Rusty gate symbolises departure of Soviet troops 50 years ago

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A couple of hundred people had gathered in Espoo’s Kivenlahti district on Thursday afternoon to witness the unveiling of a monument commemorating the moment when the Soviet Union returned the area of Porkkala back to Finland fifty years ago.
      At three o’clock in the afternoon fifty years earlier, a gate had been lifted on a bridge on the Jorvaksentie road allowing the Finns to re-enter Porkkala. The memorial was erected in the Marinranta Park, a stone’s throw away from the historic Bastvikinsilta Bridge.
     
The memorial was financed and erected by the City of Espoo. The city engineer Martti Tienaho, hosted the event. According to Tienaho, the memorial visualised the ending of an 11-year period, during which Porkkala, an area of about 1,000 square kilometres just west of Helsinki, was leased to the Soviet Union.
      Espoo Mayor Marketta Kokkonen briefly ran through the events of the lease period. She concluded by saying: "Together we can achieve almost the impossible, if that is required."
      Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre Party) presented the government’s greetings. "It can be asked, if we would have been a sovereign state, had there been a foreign military base next to our capital until the year 1994."
      Under the interim peace agreement of 1944, Finland had agreed to lease Porkkala to the Soviet Union for fifty years.
     
The gate-themed memorial made out of brown rusty steel was conceived by sculptor Ulla-Kirsti Junttila together with architect Timo Urala.
      The initiative for erecting a memorial in conjunction with the 50th Anniversary of the return of Porkkala came from Uolevi Itkonen and the Kivenlahti Society.
     
There will be more about the return of Porkkala in our weekly selection of stories on Tuesday.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Return of Porkkala by Soviets 50 years ago had strings attached (25.1.2006)

Helsingin Sanomat