Porkkala

Porkkala is a Péninsule Golfe of Finland located on the commune of Kirkkonummi at the south of the Finland.

The peninsula had a strategic value since from its coasts an artillery battery could cover more half of the Gulf of Finland. If such a force also had contôler the coasts Estonian of the other with dimensions of the Gulf, the maritime access of the the Baltic to Saint-Pétersbourg would have been blocked. Moreover, Porkkala is to about thirty kilometers only of Helsinki, the Finnish capital, and a foreign power could exert there a meaning influence on the Finnish government.

There nowadays, the coasts of the peninsula are popular to be able to observe the migratory birds in spring. The Finnish navy holds to with it one as of its principal naval bases in the vicinity, on the peninsula close to Uppniemi.

The bracket, period of lease of Porkkala 1944-1956

In accordance with the conditions of the treaty of armistice signed on September 19th, 1944, the zone of Porkkala had been rented with the Soviet Union like military base for one 50 years duration. The surface of the rented zone covered almost 1.000 km, including/understanding the major part of the commune of Kirkkonummi, part of the commune of Siuntio, almost all the commune of Degerby and small portions of Inkoo and Espoo.

In the ten days space, 7.272 inhabitants and more than 8.000 pets were evacuated area. The inhabitants had to tear off potatoes, to collect cereals and to garner the hays in a few days, before the evacuation. Nearly 20.000 people (of the soldiers, Lotta S - members of a female paramilitary organization, of 1919 to 1940 - and volunteers) assisted the operation.

The roads leading to the area were barred on September 28th, 1944.

The Association of Porkkala was founded to protect the interests and to defend the rights of the evacuees. Association helped people with their problems of allowances and acquisition of ground. Later, Association played a big role, when the area was restored and that people had to fight for their grounds.

The naval base of Porkkala

The zone of Porkkala had been rented with the the USSR as naval base. The main mission of the base was to defend the Gulf of Finland at the narrowest place between Finland and the Soviet Union. The geographical location of the base, in the vicinity immediate of Helsinki, was not without worrying the Finns.

The heart of the base was the wearing of war, located at Upinniemi. The administrative center of the base was in the center of Kirkkonummi. The population of the zone, for the period of the lease, amounted to some 20-30 000 inhabitants; in addition to the soldiers, there were some 10.000 civilians. (Today Kirkkonummi counts some 30.000 inhabitants.) In addition to the wearing of war, the Russian soldiers had built many fortifications in the archipelago, beside the new border, just like in the largest clearings of the fields. The housing of the soldiers, the barracks and the buildings of supply were placed in the village of Porkkala, with Biskopsböle, Upinniemi and Malmi, Degerby. The airport of the zone was with Friggesby. For the period of the lease, a junction of the railroad had been built of Kela to Båtvik, where Russian had opened a port.

Of Pikkala in Biskopsböle, crossing all the zone, they had made a way paved for artillery, called today the Route of Kabanov. In connection with this way, they had also built the bridge of Vårnäs.

The naval base of Porkkala was subjected to the command of the state major of the navy of war. The first commander of the base was a Soviet hero, the vice-admiral Neon Vasiljevitsh Antonov and the last commander, the major general Sergei Kabanov.

Guard of the borders

The fontières between Porkkala and the remainder of Finland were traced on a plan with a rule, without taking account of the forms of the ground or the ground possessions. A coastal brigade, transferred from Bay of Vyborg to Porkkala, was in charge of the defense of the zone and the guard of the borders. The coastal artillery, as for it, dealt with the guard of the maritime borders. Later, in autumn, a permanent battalion took the responsability for the guard. In 1947, the name of battalion was changed into Body of frontier guards de Porkkala. The Body of frontier guards de Porkkala was dissolved after the restitution of the zone.

Restitution

In one of Hufvudstadsbladet, on September 18th, 1955. On the photograph, from left to right: the Minister for Defense, Emil Skog, the attache Olli Bergman, the Foreign Minister, Johannes Virolainen, the adviser of diplomatic mission Kotov of the the USSR, the military attach3e Vinogradov of the the USSR and the Prime Minister Urho Kekkonen. Near the office, temporary person in charge Soviet S.T Loguinov.

In autumn 1955, unexpected changes - changes in the relations between the superpuissances, improvement of the relations between Finland and the Soviet Union and reduction in the strategic importance of the base of Porkkala - made it possible to start the negotiations between Finland and the the USSR. These negotiations led to the restitution of Porkkala. The titles concerning the restitution filled out the first pages of the newspapers on September 17th, 1955. September 19th, eleventh birthday of the treaty of 1944, an official press release on the restitution of the zone was made public. The Parliament of Finland very quickly carried the treaty of restitution to its day order, and the documents of ratification were signed on October 28th.

In accordance with the treaty, the Soviet troops had three months to evacuate, after the ratification of the documents. Finally, the Soviet authorities decided that the restitution would take place on January 26th. The barred roads were opened at 3 p.m. on January 26th, 1956, after the signature of the final acts of restitution. The cars equipped with snow-plow entered the zone, clearing the main roads for the military convoys. The journalists were among the first to enter the zone.

The main roads were opened with the Finnish convoys on January 26th, 1956. The Finnish avant-garde crossed the bridge of Kivenlahti at 3 p.m. under the command of the colonel Ali Koskimaa. In addition to the Finnish soldiers and authorities, there were also many journalists and photographers.

For the civilians, the restitution of Porkkala caused many problems. The question about the possession of the grounds quickly became a litigious point of principle: did the area belong to the State or to the evacuated people? In summer 1956, the authorities decided that the fields in fact belonged to the evacuated inhabitants, and that the ground which the State would need, would be exproprié against compensations.

The area of Porkkala had abruptly changed. She until had lived there completely isolated from the remainder of Finland. The rebuilding, in times of recession, asked for a spirit of pioneer. All the evacuees did not want or could not turn over in their country. The demography of the area was going quickly to change. Consequently lease, the small commune of Degerby, for example, disappeared from the plan, because attached to the commune of Inkoo.

Even today one can find evidence of this presence of the Russians in the ground, the forests and the fields of Kirkkonummi and his surroundings. There remain always uninhabited houses, built by the Russian soldiers, and of the small hills, glazes of vegetation, hiding destroyed bunkers and other fortifications.

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