Tohmajärvi

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Tohmajärven kunta
coat of arms map
Tohmajärvi coat of arms Location of Tohmajärvi in ​​Finland
Basic data
State : FinlandFinland Finland
Landscape : North Karelia
Administrative community : Central Karelia
Geographical location 62 ° 11 '  N , 30 ° 23'  E Coordinates: 62 ° 11 '  N , 30 ° 23'  E
Surface: 895.36 km²
of which land area: 837.74 km²
of which inland waterways: 57.62 km²
Residents : 4,482 (Dec 31, 2018)
Population density : 5.4 inhabitants / km²
Municipality number : 848
Language (s) : Finnish
Website : tohmajarvi.fi

Tohmajärvi [ 'tɔhmɑjærvi ] is a municipality in eastern Finland . It is located in the North Karelia landscape on the border with Russia and has 4482 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2018) on an area of ​​almost 900 square kilometers.

geography

location

Landscape near Järventaus in Tohmajärvi

Tohmajärvi is in the south of the North Karelia countryside . Neighboring towns and communities to Tohmajärvi are Kitee in the southwest, Rääkkylä in the west, Pyhäselkä in the northwest and Joensuu in the north. In the east lies the state border with Russia ( Republic of Karelia ). Tohmajärvi has joined forces with Kitee and Rääkkylä to form the Central Karelia Administrative Community . The distance from Tohmajärvi to the center of Joensuu, the largest city in North Karelia, is 56 kilometers, and the capital Helsinki is 415 kilometers.

The area of ​​the municipality of Tohmajärvi is 895.35 km² (about as much as Berlin ). Tohmajärvi is part of three landscape areas: the west of the municipality belongs to the North Karelian Lake District, the northeastern part of the Finnish Lake District , and thus to the catchment area of ​​the Vuoksi River . The east of the municipality belongs to the Ladoga-Karelia landscape . From here, the water flows directly into Lake Ladoga on the Russian side . Due to the influence of the largest lake in Europe, the climate here is milder and the vegetation is lush. In the north the terrain rises to the Karelian hill country. Here the hills ( vaara ) typical of North Karelia shape the landscape. 57.62 km² (six percent of the municipal area) are covered by inland waters. The largest lakes are the eponymous Tohmajärvi , the Suuri-Onkamo on the border with Rääkkylä and the Särkijärvi .

Localities

Kemie is the main town of Tohmajärvis

The center of the municipality is Kemie, which is often referred to as Tohmajärvi. Kemie is located on a hill north of Lake Tohmajärvi. The place is the seat of the municipal administration and the location of the most important services. Today Kemie is characterized by modern functional buildings and has largely lost its character as a typical North Karelian hill village. The second settlement center ( taajama ) of the municipality Tohmajärvi is the place Värtsilä (formerly Uusikylä), which is located in the east directly on the Russian border. After the Second World War, the administration of the municipality of Värtsilä was moved from the main town of the same name, which had remained on the Russian side, to the village of Uusikylä, which developed into the new community center. Since the municipal merger in 2005, Värtsilä has been part of Tohmajärvi. The municipality also includes the following villages or scattered settlements : Akkala, Järventaus, Jouhkola, Kaurila, Kenraalikylä, Kutsu, Niirala, Onkamo, Patsola, Petravaara, Riikola, Saario, Tikkala, Uusi-Värtsilä, Vatala and Vepsä.

history

Prehistory and Novgorod Period

The finds of seven dwellings of the comb pottery culture from the Neolithic period testify to the Stone Age settlement of Tohmajärvi . Like the rest of Finland's interior, the area was inhabited by Sami who lived as semi-nomadic hunters and gatherers until the Iron Age . From the 9th century onwards, settled settlement by arable Karelians spread along the shores of Lake Ladoga . The Karelians used the Tohmajärvi area as a hunting and fishing ground and gradually displaced the Sami indigenous population. The first settled settlement in Tohmajärvi emerged towards the end of the 15th century.

