November 11th

Today is a day of remembrance in both Canada and Finland, but the atmosphere couldn't be more different. In Canada, November 11 is a solemn and quiet day. It is the memorial day of the end of the World War I, and the soldiers, who have died in the line of duty, are being remembered. Today, November 11, is also the second Sunday of November, and therefore it is the Father's Day in Finland. It is a cheerful and celebratory day. The fathers are being showered with gifts and cards, and the restaurants are fully booked for Father's Day lunch.

I had never realized how these two events of my old and new home countries coincide, when the second Sunday of November happens to be the 11th day.

I had learnt about the "11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month" in the school, but November 11 is not a memorial day in Finland, just a day among other days. Only since 2009, when I immigrated to Ottawa, I've learnt how much the day means to Canadians. However, since both of my grandfathers have died a long time ago, and my dad passed away in 2005, there was never a need to send a Father's Day card from Canada to Finland in November. That's why the proximity, and occasional overlap of the two days never occurred to me. Until today, when I'm spending it in Finland again.

When I was reading the Finnish newspaper in the morning I was searching for an article about the end of the World War I. Nothing. But pages full of stories and photos of fathers. I know that today the Canadian newspapers are full of red poppies and stories about soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the wars. I became curious and wanted to refresh my knowledge about what was going on in Finland in November 1918. I was guessing that Finland was still dealing with its own chaos after the Finnish civil war, and therefore the end of the World War I never marked a huge milestone to Finns.

It turned out that I was partly right, but I had also forgotten another important detail, which ties the history of Finland very strongly to November 11, 1918.

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Civil war in Finland? Yes, it did happen, in 1918. Finland had declared its independency from the czarist Russian Empire on December 6, 1917, in the aftermath of the Russian revolution. But in January 1918 the country drifted into civil war between the "Reds", supported by the Russian Soviet Republic, and the "Whites", assisted by the German Empire. The war lasted until May 1918, the Whites won. 20.000 people had died, and 20.000 children had lost one or both parents. After the war the economy was down. Over 70.000 Reds were held in prison camps, and famine and disease were spreading in the whole country, but especially in the camps. Over 10.000 prisoners would die in the camps.

Since the Whites had won, Finland's future was politically and economically strongly tied to the German Empire. So strongly that on October 9, 1918, Friedrich Karl, the Prince of Hessen, had been chosen to become the first King of Finland. But the official coronation never happened, because on November 11, 1918, the German Empire collapsed and the World War I ended.

In less than two months the German army left Finland, and the almost-king-of-Finland Friedrich Karl renounced his crown. Finland would become a democratic republic, and Finland's independency, declared a year earlier, came into effect.

(More details about the Finnish Civil War can be found for example on Wikipedia, which I also used for writing this piece.)

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Oops. This - the link between November 11, 1918 and the German King of Finland - was the detail I had forgotten about the Finnish history. The day is indeed a huge historical date in the Finnish history too, but in a very different way than in Canada. Maybe one reason for why it never became a memorial day in Finland was the fact that after the civil war the Finnish nation was badly scarred and divided. Some of the scars might still be open, and others have taken decades to heal. Only recently, 90 years after the war, there has been more open discussion on the events of the 1918.

When I started to write this blog entry in the morning, I didn't know where it would take me. I'm happy that I re-discovered this important part of the Finnish history, and I'm a little bit of ashamed too, that I had forgotten it. The Finnish Independence Day, December 6, shares the silent and solemn nature of the Remembrance Day, and now I understand yet better why. I am certain that next year, when I'll be standing again in the silent Remembrance Day crowd in Ottawa, watching the elderly veterans in their uniforms and covering myself better from the cold November wind, I will remember the effects of November 11, 1918 for Finland too.

But today, November 11, Remembrance Day, Father's Day, I will visit my father's grave and light a candle for his memory.