Today is March 13, 2010 and it is the 70th anniversary of the end of the Winter War. It is no wonder that this event is so embedded in the collective social consciousness of Finland.
In the 105 days of its duration 26,662 Finns died defending their country. And although there still remains a great deal of uncertainty, the official Soviet tally of their dead comes to 126,875. To put it in even starker terms, this averages out to nearly 1,500 deaths per day.
70 years is a long time ago. The reality is that the vast majority of men and women who were part of or witness to this valiant fight for freedom have themselves slipped past the boundaries of life. But there are still those few who remember first hand, those for whom the retelling of what to most of us is only history is the vivid recollection of what they experienced.
Cody and I were privileged to spend some time with just such a person, a wonderful woman whose home has been converted into a veterans’ museum. I would like to say that this had been a planned event, but instead it was simply a great serendipity.
We recently traveled to Imatra and were staying at the wonderful Finnish National Romantic style hotel, Valtionhotelli. We checked in late in the day and noted the handsome old home across the street with a polite Veteraanin Kotimuseo sign out front. Heidi Day of our Public Affairs section had recommended a stop at the museum, but it unfortunately just did not fit into our schedule. Anne Laanti (another one of the terrific Finns who works for the Embassy’s Public Affairs Section) made the call and arranged an early visit for the following day, before the museum’s normal operating hours.
Next morning we all tromped through the snow and the crisp winter air to the museum. With welcoming candles burning on the steps, the front door opened wide and there stood greeting us one of the most remarkable women I have ever had the good fortune to meet. Her name is Eila Ikävalko.
Eila Ikävalko
As one would expect, her museum is filled with fascinating objects and memorabilia. But once in a while, if you are really lucky, you get the chance to meet someone who has the ability to make the stuff of history fun and vibrant and fully alive, despite the distance between the present and the past. Eila is one of those people. Every object had a story and a frame of reference. And every story she told and every explanation she gave was full of life and adventure. Her museum was not about the pain and suffering of that terrible time, but about the people and the larger world stage upon which these events had played out. She infused history with excitement, perspective and humor, even dressing the four of us up to play historical parts!
Me, Cody and Anne Laanti as "posed" by Eila Ikävalko
Eila Ikävalko: Lotta, raconteur, historian and more important than that, a simply wonderful person. Our thanks.
Eila Ikävalko and Amb. Bruce Oreck
