Russians in Finland

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The Russians in Finland are a linguistic minority in Finland . More than 28,000 Finns were Russian citizens in 2009, making them the largest group of foreigners in the country. Russian is the mother tongue of almost 49,000 speakers, equivalent to around 0.8% of Finland's residents.

Russian citizens who immigrated to Finland before World War II are known as "old Russians". A later wave of immigration from Russia came after the collapse of the Soviet Union with the Karelians and Inhermanland Finns . At present, Russian immigration to Finland is largely due to marriage and family ties.

history

The first wave of Russian immigration began in the early 18th century when Finland was still part of the Kingdom of Sweden . The Grand Duchy of Finland , 1809-1917 one with a far-reaching internal autonomy equipped part of the Russian Empire , immigrated around 40,000 Russian soldiers and around 600 workers and businessmen. When Finland gained independence in 1917 , many soldiers returned to Russia. A number of business people remained, including the Sinebrychoff family . During the Russian Revolution , many nobles and officers fled to Finland. During the Kronstadt sailors' uprising in March 1921 alone , there were around 1,600 officers. The largest wave of refugees came towards the end of the revolution in 1922 with around 35,000 Russians. Most of them held the Nansen Pass for a long time , a passport for stateless refugees and emigrants. Russians who immigrated during these waves of immigration are known as "old Russians"; Today about 3000 to 5000 offspring live in Finland.

Around 15,000 Finnish Russians were deported to prison camps during World War II. After the war, young Russians who had served in the Finnish army were able to obtain Finnish citizenship.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union , Finland experienced a second major wave of immigration. Many Russian migrant workers came to Finland to work in low-paid jobs. Immigration increased steadily in the 1990s. Most of the descendants of the Inland Finns immigrated to Finland. In the early 17th century, many Finns settled in Ingermanland , a historic Swedish province in north-western Russia around today's Saint Petersburg , in addition to Sweden. They have had the right to “return” to Finland since the 1990s.

Since the turn of the millennium, many Russians have bought property in eastern Finland, including vacation homes and homes. In 2007 alone, Russians bought real estate worth 76 million euros . While a quarter of property buyers came from Russia in 2003, in 2007 they made up three quarters of buyers. For wealthy Russians, Finland is a place that is only marginally affected by pollution and crime. However, this is not widely accepted by the Finns, as they feel they are being exploited.

population

In 2008, according to Statistics Finland, there were 48,740 speakers of Russian. In 2009 there were 28,210 residents with Russian citizenship. - including people with dual citizenship . There are also Russians who only received Finnish citizenship and Estonian Russians. Half of the Russian-speaking immigrants are Ingrianland Finns and other members of the Finno-Ugric peoples such as the Karelians. Marriage and family ties are another reason for immigration. Of all marriages between foreigners and Finns, the most common one is between a Finnish man and a Russian woman. In 2003 there were 3,500 marriages of this type compared to just 300 marriages between a Finnish woman and a Russian man.

Number of Russian-speaking population in some Finnish cities in 2008
Russian-speaking population in 2008
city number Growth from 2000 to 2008
Helsinki 12 470 54.8%
Vantaa 3,958 138.3%
Espoo 3 029 95.0%
Turku 2,495 38.8%
Tampere 2 121 74.9%
Lahti 1,787 50.7%
Lappeenranta 1 711 62.2%
Kotka 1 253 226.3%
Jyväskylä 1 168 57.2%
Kouvola 1 097 47.6%
Joensuu 1 074 64.0%

religion

While the Inlandic Finns are Protestant , the majority of Russians belong to the Russian Orthodox Church . The Orthodox Church of Finland , which has been autonomous since 1921, has around 60,000 believers in 24 parishes, which corresponds to around 1.1% of the population. Since the Middle Ages, Orthodox Christianity spread from Novgorod , especially to Karelia . With the influx of Russian civil servants and the military during the Russian rule in Finland, Orthodox communities also formed in the country's major cities. When large parts of Karelia were ceded to the Soviet Union after the defeat in World War II, tens of thousands of Orthodox believers from Karelia were also resettled to Finland. With the immigration of “new Russians” from the successor states of the Soviet Union, the number of Orthodox Christians has increased significantly since the 1990s; many small Russian Orthodox churches sprang up.

job

The Russians have so far been poorly integrated in the Finnish labor market. Although 40% of them have completed a university or college education - compared to 30% for Finns - unemployment among Russians is significantly higher than among Finnish employees. Russians and Estonians find jobs faster than, for example, refugees from third world countries , but unemployment among Russians is twice as high as that of Estonians. In 2001, 40% of Russians and 20% of Estonians in Finland were unemployed. One reason for this is that the Ingerian immigrants do not need a work permit for the Estonians, while the Estonians also have to show accommodation before they can settle in Finland.

Culture

In 1998 the Russian-language newspaper Sp exc was founded. There is also the Russian-language radio channel Radio Sputnik ( Russkoje Radio Helsinki ).

Complaints about racism

In 2007 the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published its third report on Finland. There, the ECRI recommends that the negative attitudes of society and signs of intolerance towards the Russians be combated more strongly. Representatives of the Russian-speaking community pointed out to ECRI that there was a lack of decisive action on the part of the Finnish authorities and that the conflict had intensified since the second ECRI report. It was reported to ECRI that Russians had been the target of violence, at least one point of which was fatal, and that the police did not always adequately counteract the aggression. Racially motivated harassment and harassment of Russian school children was also widely reported. ECRI also focused on anti-Russian material inciting racist hatred, derogatory expressions, and the negative portrayal of Russians in the Finnish media.

Well-known Russians in Finland

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Tilastokeskus (Statistics Finland) : Tilastokeskus: Ulkomaiden kansalaiset , as of May 28, 2010, accessed on August 17, 2010 (Finnish)
  2. ↑ a b c Tilastokeskus (Statistics Finland) : Suomessa jo 50,000 venäjänkielistä , as of September 8, 2009, accessed on August 17, 2010 (Finnish)
  3. ↑ a b c d Heli Niemi in Social Work & Society Online News Magazine (SocMag): Russian Immigrants in Finnish Society ( Memento of the original from July 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , November 18, 2007, accessed on August 17, 2010 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.socmag.net
  4. ↑ Süddeutsche.de of August 22, 2008: Finns are annoyed with rich Russians , accessed on August 17, 2010
  5. ↑ Kati Pohjanpalo in Welt Online from September 14, 2008: The Finns curse home buyers from Russia , accessed on August 17, 2010
  6. ↑ Uusi Suomi : Uusi tutkimus Suomen venäläisväestöstä , June 10, 2008, accessed on August 17, 2010 (Finnish)
  7. ↑ European Commission against Racism and Intolerance: Third report on Finland ( Memento of the original dated March 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 366 kB), p. 22, Strasbourg May 24, 2007, accessed on August 17, 2010 (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / hudoc.ecri.coe.int