ABSTRACT

This book discusses the archaeology and heritage of the German military presence in Finnish Lapland during the Second World War, framing this northern, overlooked WWII material legacy from the nearly forgotten Arctic front as ‘dark heritage’ – a concrete reminder of Finns siding with the Nazis, often seen as polluting ‘war junk’ that ruins the ‘pristine natural beauty’ of Lapland’s wilderness. The scholarship herein provides fresh perspectives to contemporary discussions on heritage perception and ownership, indigenous rights, community empowerment, relational ontologies and also the ongoing worldwide refugee crisis.

chapter 1|12 pages

Introduction

part I|74 pages

Hitler’s Arctic War and its material remains

chapter 3|47 pages

Finnish-German Waffenbrüderschaft

The Northern Brothers-in-arms, 1940–1945

part II|79 pages

Strangers in a strange land

chapter 6|15 pages

Entangled with the north

Placelessness, disorder and dislocation

part III|72 pages

Ignored, yet remembered

chapter 7|18 pages

Heritage past, present and future

chapter 10|18 pages

Custodians of ‘war junk’

Local and global heritage of Second World War in Lapland