When the Winter War began in 1939, as a result of it people of Karelia had to leave their homes. In the days of Winter War there were nearly half a million Finnish evacuees.

The evacuees were placed temporarily inthe countryside, mainly in private households.

The Moscow peace of 1940 made 420,000 - 430,000 evacuees homeless migrants. Also people of Hanko in the southern-most part of Finland and part of people in Petsamo in the northeast of Finland stayed without home.

When the Continuation War (1941-1944) began, the aim of Finnish people was to take back the lost areas from the Soviet Union. When position warfare began in autumn 1941, almost half of the evacuees returned back to Karelia and started to build their houses again.

When the Soviet Union started their great attack, the evacuees had to leave their homes again. In the new peace terms the boundary lines of the Moscow peace came into use. Petsamo in the north-east of Finland and Porkkala area in the south of Finland had to be given to the Soviet Union.

Finding new homes for more than 400,000 people was an immense task for a country whichhad lost the war. The Finnish Parliament passed a law which made it possible to find new homes and farming land for the evacuees. By the end of the year 1949 basically everyone had got a new home.