Tuominen, Arvo (Arvo Tuominen) in recent years traveled all over Russia. In his circle of friends included ordinary workers, and cultural figures, and fabulously rich businessmen.
“Still unites the nation vodka. It destroys social boundaries and personal complexes.”
“What better place to interview the folk taverns where you can feel the Russian spirit with all its flavors. There is better understand reports of research centers on what people think about the world,” says Arvo Tuominen.
“Kaleidoscope of isthmus” (Kannaksen kaleidoskooppi) — this is not a book written in a vodka stupor. The author finds something new in the stories of indigenous people in the Finnish and Russian archives about the past and present of the Karelian isthmus.
Such was Vyborg
Travel diary Arvo Tuominen starts in Vyborg. There are stories about wealth and poverty turn romantic notions upside down.
For example, the story about the rich man after the king in the Russian Empire, Prince Lopukhin-Demidov has no happy ending. He died in the provincial hospital of Vyborg, where, being absolutely poor, were in an accident.
The oldest resident of Vyborg Finnish remembers “four-legged” guys who in the 1960s made a hard landing “on the belly”. The bells of the Svyato-ilinskogo khrama where ringer is the former punk, is trembling at the listeners.
In the old part of the city Arvo Tuominen faces pyrotechnic landscape similar to that in Finland is called “Turku disease” (in the 1960s and 1970s in Turku is actively demolished buildings, which were objects of cultural and historical heritage — approx. TRANS.).
“When the house caught fire Alice Hackman (Alice Hackman), a fire team only watched as the flames devoured him. The Museum staff was not allowed to demolish the ruined building, so the old part of Vyborg looks the same as the Northern part of Aleppo”, says Tuominen.
Fascinating stories about the city with more than enough for everyone. After all, “our Vyborg” 417 years belonged to Sweden, 280 years belonged to Russia, and 26 independent Finland.
Our Prime Minister was a smuggler
One of the most unusual stories of the book “a Kaleidoscope of isthmus” tells of involvement in the smuggling of Antiques from Soviet Russia the Ambassador of Finland in Moscow and the last Prime Minister of the government of Finland the times of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1941-1944 (“the continuation War”) Hakala Antti (Antti Hackzell).
The book talks about how, being a messenger of Finland in Moscow, Accell bought on the black market Antiques were smuggled them in by diplomatic mail to Finland and sold in the markets of Europe.
Embedded in the Embassy informant reported that Antti Hackzell Packed with their things items by Faberge that he was going to fly to Finland. According to relatives, these items never reached Finland.
“The known Russian historian Alexander Rupasov described these cases in his book, “Agathon Faberge in the Red Petrograd”, says Tuominen.
“Besides, Oleg Faberge (son of the jeweler Faberge Agathon — approx. TRANS.) says in his autobiography “Memories,” the mysterious disappearance of family heirlooms. Being a gentleman, Faberge leaves the reader the right to decide for himself where precious objects from the Embassy of Finland”, says Arvo Tuominen.
The day of reckoning the Prime Minister Antti Hakala arrived at the peace negotiations in Moscow in the autumn of 1944. He was face to face with the foreign Minister of Soviet Union Vyacheslav Molotov.
“We can assume that Molotov said Chancello something like: “Well, old smuggler, what new deeds think of?” Harsh words Molotov has led to the fact that Hazelle had a stroke, from which he was unable to recover.”
“I must say that Hazell was not the best defender of the interests of Finland in the negotiations with the Soviet Union about peace terms,” adds Tuominen.
Arvo Tuominen says with a laugh that one of the goals of his book is to dispel the prejudices against the neighbor, which may give rise to new prejudices.
Why burn the Repin’s dacha?
In the travel notes of Arvo Tuominen there are in Finnish a silly story that happened in the village of Kuokkala on the Gulf of Finland, the present-day Repino.
The famous Russian painter Ilya Repin moved to the country “Penates” in Kuokkala village in 1903. And in the summer of 1944 at the end of the Winter war in the country housed the Finnish soldiers.
Although the advancing Red army was dangerously close, the young Finns became interested in a pillow fight.
In the heat of battle a kerosene lamp fell to the floor and was lying on the floor set fire to the straw. The fire broke out, and the house burned down. The cause of the fire soldiers swore to carry with him to the grave.
“The soldiers agreed that if anyone told anyone about the incident, he paid for it with their life. I heard this story from an old Lotte at the Museum of Lott, it, in turn, said Lotte was present at the fire soldiers. Knowledge of this story was really depressing her, so she told it to me,” says Tuominen (“Lotta Svard” − female paramilitary organization in Finland, which existed from 1919 to 1944, approx. ed.).
Arvo Tuominen acquaints the reader with the village was Kirjasalo in a short-lived Republic of North Ingria. The author goes through the traces left on border lane in the village Lipola “superspy” by Vilho Pentikainen (Vilho Pentikäinen), which was engaged in spying for the Soviet Union.
“I move around Russia freely, because all my papers in order. A couple of times I was in the main building of FSB on Lubyanka square, where got acquainted with the archives. Meet me there just fine,” says Tuominen.
Nudity and erotic are inseparable
The modern life of the Karelian isthmus, too, leaves an unforgettable impression.
Tuominen learned a lot when I was in the city of Sestroretsk on the Karelian isthmus on the occasion of the completion of the winter season. In the West there is a perception that nudity and erotica are not linked. It’s all fiction.
“At first my attention was attracted by the fact that they were all shaven. Karaoke was quite fun, dance Letka-ENKA looked comical. But when, after these preliminaries moved on to the massage, I thought it was time to get out”.
“I don’t buy the statement that nudity and erotica are two different things”, says Tuominen.
