Abandoned part 1
These pictures are from the same sawmill as the previous post.
When I was a child, me and my sister went to explore an old house that was abandoned around the same time as World War II was going on. So we heard years later. It was an unfinished loghouse (squared logs), very common in Finland during that time. It located in the middle of a field, accompanied with few big trees and a decent size pond. A pond with a natural well actually. The water in the pond was always clear and good. There was a dock and a partly sunken rowing boat.
We went in from the cellar door. We had to use some force to open the door just that much that we could squeeze ourselves in as it had dirt in front of it. I don't remember what was the cellar or the first floor like, but what I do remember was that we found lots and lots of newspapers from the early 1940's. The newspapers were used as insulation and the paper was in relatively good condition. I remember reading the articles about the war and home front and miscellaneous advertisements. I remember how sad I felt about the fact that the house appeared to be unfinished because of the war. So we thought with my sister then and afterwards we found out that we were right.
First some background info. We Finns usually don't use the World war II term, our wars were Winter War (Talvisota) and Continuation War (Jatkosota). Mainly Finns were concerned not being invaded by the Soviet Union. But when the Winter War began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, we ended on the wrong side of the World War II, against the Allies, but on the right side when thinking about Finland's independence. If we would have been neutrals or on the same side as Soviet Union, we would have lost our 1918 gained independence.
So back to the story. If I remember correctly, the house belonged to a man who had at least one brother and his father was a single father. I don't remember why or when their mother had died. The house owner died in the Winter War. And all of his brothers died in the Winter War and the last ones in the Continuation War. So eventually the father was alone and he never had any will to finish the house and he didn't want to sell it. When the father died his siblings and their children inherited the unfinished house and they couldn't agree what to do with it. So the house was at the same state as it was when the owner and his brother(s) died.
What makes me extremely sad is that this kind of story probably isn't that unique. Similar stories can be found from Finland and all over the world. Families gone. Vanished because of wars. And some stories are never told forward. Some families and their stories are forever forgotten.
Thousands of years, thousands of wars, thousands of lives lost.
This sawmill and it's rusted machines, forgotten ruins and silent walls could tell thousand stories. Everyday stories. People working, living, joking and being concerned of their families well being.