In the Middle Ages, the Karelians came under the control of Novgorod and came into contact with Orthodox Christianity. The first written mention of the villages of Kemie and Värtsilä comes from a tax list of the Votian fifth , a Novgorod administrative district, from 1500. In the 16th century, the settlement of the Tohmajärvi area increased with the establishment of numerous new villages. In 1597 Tohmajärvi became an independent Orthodox parish ( pogost ), previously the place had been a chapel parish of the Ilomantsi parish .

Swedish time

Due to the new demarcation in the Peace of Stolbowo , Tohmajärvi came under Swedish rule in 1617. As part of Kexholms län , the place was incorporated into the administration of the Swedish Empire and the Evangelical Lutheran church organization. The Tohmajärvi Evangelical Lutheran parish was founded in 1653. The change of rule had drastic consequences for the religious and ethnic conditions in Tohmajärvi: The Orthodox Karelians were exposed to repression from the Swedish state, so that some of them converted to the Lutheran faith and others emigrated to Russia. Finnish new settlers of the Lutheran faith from the Savo region took their place . In the Russo-Swedish War of 1656–1658, the Orthodox people sided with the Russians: In Tohmajärvi, Ilomantsi and Liperi there were revolts against the Swedish authorities. Ultimately, however, Russia lost the war. Fearing retaliation, the Orthodox Karelians Tohmajärvis fled to the Tver area in central Russia, where a Karelian minority still lives today.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the inhabitants of Tohmajärvis lived mainly from building waste and tar distilleries . But when Sweden had to cede the so-called Old Finland to Russia in the Peace of Nystad in 1721 and in the Peace of Åbo in 1743 , Tohmajärvi became a border town and was cut off from traffic connections. Since the tar could no longer be transported to the trading centers, the tar distillery was closed.

In 1772 the royal bailiff Gabriel Wallenius , popularly known as the "King of Karelia", moved into the Jouhkola farm in Tohmajärvi. During his time, Tohmajärvi was the center of North Karelia. In 1781 the post office was moved from Liperi to Tohmajärvi. Under Wallenius, the road network of North Karelia was expanded and the development of agriculture was promoted. Among other things, Wallenius lowered Lake Tohmajärvi by one meter in 1773 in order to gain new arable land.

Russian time

When Sweden ceded what is now Finland to Russia in the Treaty of Fredrikshamn in 1809 , Tohmajärvi also became part of the newly founded Grand Duchy of Finland . Soon afterwards, Old Finland was also attached to the Grand Duchy, so that Tohmajärvi lost its peripheral location again. In the course of the separation of the administration of the rural parishes from the church administration, the political municipality Tohmajärvi was created in 1869. Kiihtelysvaara , to which Pyhäselkä belonged at the time, had already separated from Tohmajärvi in 1857 .

The Värtsilä factories, around 1930

The Schwendbau lost its importance in the course of the 19th century. In its place came livestock and dairy farming as the most important economic factors. The main source of income for the community's residents was the export of butter to Saint Petersburg . Industrialization also began in Tohmajärvi in the 19th century . In Värtsilä 1834 a sawmill and in 1851 an ironworks were established, from which the Wärtsilä emerged Corporation. Värtsilä quickly developed into an important industrial center. When the old Karelia Railway (the line from Vyborg to Joensuu) was built towards the end of the century , it was decided to run the line via Tohmajärvi because of the factories in Värtsilä. With the opening of the section from Sortawala to Joensuu, Tohmajärvi was connected to the railway network in 1894.

Since independence

With the Finnish declaration of independence , Tohmajärvi also became part of the independent Republic of Finland in 1917. In 1920 Värtsilä, which has since grown into a populous place thanks to industry, became an independent municipality.

