Ингерманландские финны: история и судьба

Ethnicity in Finland and Russia

The Ingrians (, inkerinsuomalaiset; Ингерманландцы), sometimes called Ingrian Finns, are the Finnish population of Ingria (now the central part of Leningrad Oblast in Russia), descending from Lutheran Finnish immigrants introduced into the area in the 17th century, when Finland and Ingria were both parts of the Swedish Empire. In the forced deportations before and after World War II, and during the genocide of Ingrian Finns, most of them were relocated to other parts of the Soviet Union, or killed. Today the Ingrian Finns constitute the largest part of the Finnish population of the Russian Federation. According to some records, some 25,000 Ingrian Finns have returned or still reside in the region of Saint Petersburg.

Finnish speaking Ingrians are not to be confused with Izhorian speaking Ingrians. Ingrian Finns mainly consist of two groups: Savakot, who originated from migrant Savonians; and Äyrämöiset, coming from the Karelian Isthmus (mostly from Äyräpää), then parts of the Swedish realm. They were Lutheran settlers and migrant workers who moved to Ingria during the period of Swedish rule 1617–1703. Others originated from more or less voluntary conversion among the indigenous Finnic speaking Votes and Izhorians, where approved by the Swedish authorities. Finns made up 41.1 percent of the population of Ingria in 1656, 53.2 percent in 1661, 55.2 percent in 1666, 56.9 percent in 1671 and 73.8 percent in 1695. After the Russian conquest and the foundation of Saint Petersburg (1703), the flow of migration was reversed. Russian nobles were granted land in Ingria, and Lutheran Ingrian Finns left Ingria, where they were in minority, for the area known as Old Finland, north of the Gulf of Finland, which Russia had gained from Sweden during the 18th century, and where Lutherans were a large majority. There the Ingrian Finns assimilated with the Karelian Finns.

In 1870, the printing of the first Finnish language newspaper, Pietarin Sanomat, started in Ingria. Before that Ingria received newspapers mostly from Vyborg. The first public library was opened in 1850, in Tyrö. The largest of the libraries, situated in Skuoritsa, had more than 2,000 volumes in the second half of the 19th century. In 1899, the first song festival in Ingria was held in Puutosti (Skuoritsa). In April 1935 7,000 people (2,000 families) were deported from Ingria to Kazakhstan, elsewhere in Central Asia, and the Ural region. In May and June 1936 20,000 people, the entire Finnish population of the parishes of Valkeasaari, Lempaala, Vuole and Miikkulainen near the Finnish border, were transferred to the area around Cherepovets. In Ingria they were replaced by people from other parts of the Soviet Union. After the war many Ingrian Finns settled in Soviet controlled Estonia.

From the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 until 2010, about 25,000 Ingrian Finns moved from Russia and Estonia to Finland, where they were eligible for automatic residence permits under the Finnish Law of Return. In 2010, however, the Finnish government decided to stop the remigration, so Ingrian Finns seeking residence are now treated in the same way as any other foreigners. There are still about 15,000 people in the remigration queue. There are social integration problems similar to those of any other migrant group in Europe, to such an extent that there is a political debate in Finland over the retention of the Finnish Law of Return. In contrast, native Finnish speakers have been easily assimilated into mainstream Finnish culture, leaving little trace of Ingrian Finnish traditions. In Estonia, the Ingrian Finns have enjoyed cultural autonomy since 2004, being the first minority to organize and use such a right after Estonia's restoration of independence. The 2011 census counted 369 Ingrian Finns in Estonia, a large majority of whom are also citizens of Estonia. In Russia, many Ingrian Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria.

Ingrian Finns cluster with Finns from Finland, Karelians and Vepsians. Half of Ingrian Finns belong to the maternal haplogroup H and 19.4% carry U5.