Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 12.1.
Location map of the Baltic region.
and cultural cooperation between the nations
was minimal and strictly controlled by the coer-
cive Soviet policy and measures. However,
tourism started to develop in spite of these cir-
cumstances, organized by the Soviet state tour-
ism operators (e.g. Intourist, Sputnik) from the
late 1950s. Official political, cultural and labour
delegations were characteristic for 'tourism'
between Finland and Soviet Estonia, and
indeed with the whole Soviet Union during
the following three decades (Kostiainen, 1998).
The situation was normalized after the collapse
of the Soviet Union. From the moment that the
three Baltic states regained their independence,
preparations were begun for EU accession.
The mutual communication, for example, of
writers, scholars, and architects, was intense
during the period of independence and
even earlier under the Russian Empire, when
scholars of both nations could exploit the
wide-ranging imperial cultural and economic
resources and international networks. A promi-
nent feature of collaboration among ordinary
people was
söber
trade: barter trade between
Finnish and Estonian peasant families during
the Imperial period and the later decades of
independence (Sepra, 2005). Fish and agricul-
tural products were exchanged (and, unlaw-
fully, spirit from Estonia to Finland in the
1930s).
Finland succeeded in preserving her inde-
pendence after the Second World War, but
Estonia and the other two Baltic states lost theirs
in 1941, and became socialist republics within
the Soviet Union until regaining their independ-
ence after the collapse of the USSR in 1990.
The Soviets closed the border, and economic
The Post-war Finnish-Soviet/Russian
Relationship
World War II was a painful process for Finland,
and its outcome required a revised attitude to