Finnish soldiers in the destroyed Värtsilä, July 11, 1941

In 1939 the winter war broke out between Finland and the Soviet Union . As a result of the war, Finland had to cede large parts of Karelia in 1940. The newly drawn border now ran directly to the east of Tohmajärvi, Värtsilä lost two thirds of its municipal area including the main town and industrial facilities. At the beginning of the Continuation War, the Finns recaptured Värtsilä on July 10, 1941. Much of the place was destroyed in the fighting. After the end of the war, Finland ceded the areas that had meanwhile been recaptured. The main town Värsilä (today Wjartsilja ) remained permanently on the Russian side, but the Finnish community Värtsilä continued to exist. Tohmajärvi's southeastern neighboring municipality of Pälkjärvi , of which over 90% of the territory had fallen to the Soviet Union, was dissolved in 1946, and the part of Tohmajärvi that remained on the Finnish side was added. In return, Tohmajärvi ceded the area around the village of Patsola to Värtsilä to ensure the community's viability.

Tohmajärvi was again cut off from the traffic routes by the new demarcation. In the 1960s, the traffic situation improved with the construction of State Road 6 and the new Karelia Railway from Kouvola to Joensuu. In 1995 the Niirala border crossing was opened to international traffic.

From the 1960s onwards, the change from an agricultural to a service society led to an ongoing rural exodus in the rural areas of Finland to the growth centers of the south. Tohmajärvi has also lost around half of its inhabitants since 1960. The municipality of Värtsilä was hit even harder, with its population falling from just under 2,000 to below 600. Therefore Tohmajärvi and Värtsilä merged in 2005 to form the new municipality of Tohmajärvi.

population

Population development

Like much of the structurally weak North Karelia, Tohmajärvi suffers from a clear population deficit. While Tohmajärvi currently has around 5,200 inhabitants, in 1960 there were still almost 12,000 people living in today's municipal area.

Development of the population
year 1750 1890 1920 1 1939 2nd 1941 3 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2005 4 2006 2007
Tohmajärvi 4.165 7.180 6.130 6,441 7,947 9,403 9,962 7,562 6,309 5,884 5,276 5,446 5,346 5,239
Värtsilä 4,691 6,419 1,255 1,599 1,930 911 842 782 594
All in all 10,821 12,860 9,202 11.002 11,892 8,473 7.151 6,666 5,870

1 ) Municipal independence of Värtsilä
2 ) Before the assignment of territory to the Soviet Union
3 ) After the assignment of territory to the Soviet Union
4 ) Tohmajärvi and Värtsilä merged

Population groups

Tohmajärvi is officially monolingual Finnish - speaking. 96.5% of the population speak Finnish as their mother tongue. The proximity of the border is reflected in the relatively large number of Russian immigrants in Tohmajärvi. For a rural municipality in Finland, the proportion of foreigners of 2.9% (national average 2.5%) is quite high. The proportion of residents with Russian as their mother tongue is even highest in the country at 2.6%. Because of the close contacts with Russia, the community promotes Russian lessons in schools. Tohmajärvi's application to make Russian compulsory as a school subject instead of Swedish , the second national language , was rejected by the Finnish Ministry of Education.

religion

The vast majority of Tohmajärvi's residents belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church . The Tohmajärvi parish is subordinate to the diocese of Kuopio . The Orthodox are only a small minority in Tohmajärvi. Tohmajärvi's Orthodox believers belong to the Joensuu parish. An Orthodox chapel ( tsasouna ) has been located in the village of Petravaara since 1966 . There has also been a Pentecostal church in Tohmajärvi since 1983 .

politics

administration

As is generally the case in rural Finland, the Center Party is the strongest political force in Tohmajärvi . In the local elections in 2008 it received almost half of the votes, in the local council, the highest decision-making body in local affairs, it has 14 out of 27 MPs. The Social Democrats are also strongly represented in the local council with just under a third of the votes and eight MPs. The country's third major party, the National Collection Party , on the other hand, with an election result of twelve percent and three seats in Tohmajärvi, does not play a major role. Furthermore, the Christian Democrats and right-wing populist grassroots women are each represented by a member of the local council.

