Sodan pojat : sodanaikaisten pikkupoikien lapsuuskokemuksia isyyden näkökulmasta

Abstract

Erkki Kujalan yhteiskuntapolitiikan väitöskirjan mukaan sota vaikutti kielteisesti isyyteen. Miesten ollessa vuosikausia sodassa heillä ei ollut aikaa tai mahdollisuutta olla lastensa kanssa, mistä johtuen isä-poika-suhde jäi usein etäiseksi. Kujala tutki väitöskirjassaan sota-ajan pikkupoikien, nyt yli 60-vuotiaiden miesten, kokemuksia sodasta, sen vaikutuksista isyyteen ja sitä kautta suomalaisen miehen tunne-elämään.Monetkaan miehet eivät muistele kaikkia sota-ajan kokemuksia pahalla, sillä puute ja lapsena töihin joutuminen opetti heidät kekseliäiksi ja selviytymään vaikeissakin tilanteissa. Sota opetti myös yhteisvastuuta ja yhteistyötä, sillä tuolloin oli tavallista, että naapurit kantoivat huolta toisistaan. Kujalan väitöstutkimuksen mukaan haastatelluista vain harva oli edelleen katkera, vaikka useimmat totesivatkin, ettei heillä ollut normaalia lapsuutta lainkaan.

The sons of war is a study about the effect of war on fatherhood and on the emotional life of Finnish men during the last generations. The basis of this research are the child-hood experiences of 23 Finnish men during the Second World War in 1939–1945. The method of choosing the target group was the fact that men from all the provinces in different parts of Finland, were during the war little boys whose fathers were soldiers in the war and now these boys are fathers themselves. Naturally a prereguisite was also that they can remember events, their own life and the life of their families during that time period. In addition, I have also interviewed the sons of these men and the descriptions of two of these sons concerning both their fathers and their feelings about the war are included in the study. I myself was a child during the war and I have always been amazed how Finnish people in general got through those difficult years when at the homefront there were only women, children and old people fighting their own battle for everyday bread. In this research I try to explain that situation through children’s experiences, through the eyes of the little boys of that time. Because of the many years that have passed since the war, the elderly men I interviewed were at this time in their late fifties or early sixties, so the memory of the human mind has a very great influence on the events and what kind of picture of that time is conveyed to us. This is why in the theoretical part of the research I have used a lot of time to clarify the function and believability of our memory. As a result of my clarification I am convinced the childhood experiences presented in this research, give a good and truthful picture about the life and emotions of Finnish boys during the war. This is everyday history. The impact of war on the emotional life of men and through that on fatherhood is the key thought running through this whole book. Very little studies have been made in Finland from this point of view and for this reason I believe my study will bring something new to the current study of men and fatherhood. I have done my life’s work as a reporter in the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation (YLE) concerning, as I mentioned above, my interests in the influence of the war on fatherhood and on Finnish people’s ability to get through the wartime difficulties, in the autumn of 1999 I made an extensive series of the sons of the war for the radio as a 60-year anniversary of the start of the Winter War. At this point came also the idea of writing a dissertation on this topic, when I noticed the area is hardly researched in spite of the increasing studies on men and manhood. Then I was able to gather a great amount of my material which I have later complemented with the interviews. I have done this research as a postgraduate student at the University of Jyväskylä, in addition to my daily work. I would like to thank my fellow seminar students for the joint effort and encouragement during the different stages of my study. And I would also like to thank the Fund of Central Ostrobothnia of the Finnish Cultural Foundation for the grant I received. I especially want to thank my instructor, Professor Marja Järvelä, for all her valuable advice and Professor Risto Heiskala for reading my research and for the useful instruction at the end of my study. At last I would like to thank the censors of my dissertation Docent Tommi Hoikkala and Doctor Arto Tiihonen for attending to my study carefully and for all their helpful comments. I also warmly thank all the sons of the war I interviewed in different parts of Finland, for welcoming me and recalling, with great effort, all those hard war years. In the narrative theme interview they opened up and often told me even about painful childhood experiences, quite often with tears in their eyes. However, this was very valuable for in this way we have been able to gather together the common memories and experiences of one Finnish male generation, the influence of which reflects on the emotions of men even up to this time.