Letters from a Divided Land

Dear Lauri,

I hope this letter finds you well and that you are looking after mum and dad. I know you don’t agree with my decision to join the Red Guard, but I hope you will understand it.

When I left with Eero for the meeting, I wasn’t sure I would enlist. But I listened to the leaders of our cause and new I couldn’t sit in the sidelines. We live a very sheltered life in our little village. Although, we see those who are struggling to make ends meet even in our village, the situation across the country is a lot worse.

Our leaders have crisscrossed the country and met with so much hunger and desperation. Children going without decent clothing, parents skipping meals so that they can feed their children. And this will only get worse if we are not prepared to protect our rights. I still hope we can solve this through words, not through blood. But if it comes to it, I am ready to die for the sake of everyone being free in our homeland. A land that is finally ours.

The other side, they call us rebels. But we are not rebels. All we want is fairness for all.

I know that your thoughts on this situation differ from mine. You are more learned than I am. But books can’t show you how the workers and the farmers of this country are suffering. They do all the work, while the wealthy reap the rewards. That’s how it has always been.

But you do realise that it doesn’t have to be like that, don’t you? There is another way, a fairer way. We can create a society where everyone has the same rights…

I have so much more I wanted to say to you, but I don’t have the words. I never was much of a speaker. You were the one gifted with the words.

I have to go now. We are about to start battle practice. Just in case it should come to that. I still pray that it won’t.

I also pray that you, mum, and dad are safe. I am so happy you are with them. And keep yourself out of trouble. Don’t take sides. I know, a bit rich coming from me, but we will need people like you when this is all over. People like you who have both book learning and first-hand knowledge of working life.

Stay safe and give my love to Mother and Father.

Matti

January 1918, Alavus

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Dear Matti,

Not sure if this letter will find you, but I’ll write it anyway. I’ll send it to where you were posted last ih the hopes that it will.

You said in your letter to keep myself out of trouble. Well, too late. I already signed up. I don’t think keeping out of trouble really is an option anymore. You are either one of us or one of them, and I still can’t believe that you chose them. The Bolsheviks.

You are so misguided. Don’t you realise that your side, with their close ties to our neighbours in the east, will only lead us to the arms of the Ruskies again? Is that what you want? For us to lose our independence having only gained it a few months ago.

My only hope now that I have joined the White Army is that I don’t meet you in the battlefield. Because that’s where we are heading. Your bullish leaders simply won’t listen to sense. You say you and your leaders love this land and its people.

Well, guess what. So do we. We want a Finland where we can be free to speak, work, and pray freely. Do you think the Bolsheviks would allow that? Open your eyes brother! It is not too late to change your mind and come to the right side.

May God protect you, and when this is over, quickly, I pray, I hope we will both still be here. And then, again, I pray, over time, I hope you will see where you have erred and see the light.

Always your brother, despite our differences,

Lauri

January 1918, Helsinki

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Dear Mother and Father,

I hope you are keeping safe despite the war that is tearing our country apart. I hear both sides have been robbing villages in your area, looking for food, sometimes killing in process those who they believe help the enemy.

I am positioned in Tampere where we been under siege for a few weeks now. We are trapped in the city and the shells are raining on us day and night. The city is in ruins and there is hardly any food left.

Frankly, I don’t know how much longer we can hold our positions. Not long, I’d say, unless we get some enforcements. But I have little hope that any help is coming, and I fear I might not make it out alive.

Since the war started, I have seen things I will never be able to forget. I will spare you the details, but believe me, I never would have believed we could do this to each other. I thought we were supposed to be brothers and sisters.

Talking of brothers. I received Lauri’s letter. Apparently, he is the enemy now. Should we both survive this, I can’t see myself and him under the same roof again. I know that pains you, but probably no more than you are hurting already. With your two sons on two different sides.

I am sorry, but there was no other choice I could have made. And I would still make the same choice, and I will not stop fighting. Although it is getting harder each day. We are all so tired, and the rumours about the Germans fighting alongside the Whites do not help. Whether they are just rumours or the truth, it is bringing down our morale. Many believe that we are outnumbered and that nobody will get out alive.

But I will try, and I pray that it will be so.

Your loving son, Matti

Late March 1918, Tampere

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My Dearest Liisa,

I am sorry I haven’t written of late. We have been on the move for days as we were called to help take Tampere. I am pleased to say we are now close to taking it despite Reds having put up a valiant fight. I will give them that. But then, they are built from the same earth as we are.

That’s what hurts me the most. That we are killing each other when we should be working side by side to build this country. If only the Reds had not been so foolish as to fight. If only they had listened to some sense. Surely, they must have known that when they picked up arms, our side had no option but to crush the rebellion.

Liisa, I believe that this will be over fairly soon. Once we have taken Tampere, which is only a matter of days now that the Germans are supporting us, it will not be long until we take the rest of their strongholds. And then I will be home to you, and we can get married.

I know that I can be honest with you and tell you that there are times when all I feel is despair. When the snow all around me is coloured red, and the air is filled with the cries of the injured and the dying. The only thing that keeps me going is the thought of you and the children I hope we will have together one day. It is for them I am fighting for. So they could grow up knowing what freedom is.

I pray you are safe and that I will see you soon.

Lauri

April 1918, outside Tampere

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Dear Mother and Father,

This is likely the last you ever hear from me. I am writing this in haste, because they have taken the city. I write this, hoping that some kind soul will find this letter and deliver it to you should I not make it out alive.

For the first time in, I don’t know how long, the guns are silent. Only the odd shot breaks the silence now and then. While I will do my utmost to get out and return home, I fear it will be impossible. The enemy shows no mercy, even to those who want to surrender.

That’s how our neighbour Eero got killed. Shot as he waved a white flag. This war has turned us into beasts.

I hear footsteps so I must haste.

Always your loving son, Matti

April 1918, Tampere

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Official Notice

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Niemi,

We regret to inform you that your son, Matti Niemi, has been confirmed deceased following the Battle of Tampere. His body was recovered near the railway station and was identified by his personal effects.

He also had on his body a letter written to yourselves, which we have enclosed together with his other personal belongings.

Due to the circumstances, burial was arranged on site.

We offer our condolences.

With respect,

Office of Military Records

May 1918

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Dear Matti,

Here I go again, writing a letter to you in my mind. If I had actually written all these words on paper, they probably would have had to cut down a whole forest.

Another war has just ended for us, although it still rages on elsewhere in Europe. By God’s grace we have kept our independence. It has come at a high cost, again, but we have showed the enemies what we are made of.

Liisa and I were spared; our children all made it through the war. But so many people we know lost sons and daughters. So many children have been left without fathers, some without mothers, too.

But at least the war united us as a nation. We were brothers in arms again, fighting a common enemy, not each other. And that, my dear brother, gives me hope for the future. Hope for our land.

Until we are united in the heavens, your loving brother,

Lauri

April 1945, Helsinki

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Historical Backgroung

The Finnish Civil War (January–May 1918) is a period in Finnish history that is not often talked about even now, as it remains one of the most significant collective traumas in Finnish history. The war that followed Finland’s independence from Russia saw family members and neighbours divided between the socialist Reds and the conservative Whites.

According to the Finnish Heritage Agency, approximately 38,000 people were killed during this brief but brutal war. It is estsimated that around 10,000 of those killed, were Reds executed after the war. In addition, nearly 100,000 Reds were captured and sent to prison camps where over 13,000 of them died of disease and hunger.

With such a small population, this war touched everyone in Finalnd. This story was inspired by the many untold stories of ordinary men who were called to fight.