Paper Title
Social and Political Issues and the Finnish Deportees from North America
Location
Fisher 127
Event Website
http://www.finnforumx.com/
Start Date
12-4-2014 2:00 PM
End Date
12-4-2014 2:20 PM
Description
An important issue in both Canadian and United States immigration history has been the control of immigration, which includes possible quotas, immigration laws as well as denying entry, and finally, the deportation of immigrants. This paper is based on information that is available on the deportations of 167 people, most of them young adult males. Many assume politics was a key motivation for deportation. However, Finnish Americans were rarely deported for political activities. The paper discusses a few interesting cases of political deportations both during the interwar years, and after the Second World War. The information is mostly based on the correspondence between the authorities in Finland and the United States and Canada, available at the Foreign Ministry Archives in Helsinki, Finland. Special attention is directed to the social and political background of those people and of special interest are the specific reasons, social or health problems, which seem to be the basis of most deportation decisions.
Presenter Bio
Kostiainen has worked as a professor of general history, and in the specific area of non-European regions and especially in North American history. His scholarly activities include the publication of more than two hundred studies of various lengths among these are eight monographs or books.
Social and Political Issues and the Finnish Deportees from North America
Fisher 127
An important issue in both Canadian and United States immigration history has been the control of immigration, which includes possible quotas, immigration laws as well as denying entry, and finally, the deportation of immigrants. This paper is based on information that is available on the deportations of 167 people, most of them young adult males. Many assume politics was a key motivation for deportation. However, Finnish Americans were rarely deported for political activities. The paper discusses a few interesting cases of political deportations both during the interwar years, and after the Second World War. The information is mostly based on the correspondence between the authorities in Finland and the United States and Canada, available at the Foreign Ministry Archives in Helsinki, Finland. Special attention is directed to the social and political background of those people and of special interest are the specific reasons, social or health problems, which seem to be the basis of most deportation decisions.
https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/copperstrikesymposium/Schedule/Saturday/53
