ABSTRACT
War commemoration is an essential tool for nation-states to establish their official narratives. In Finland, a civil war in the early moments of independence in 1918 and a series of wars against the Soviet Union and Germany during the course of World War II not only had a great role in defining the Finnish nation-state, but have also been used in various ways to create a sense of national identity through commemorative art. Their public remembrance and commemoration has, however, been complicated. Following the civil war, the two sides had different histories to be commemorated. Following World War II, artists had to create monuments for a war effort that was not victorious, maintaining its glorifying nature while not offending the victors. 1
