Evacuation of Finnish Karelia

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Evacuees from Muolaa municipality, Finnish Karelia, going to West-Finland, beginning of the Winter War.

Evacuation of Finnish Karelia was the resettlement of the population of Finnish Karelia and other territories ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union into the remaining parts of Finland. As a result, about 422,000 Finnish Karelians, or 12% of Finland's population and almost 100% of the population of the territory, were relocated.

The evacuation was a result of the 1940 Moscow Peace Treaty that concluded the Winter War, an attack of the Soviet Union on Finland. The actual evacuation started already in 1939, during the war. The treaty did not force Finland to empty the ceded territory, but almost nobody was willing to stay, taking their belongings with them. Only the buildings and machinery were to be left behind intact as per the Peace Treaty, which for the most part also took place.

During the Continuation War some 260,000 of the displaced population returned home.^[1] In June 1944, Finnish troops withdrew from the ceded areas again as a result of the Soviet Fourth strategic offensive. At the same time, the population was evacuated again.

An evacuee family resettled in Southern Finland, toiling on the field.

The Paris Peace Treaties of 1947 finally confirmed the Finnish loss of the territory. The evacuees were permanently settled in Finland. The government of Finland subsidized the resettlement in two ways:

the resettlers were subsidized. Families were allocated land in proportion to their former property. In addition, everyone evacuated from Karelia had the right to receive a homestead. In addition, the city-dwellers and business-owners were given a monetary compensation. The right to homestead was extended also to other groups: veterans of war, widows and orphans of war.
the private owners of the land given to resettlers were monetarily compensated for the loss of real estate.

Since the 1990s some associations have been calling for returning Karelia back to Finland.