“Contrary to the widespread view expressed in the secondary literature, it was not the reindeer collectivization or Stalinist terror, but the forced relocations between the 1930s and 1970s that represented the deepest rupture in the life of most of today’s elder Sámi of the Kola Peninsula. Russification and changes in reindeer herding patterns had set in already before the October Revolution”, says the author of the book, researcher Lukas Allemann from the Arctic Centre.

Most of the interviewed old Sámi had been resettled at least once, many of them even twice and more, without being asked.

“The needs of Soviet large-scale industrialisation and militarisation stood above those of the indigenous population. This resulted in massive social problems which last until today”, continues Allemann.

Using extensive biographical interviews as a primary source, this research steps into an important research gap and opens up the inner world and structural relationships of this ethnic minority group. The author Lukas Allemann, however, following his informants, avoids a categorical demonization of the USSR. The widespread opinion that it was only Soviet rule that initiated the destruction of Sámi culture is also qualified by this book.

“This book has been an important precursor also to the large-scale oral history project Orhelia under way at the Arctic Centre, into which the Eastern Sámi are included, too”, says Project coordinator and Senior researcher Florian Stammler.

The book "The Sámi of the Kola Peninsula: About the life of an ethnic minority in the Soviet Union" has been recently translated into English and published on the internet within the publication series of the Centre for Sámi Studies at the University of Tromsø. Lukas Allemann’s book was originally written in German and published in 2010. The English version is freely accessible online. The translation of the book was funded by the programme “Focal Point North” (Tromsø Research Foundation, The University of Tromsø).

The book was originally and published under the following title:
Allemann Lukas, Die Samen der Kola-Halbinsel. Über das Leben einer ethnischen Minderheit in der Sowjetunion, Series 'Menschen und Strukturen. Historisch-sozialwissenschaftliche Studien', Ed. by Heiko Haumann, Vol. 18, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Brussels, New York, Oxford, Vienna, 2010, ISBN-978-3-631-61201-9.

For more information:
The online version of the study
Researcher Lukas Allemann, MA
Anthropology Research Team
Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland
Rovaniemi, Finland
Tel. +358 40 484 4418
lukas.allemann (at) ulapland.fi

ULapland / Arctic Centre / JL & JEK