Vyborg Castle as a Symbol of Power Institutions

• Published in: The Journal of power institutions in post-soviet societies
• Main Authors: Karhu, Jani, Wells, Chloe
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Centre d'études et de recherche sur les sociétés et les institutions post-soviétiques 2018
• Subjects: Borders; Sites of Memory; Urban History; Generations; Postmemory; World War II; Finnish History; demo; litt; karelia*
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.4000/pipss.4339; http://journals.openedition.org/pipss/4339

In this article we focus on a remembered and imagined border: the changed border between Finland and Russia. We take as a case study the formerly Finnish now Russian town of Vyborg and its castle. The centuries-old castle has marked the limits of power in the Karelia region of the Swedish and Russian empires, the Finnish state, the Soviet Union and now Russia. We argue, based on our empirical studies that, for older generations of Finns, the castle can be the “symbol of everything”, whereas for today's Finnish teens the castle is a meaningless image. Thus this article also looks at the boundaries between social generations in their understandings of Finnish history and territory.