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Borderland
Karelia is a mythologically significant place for Finns as a former settlement area and as the origin of the Kalevala. It was the scene of bloody conflicts. Civil war, Soviet invasion and winter war, pact with Nazi Germany and war of continuation, separate peace with the Soviet Union and expulsion of German troops ended with the Peace of Paris, which established the present Russian border.
Southeast Karelia, remaining territory on the Finnish side, has since developed a specific identity as a region, shaped by its recent history and its proximity to the Soviet and later Russian border. Major infrastructure projects, industrial settlements and urban planning projects to promote the border region have been implemented since then. However, the region never took the development that was hoped for. Today, the region is additionally confronted with the necessary integration of global problems such as the settlement of refugees in converted buildings, population decline and the impact of globalization on important local industries.
Imatra
Southeast Finnish city, industrially influenced, important border crossing to Russia
Tiuruniemi, Joutseno, South Eastern Finland
1937 – 1939 built by architect Jalmari Lankinen as a lung sanatorium.
From 1939 – 1944 first used as a military hospital, then operated in its originally planned use as a lung sanatorium. The hospital was closed down in 2008, and was then used as accommodation for asylum seekers until 2012. In 2012 the facility will move to the former Konnunsuo prison.
Konnunsuo, Jotseno, South Eastern Finland
Prison facility founded in 1920,
since 2012 use as accommodation for asylum seekers.