Composition of the municipal council (2009–2012)
Political party 2008 election results Seats
Center Party 48.2% 14th
Social democrats 29.0% 8th
National rally party 12.0% 3
Christian Democrats 4.3% 1
Base fins 4.2% 1

coat of arms

Old Tohmajärvi coat of arms

Since the municipality merger in 2005, Tohmajärvi municipality has carried the coat of arms of the former municipality of Värtsilä. The coat of arms designed by Olof Eriksson in 1958 shows a black anvil with a red flame in a silver shield and refers to the industrial history of Värtsilä. The old coat of arms of Tohmajärvi was also designed by Olof Eriksson in 1953 and showed a silver birch branch in the black and red split shield. The colors red and black, which appear in the old and new Tohmajärvi coat of arms, are considered the heraldic colors of Karelia.

Community partnerships

Tohmajärvi has parish partnerships with the Swedish municipality of Ydre (since 1960) and the Russian city of Sortawala (since 1988).

Economy and Infrastructure

traffic

The Onkamo stop

The State Street 6 , consisting of the southern Finland Pernå north to Kajaani leads, traversing the western part Tohmajärvis. In the village of Onkamo, main road 70 branches off from this , which leads via the main town Kemie, Uusi-Värtsilä and Kauritsala to Niirala and the Russian border. The remaining villages are connected by smaller country roads. The border crossing between Niirala and the Russian Wjartsilja is the only international border crossing between North Karelia and Russia. In 2007, 898,000 border crossings were recorded. This makes Niirala the fourth most frequented border crossing on the Finnish eastern border after Vaalimaa , Nuijamaa and Imatra .

Tohmajärvi is on the route of two tourist routes: The Blue Route begins in Nesna on the Norwegian Atlantic coast and leads via Sweden and Finland to Petrozavodsk, Russia . The Via Karelia ( Runon ja Rajan tie ) follows the Finnish eastern border and crosses Tohmajärvi in ​​a north-south direction.

The Karelia Railway, the railway line from Kouvola to Joensuu, runs parallel to State Road 6 . There is a stop in Onkamo, but no trains have stopped there since 2005. The old Karelia railway, the Joensuu – Vyborg railway , branches off in Onkamo and leads to the Russian border. Today only freight traffic runs on this route, the stations of Tohmajärvi and Kaurila as well as the stops of Onkamo and Tikkala are unused.

The nearest airport is Joensuu Airport , around 65 kilometers away.

Culture and sights

Tohmajärvi Church

The most important monument in Tohmajärvi is the parish church. It is located a few kilometers south of the main town of Kemie on the Kirkkoniemi peninsula on Lake Tohmajärvi, away from the settlement. The building, erected between 1751 and 1756 under the direction of Eskil Collenius , is the oldest wooden church in North Karelia. It replaced a previous building built in the middle of the 17th century, which stood directly next to the new church and was demolished after its completion. The separate bell stack dates from 1760. The rectory built in 1841 is located near the church.

With the church of Värtsilä the parish has a second place of worship. The modern building was built in 1950 according to plans by Veikko Larkas in Uusikylä (Värtsilä) as a replacement for the old wooden church built in 1867 and destroyed in 1941 in the now Russian center of Värtsilä.

Personalities

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Maanmittauslaitos (Finnish land surveying office): Suomen pinta-alat kunnittain January 1, 2010 . (PDF; 199 kB)
  2. ↑ Statistical Office Finland: Table 11ra - Key figures on population by region, 1990-2018
  3. ↑ community Tohmajärvi: Tohmajärvi lukuina (Tohmajärvi in numbers, DOC), p. 9
  4. ↑ As of 2007, Tilastokeskus (Finnish Statistics Center)
  5. ^ Website of the Tohmajärvi municipality: Rajattomien mahdollisuuksien Tohmajärvi (Finnish)
  6. ↑ Helsingin Sanomat February 29, 2008: Tohmajärvi ei saanut kouluihinsa venäjää pakkoruotsin tilalle
  7. ↑ Finnish Ministry of Justice: Result of the 2008 local elections
  8. ↑ Finnish border guards: Rajanylitysmäärät itärajan rajanylityspaikoilla (number of border crossings at the border crossings of the eastern border, Finnish)

Web links

Commons : Tohmajärvi  - collection of images, videos and audio files