ABSTRACT
Much of Finnish Lapland was burnt to the ground in the last phases of World War II in 1945. Retreating German troops burnt almost half of all the buildings in the region, and in some municipalities the destruction was almost complete. For example, in the city of Rovaniemi, the administrative center of the province, about 90 per cent of the buildings were ruined. The railroad, roads, bridges and ferries were bombed and telephone and telegraph connections destroyed. Laplanders coming back home from the war and evacuation had to start their lives and reconstruction empty-handed.1
