Karelian Exodus - Finnish Communities in North America And Soviet Karelia during the DepressionEra

The bodies of hundreds of Canadian and American citizens of Finnish descent lie in unmarked graves in the Republic of Karelia, formerly a part of the Soviet Union. They were people who, in the early 1930s, dreamed of a brighter future than that offered by the Depression ravaged economies of North America. As many as 7,000 North American Finns participated in one of the largest waves of organized out migration in the history of the New World. They were enthused with what was called "Karelian Fever" and they left their homes in Canada and the United States to build socialism. Some brought farm implements, automobiles, and saw mills, others brought much needed expertise in the lumber industry, mining and other fields, but most arrived with enthusiasm for a new life in a Finnish-speaking Socialist Republic. Within a few years, women and children watched as their husbands and fathers were taken by "the collectors" and everyone fell victim to the Stalinist terror of the late 1930s.