Column | Viipuri may be lost once again

Vyborg Bay fireworks start in the cove. It’s the end of July, the evening is already getting dark.

The bang is deafening as the fireworks fall in the sky like shrapnel.

The flag flying in the tower of Vyborg Castle resembles the symbol of the rebellion of the southern states. It is the wartime flag of the Russian Navy.

People are screaming woohoo In front of Družba Hotel. The hotel used to be popular with Finns, but now you can’t hear Finnish in the whole city, not even at the gas pumps.

It may be that Viipuri will be lost again.

To cherish the road approaching the border on the Finnish side is just deserted. The hopes and investments directed at the neighboring country are like an empty truck park.

In 1939, 74,000 people lived in Vyborg. Nowadays, fewer and fewer Finns can tell what kind of joyful urban life was spent during the republic.

According to Statistics Finland, there are more than 4,400 people who were born in Vyborg before it was officially handed over to the Soviet Union in September 1944.

There is only one alive who was born in Vyborg before Finland’s independence.

In Torkkelinpuisto the market seller presents small statues and taps each one on the head with a metal stick: “Lenin, Lenin, Lenin.”

Lenin is also standing at the parade ground of Punaisenlähtentor, although he is not at the peak of his popularity. The Russian leadership isn’t excited about revolutions and doesn’t want others to be either.

Instead, numerous monuments to Stalin have been erected in recent years. Not to Vyborg anyway.

Tourists swarm in front of the railway station, shouting for buses to Monrepos. Because of Corona, the Russians have found a city that is rarely European.

The Soviet Union tried to fade Finnishness, but later Art Nouveau castles and modernist culture houses have been renovated.

Even before the borders were closed, Finns made up a small part of the visitors. Although the border has now opened, the e-visa for the Leningrad region has been completely forgotten.

Still, In addition to Lenins, Stalins and Putins, market traders have invested in Sauli Niinistö. Pictures are printed on mugs and t-shirts. The wooden doll at the outermost part of the large ground floor represents Saul, with a selection of presidents placed inside.

The seller holds the smallest doll between thumb and forefinger: “Mannergeim.”

When the summer passes, Viipuri starts to resemble all small Finnish towns more and more: it becomes muted. For a couple of decades now, cars have traveled through the bypass of the center of Karelia.

The author is HS’s culture editor.