The bodies of civilians killed by Soviet partisans have been laid out on the grass in the village of Seitajärvi in Finnish Lapland. Discussion of the mass murders of Finnish civilians has been largely off-limits. During the war itself, the authorities even went so far as to order those who knew of the cross-border attacks on Finnish villages to keep their silence.
Hostility, prejudice, discrimination or racism against Finland and Finnish culture
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Anti-Finnish sentiment (sometimes known as Fennophobia) is the hostility, prejudice, discrimination or racism directed against Finns, Finland, or Finnish culture.
During the 1960s and 1970s there was a significant influx of Finnish economic migrants into Sweden. Between 1950 and 1980 the number of Finns in Sweden increased from 45,000 to over 300,000.[1] Attitudes towards Finnish immigrants were quite negative in Sweden. Derogatory expressions "en finne igen" ("yet another Finn") and "finnjävel" (equivalent to "Finnish bastard" or "Finnish devil") were commonly used.[2][3] An anthology Finnjävlar was published, in which 15 Finns in Sweden describe their lives and lives of their parents in Sweden.[4] In Sweden also the Tornedalians were once seen as an inferior race and speaking Finnish was banned in school.
Finnjävel (singular) and Finnjävlar (plural) are derogatory terms used in Sweden for Finnish immigrants, mostly during the 1950s and 1960s. In this context, jävel or djävel, literally meaning "devil", is a generic strong insult.[7]
The prominent role of Finnish immigrants in the 1907 and 1916 Mesabi Range strikes in Minnesota led to blacklisting of Finns. It was the time of anti-Finnish sentiment in the area, and one could see signs "No Indians or Finns allowed."[8] When many Finns came to America they started to set up schools, saunas and political unions, and the involvement in unions caused a bad reputation to Finnish people. Finns also had problems learning English and because they were "new" Finns faced much discrimination. The fact that the Finnish language is a Finno-Ugric language and not related to most other European languages, was used as proof that the Finns were not European and thus a fair subject to discrimination.[9][10]
Finns have been emigrating to Norway since at least the 11th century. There exists a Finnish minority in Norway, the Kvens. Speaking a Finnish dialect or a closely related Finnic language (their form of speech is now called Kven) was forbidden in Norway, and they experienced discrimination.[16] Before WW2, Norway feared mass immigration and invasion from Finland. This was used as an excuse to discriminate against Kvens.[17]
United Kingdom
The Finnish people have recently been discriminated in Britain, especially for speaking a different language. For example Finnish people inside trains have been commanded to leave for speaking the Finnish language. Finnish people have been also commanded to leave the country and blocked from getting jobs.[18][19]
Russia and the Soviet Union
The Russian word "chukhna" (чухна́) is a derogatory term for Finnish and Finnic people.[20] The ministry for foreign affairs of Russia called for Russians to not use the word.[21][22]
