{"id":1427,"date":"2017-11-22T22:49:12","date_gmt":"2017-11-22T20:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-talvisota.digiasites.com\/?page_id=1427"},"modified":"2018-01-20T20:47:38","modified_gmt":"2018-01-20T18:47:38","slug":"soldiers-home-association-of-finland","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/en\/home-front\/soldiers-home-association-of-finland\/","title":{"rendered":"Soldier\u2019s Home Association of Finland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jaegers brought the idea of soldier\u2019s homes to Finland from Germany<\/strong><\/p>\n

The idea of soldier\u2019s homes was brought to Finland from Germany by Jaegers. Jaeger Captains Olli Paloheimo and Selim Isakson wrote an article titled \u2018Sotilaskoteja perustamaan\u2019 (Let\u2019s Found Soldier\u2019s Homes) in November 1918 that was published in several newspapers. The article described soldier\u2019s homes as places where soldiers could go to spend their free time in the evening. Soldier\u2019s homes would offer soldiers food, coffee and refreshments for a small fee. According to the article, the soul of the soldier\u2019s homes were the garrison town\u2019s women, \u2018who wished to perform their military service in this capacity\u2019. Soldier\u2019s homes were established in many garrison towns before the end of the year.<\/p>\n

The Soldier\u2019s Home Association of Finland was founded in 1921<\/strong><\/p>\n

Local soldier\u2019s home associations began their nationwide organisation in 1921. The matter was prepared under the supervision of Katri Bergholm, the chair of the Helsinki Soldier\u2019s Home Association. She became the first chair of the Soldier\u2019s Home Association of Finland, which was founded in November of that year. According to the association\u2019s confirmed rules, membership in the association could be granted to \u2018organisations that maintain soldier\u2019s homes and which agree to present their account books as proof that any earnings they retain are used for the benefit of the soldier\u2019s home and soldiers\u2019.<\/p>\n

According to the amended rules of 1934, the association\u2019s purpose was to \u2018assist the Defence Forces and Border Guard with soldier\u2019s homes both in peacetime and wartime\u2019. The military clergy took active part in the activities of the soldier\u2019s homes. Mrs. Bergholm resigned from her position as chair in 1937 for health reasons. Toini J\u00e4nnes (MA) was chosen to succeed her.<\/p>\n

In autumn 1939, the Defence Forces requested that the Soldier\u2019s Home Association of Finland expand its activities<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thirty-three local soldier\u2019s home associations were represented at the annual meeting of the Soldier\u2019s Home Association of Finland in April 1939. A conference was held for the chairs, secretaries and treasurers on 2 October. The representative of the Defence Forces, Colonel Voldemar Oinonen, urged the participants to send mobile soldier\u2019s homes from the garrisons to accompany any brigade-level units deployed to the border region. In his speech, Oinonen also stated that the associations should establish soldier\u2019s homes in new locations during a possible mobilisation. The General Staff was prepared to name them if necessary.<\/p>\n

Numerous new soldier\u2019s homes were established during the additional refresher training, which\u00a0commenced a few days later. Many of the soldier\u2019s home associations set up temporary soldier\u2019s homes and new places of operations at locations the troops transferred to. During the additional refresher training, the associations operated almost 300 soldier\u2019s homes. The soldier\u2019s homes subscribed to local newspapers from the troops\u2019 home regions. In addition to normal canteen activities, the soldier\u2019s homes also held evening gatherings for the soldiers who were in service. Evening devotionals were held in the evening and church services on Sundays.<\/p>\n

Soldier\u2019s homes continued operating in wartime<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the war, soldier\u2019s home activities also spread to war hospitals. Representatives of the Soldier\u2019s Home Association of Finland and local associations visited hospitals and procured books for the patients to read.<\/p>\n

In July 1940, Commander-in-Chief Mannerheim thanked the people involved in soldier\u2019s homes for their wartime efforts in his order of the day (No. 92\/12 July 1940). The order of the day stated the following:<\/p>\n

\u2018People of the Finnish soldier\u2019s homes.<\/em><\/p>\n

With pride and joy have I witnessed the successful work that the personnel of the Soldier\u2019s Home Association of Finland has performed for our Defence Forces during the now concluded war.<\/em><\/p>\n

Your self-sacrificing efforts have extended all the way to the front lines and given life to our troops, encouraging them to engage in new efforts.<\/em><\/p>\n

There are also fallen among you. We honour their memory.<\/em><\/p>\n

I would like to thank the people of the Finnish soldier\u2019s homes on my own behalf and on behalf of the army for their well-executed and valuable work.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mannerheim\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Ari Raunio<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jaegers brought the idea of soldier\u2019s homes to Finland from Germany The idea of soldier\u2019s homes was brought to Finland from Germany by Jaegers. Jaeger Captains Olli Paloheimo and Selim Isakson wrote an article titled \u2018Sotilaskoteja perustamaan\u2019 (Let\u2019s Found Soldier\u2019s Homes) in November 1918 that was published in several newspapers. The article described soldier\u2019s homes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":570,"parent":1417,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"custom-templates\/child-level.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1427","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/api\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/api\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1427"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/api\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2529,"href":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/api\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1427\/revisions\/2529"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/api\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/talvisota.fi\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}