Historian Heikki Ylikangas challenges Finnish national mythology

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By Esa Mäkinen
     
      This is not a man who is afraid of being right - or of being alone.
      Last Tuesday, Heikki Ylikangas published the book Romahtaako rintama? ("Is the Front Collapsing?") whose basic thesis is that the Finns executed more of their own soldiers for desertion during the final phases of the continuation War than had been previously disclosed.
      His book is not even the first time that Professor Ylikangas has caused a stir. Usually it follows the same pattern.
      "People in Finland have imagined that even in a bad crisis, things have been dealt with at an ethically high level, as if the law were being followed. The more these things have been studied, the more frequently we have come to the conclusion that the actions taken in Finland have been the same as elsewhere, and that the difference is in our imagination, and not in reality", Ylikangas says.
     
Ylikangas's home in Kruunuhaka in the centre of Helsinki looks like one might imagine how the home of an academic of the old school would look. Chandeliers, rococo-style furniture, and no need to remove one's outdoor shoes when stepping into the salon.
      In the hall Ylikangas proudly shows a chest, asking me to guess when it might have ben made. I venture that it was from the late 19th century.
      "It is from 1695", is the right answer.
      The chest, which is now full of firewood, has been passed on for centuries in the Ostrobothnian family. Although Ylikangas has lived in Helsinki for five decades, his 20 years in South Ostrobothnia have left their mark. His speech still sounds Ostrobothnian.
      "My attitude toward the military and toward military action is perhaps not as powerfully positive as is typical over there. A strong local patriotic mentality is more alien to me."
      As a young student, Ylikangas came from Laihia to Helsinki in the late 1950s and was married in 1960.
      "My wife and I met in Laihia and we've gone steady ever since", Ylikangas remembers.
      Seven years after the wedding, he defended his doctoral dissertation in history, and his second child was born. Nowadays "Papa" has four grandchildren.
     
Ylikangas is best known for his polemical war histories and his plays. However, the researcher, who was named Professor of Legal History in 1978, is also renowned in academic circles for his research into the 17th and 18th centuries.
      "He has had a big influence on the writing of history of older times, actually turning a new page", says historian Mirkka Lappalainen.
      Lappalainen, who has worked as Ylikangas's research assistant, also appreciates his research methods.
      "His method of research is very much like that of the legal system: he looks for evidence."
      Others praise him even more.
      "As a researcher and interpreter of history, Ylikangas most definitely belongs to Finland's elite", writes MP Erkki Tuomioja (SDP) in his blog.
     
The greatest controversy in the extensive production of Ylikangas was caused by his 1993 book Tie Tampereelle ("The Road to Tampere"), in which he showed that the war fought in Finland in 1918 was a civil war - and not a "War of Freedom", as it has been called.
      In South Ostrobothnia, especially in the newspaper Ilkka, the thesis put forward by Ylikangas caused great offence. Ylikangas had claimed that the Ostrobothnians had been tricked into the war by claiming that the Russians were the enemy, even though it was well known that the Reds were primarily Finns.
      In a column written soon after the book was released, Veikko Pirilä, the former editor-in-chief of Ilkka, wrote that the "overflowing self-assuredness and conceitedness" of Ylikangas make him think that he can tell something new about a topic that has been thoroughly researched.
      "Ylikangas's defamation of the freedom warriors leave an unfortunate stain on the 75th anniversary events of our independence and our independence struggle", Pirilä wrote.
     
Ylikangas says that his purpose as a researcher has not been to hurt anyone's sensibilities.
      "Dark sides must also be studied. If this is not done, it reduces the credibility of the research which is experienced as pleasant, and aimed at the right targets."
      He says the same about the criticism directed at his most recent book: the reason for the anger has not even been the idea that the feelings of veterans have been hurt. The reason for the fuss is that people in Finland are expected to agree with each other.
      "Many war veterans have been in contact with me and said that these kinds of things need to be clarified."
     
"Ninety per cent of historical research is focused on the bright sides and acts of heroism, which undoubtedly can be found in war. But other things can also be found. Finnish historical writing has difficulties in going against strong public opinion."
      In the view of Ylikangas, it is important for the credibility of research to know how many Finns were killed in the Continuation War by their own side. If credible research is not conducted in Finland, Ylikangas says that this will be noted abroad. Besides, killing people on the same side is part of the nature of war.
      "When final defeat looms in plain sight, all means are taken into use. The primary thought is not, if this is the appropriate thing to do under the rule of law."
      Ylikangas says that the death sentences were essential from the military point of view. In the Continuation War they also led to the desired result.
      Nevertheless, it is not without his own input that Ylikangas has became the centre of controversy. Especially at a later age he has handled only sensitive matters, and writes his works without mincing words.
     
"Sensitive subjects are consistently important subjects."
      "The topics choose me", he says, describing how he selects his subject matter.
      According to many of his former students, the professor's reputation was such that it was best not to disagree with him during a lecture. He has also been characterised as the king of rebuttals, a typical South Ostrobothnian princess, who eagerly denounces all criticism directed at him.
      Ylikangas laughs at this image. "I have been criticised far more than my colleagues, when I have answered them less frequently than my colleagues have, it still gives the impression that I am a king of rebuttals."
     
In the future, Ylikangas plans to focus on the writing of plays. One of his plays is to be performed by the Espoo City Theatre, and he has been contacted by a couple of other theatres as well.
      His four grandchildren also take up much of his time. Professor and Mrs. Ylikangas have bought an apartment in Vaasa in order to be close to their grandchildren, without having to be "in the way of the young couple".
      No other big historical projects are in sight.
      "If I survive this one", Ylikangas laughs.
      "I doubt that I will run into some big topic. They are such big efforts that a 70-year-old is not ready for it."
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 7.10.2007


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Historian claims number of executions of deserters during Continuation War was deliberately understated (3.10.2007)

ESA MÄKINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
esa.makinen@hs.fi