"She Lived through the Karelian Evacuation and Resettlement"
by Jovette Hiltunen

In the little town of Fairport Harbor, we are often struck by the diversity of our people. And one of those people was an original North Karelian uprooted from her home as a child of five. Our museum was awestruck as she began her story during one of our recent programs. Anja Vincent, a Finnish Heritage Museum member, stood before our group of about 60 members and spoke of how she and her sister were a part of the resettlement of the Finns of North Karelia.

Anja’s father was a teacher and principal at her school building when the Winter War started. The building was taken over by the army except for the first graders who stayed in the building. The rest of the kids went to another school. One day there were soldiers who were throwing hedgehogs at the building. Anja said they were like today’s Pokemons. Her sister cried, “Don’t do that!” Anja recalls her mom taking her keys but watching carefully without turning her back to the open door of the cold storage. Sirens went off. More than once Anja said, “You just don’t forget.” And indeed, here we are so many years later and she recalls some of the most minute details of that time. It wasn’t long before their school closed. The next closest school was two miles from home and the two girls had to trek those two miles to go to school. Dad was gone fighting the wars. She remembered the soldiers occupying the principal’s quarters. When dad came home he brought a couple of mementos and in 1942 he gave Aja a bracelet made of downed airplane aluminum which he had made. Anja carved her name everywhere and on everything.

The youngest sister was born right after the World War was over. Anja called her a “war accident.” She probably heard that from others around her and there were other “war accidents” during that time to be sure. The girls could sense their mother’s anxiety. The countryside was stricken with an infectious disease. As they moved through the country, a family of farmers took them in for a couple of months. They had cows, milk and dried peas to eat. Anja recalls a wooden barrel with pickles and brine and best of all, a very high bed with thick mattress.

As she completed her memories of this tough time in her life, everyone could sense the strong feelings of her memories. This was no life for a child, but this woman was able to give us a glimpse into the world she had survived.