Finnish war children

The worlds largest exodus of children is considered the transfer of circa 70,000 children from Finland to Sweden from 1939 to 1945. The experience of the Finnish war children contains a distinctive wealth of knowledge which should not be lost. It is important from a social and cultural-anthropological point of view to pass on this collection of experiences without misrepresentation and to interpret the material to the best of my ability. Childhood experiences have a great psychological importance on how an adult his/her life. When a person's social world changes, their psychological world is also threatened. This is what happened to the Finnish war children. To be a foster child, to be a war child, to be a Finnish war foster child entails something very distinctive. Such a child has experienced separation and break-up from the biological family, confrontation with the foster family or orphanage, sometimes difficult experiences from the war itself and a change of language and culture, all of which can be very traumatic. The Finnish war children were "child refugees" and their experiences must be understood on this basis. Finnish war children represent a unique event in our chaotic world. Therefore, one can say that my interpretation has a limited scope. I cannot refer to the broader "immigrant debate." My research is of a special character and my material is unique! In our world there are countless child refugees, children who live in extremely exposed conditions and who have lost their parents. About the Finnish war children's experience it has been said that "it may not happen again". This is a very careless statement - what do we know of the world's future? No, this may not happen again. But it can happen again. The Finnish war children remember experiences which are frightening and fascinating, but which are also important for us to understand and learn from in order to be able to deal with children who are in that most exposed of situations - refugees from war and persecution, but without the protection of a parent.digitalisering@um