Paper short abstract:

The paper explores oral narratives of former child and youth internees in Finland. It investigates 1) how victimhood, culpability and agency are negotiated in these narratives, and 2) how experiences of incarceration and loss of home and material belongings influence life stories and memory.

Paper long abstract:

During the Second World War, Finland fought two wars against the Soviet Union. In the latter, Finland was allied with Nazi Germany. After the hostilities between Finland and the Soviet Union ended in August 1944, the two countries signed an Armistice agreement in Moscow. The conditions of the agreement were harsh. Finland had to cede areas in Eastern Finland to the Soviet Union as well as pay extensive war reparations. In addition, Finland was obliged to banish German troops from its territory and intern all of the German and Hungarian citizens in Finland. This led to the detention of 470 civilians in 1944-1946, including children, women and elderly people. In addition to incarceration, the property of German and Hungarian citizens, including homes and other material belongings, was confiscated and handed over to the Soviet Union.

The presentation explores oral narratives and memories of former child and youth internees produced in oral history interviews. Particularly, it focuses on the descriptions of lost homes, confiscated property, and dwelling at the internment camps. By analyzing narrative positioning and the relationship between materiality, trauma and narrative, the paper investigates 1) how experiences of incarceration and loss of home and material belongings influence life stories and memory, and 2) how victimhood, culpability and agency are negotiated in these narratives. The presentation aims to open new viewpoints on the interplay of memory and matter, and the communicative and cultural aspects related to narratives of loss of home and living in captivity.