutheran) churches, mechanics in the 1920s

• some research made (f. ex. by Robert Schweitzer, Martha Müller)


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Switzerland

• cheesemakers: Jost Leuzinger (1766-1849), Rudolf Klossner (1824-1915), Christian Oesch (1860-1935)

• conditeurs, restaurateurs, and hoteliers: Florio Theodor Catani (1781-1871), Christian Andrea (1843-1900)

• teachers and gouvernantes: Leon Gabriel Biaudet (1848-1898), Sophie Weber, Anna Lockert

• hatmaker: Eduard Peter Fazer (1821-1894)• engineer: Jakob Robert Huber (1844-1905)• well researched


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West and South Europe

• Belgian ceramics designer Alfred William Finch (1854-1930)

• Luxemburg teacher Cathérine Servé (1911-?)

• French gouvernante and teacher Marie de Verneuil (1859-1897)

• British industrialists James Finlayson (1772-1852) and John Barker, and comedian Neil Hardwick (b. 1948)

• Italian posetive players; toy peddlers, ice cream and sweets merchants: Antonio Casagrande, Oreste Magi (1850-1924)

• Greek tobaccoworkers; ice cream and sweets (halva) merchants: Vasili Christides, Stefan Papakostas (1888-1978), Georg Karaokyros (1887-1965)

• no Albanians before very recent decades

• some research made on French, Italian, and Greek immigration (f. ex. by Gunilla de Chapelle, Maija Lehtonen, Roberto Tanzi-Albi, and Nina Lehtonen)


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Russians

• settlement in Kyyrölä village already since late 18th century

• soldiers (retired), incl. Jews

• servs in Raivola and Karatsalmi villages

• merchants, monks

• painter Ilja Repin (1844-1930), movie star Valentin Ivanoff (Vaala, 1909-1976), singer Viktor Klimenko (b. 1942)

• privileged position under Russian rule, unfounded pogrom scare of 1905, mass deportations and Viipuri massacre in spring 1918, but only individual internment during war years 1939-1944

• Russian schools and (orthodox) churches

• many surnames changed into Finnish during the 1920s and 1930s

• some reserarch made (f. ex. by Natalia Baschmakoff and Marja Leinonen), and some myths circulating


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Imperial non-Russian subjects

• Ingermanlandians and East Karelians (ethnic Finns), peddlers and peasants, easy integration: f. ex. radio reporter Pekka Tiilikainen (1911-1976)

• Estonian fishermen, bakers, seasonal workers, smugglers, and refugees: f. ex. Ella Murrik (later Hella Wuolijoki, 1886-1954), Aino Kallas (former Finnish citizen, 1878-1956), Jutta Kingo (later Zilliacus, b. 1925)

• Latvian movie star Theodor Tugai (Teuvo Tulio, 1912-2000)• Polish composer Georg de Godzinsky (1914-1993) and comedian Pentti

Siimes (b. 1929)


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•Armenian missionary Abraham bek Amirchanjanz (1838-1913), and freedom-fighter Anushavan Zatikjan


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•Jewish tailors, later politicians: Santeri Jacobsson and his nephew Max Jakobson (b. 1923), Ben Zyskowicz (b. 1954)

•Muslim (mainly Mishar Tatar) cloth peddlers, fur and carpet merchants; world's northernmost mosque in Järvenpää built in 1942


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Other continents

• African missionary children in late 19th century

• Chinese fortification workers in 1916-1917 and Alfred Wan (1922-?)

• Finnish emigrants to America and Australia repatriating

• British, French, and other colonial powers had citizens from the colonies

• First Turks, Iranians, and Afghans, by 1947

• Marriages with Finnish women specially since early 1950s

• Students

• Pakistani mass immigration attempt in 1971

• First refugee quota from Chile in late 1973, later from Vietnam, Kurds of Iraq and Iran, others from Iraq and Iran, Afghanistan and Myanmar (Burma)

• asylum-seekers from Somalia and Kosovo in the 1990s

• labour immigration increasing from Russia and other countries


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Foreigners in Finland today(31 December 2008: 143.197 foreign residents)

•Russia•Estonia•Sweden•Somalia•China•Thailand•Germany•Turkey•United Kingdom•Iraq•Serbia & Montenegro & Kosovo•India•Iran•USA•Vietnam•Afghanistan

26.887

22.509

8493 (mostly repatriated Finns)

4919 (mostly asylum-seekers)

4515

3924 (mostly wives)

3480

3437

3243

3219 (mostly quota refugees)

< 2855 (mostly asylum-seekers)

2716

2502 (partly quota refugees)

2340

2267 (partly quota refugees)

2176 (mostly quota refugees)


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Conclusions

• Immigration was always an integral part of Finnish history• Early immigrants were integrated into the Finnish society

better than expected• Only failures of immigration policy are remembered and

researched, success is forgotten or considered self-evident• No modern challenges are really new in essence, only

heavier in quantity

200 years of foreigners in finland antero leitzinger dr. pol. sc. researcher, finnish immigration...

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