Because we wanted to know what it felt like to be forced to leave one’s home because of the war, we interviewed Mrs T. She was born in 1916 in the village of Tervajoki in Karelia, 17 kilometres west of Wiborg, which was the biggest town in Karelia.

Mrs T. told us that she has had to leave her home actually three times because of the different stages during the war.

We asked her about the day when she had to leave her home for the first time. She told us that it had happened in a great hurry. She and her parents only had small backpacks with them when they fled across a frozen lake. Mrs T. only had three items with her: a toothbrush, a nightgown and a spoon that she had got as a present, when she had been baptized.

Mrs T. and her parents got a new home in western Finland. Her father got a job as a guard in a prison and it really was not his favourite job.

A little later, during the so called Continuation War, Mrs T. had got married and she had returned to Karelia which had been regained by the Finnish Army.

A couple of years later she had to leave her home again, this time with small children of her own. Again their flight was very dramatic. They had to flee across a lake in a barge and they were harassed by Soviet aeroplanes, which luckily didn’t fire their guns at the fleeing people. After different phases her family settled down in southeastern Finland, her husband came back from the war and the family was able to start a normal life.

We also asked her what the word ’home’ means to her. She said that home is a precious place for us, almost like a holy place.

Because some people in Finland every now and then raise the issue of getting Karelia back to Finnish possession, we asked Mrs T.’s opinion about this matter. She said that of course the Karelian forests, for example, could be like a goldmine for us.

Our final question was about her feelings towards the Russian people. She said that she doesn’t hate the Russians. She has visited her old home in Karelia often and she has become friends with the Russian people who live there now.

We were glad to have a chance to talk with Mrs T. and we would like to thank her for giving us some of her time.