Kotka : South-East Finland

[satama]

The city of Kotka, which is my current place of residence, is situated in South-East Finland, 133km east of Helsinki.
The city is built on an island and has a population of 10 021 residents. The municipality has a pop. of 54 838.


The island in which the city lies, is in the center of the map, marked with number 71.










There's the island.


And now we're on it





























There was also another similar looking building nearby.






Renovated 60's building. Finnish architects tend to renovate quite subtly.


May Day, hence all the flags.




























Photographing the town center turned out to be impossible. It's basically a huge constuction site at the moment, which is why I photographed very little of it (something always blocking the view).


They're making a completely new square with a parking garage underneath.


A park being renovated(?).



















































That blue cube is part of a theater.

[Mantas]

Kiitos A very interesting and cozy little town

But what the hell?

[Varlamas]

Satama, thanks for an interesting phototour of Kotka. I like all the colors especially. Seems like a charming (and clean!) little town which probably looks even more spectacular in the summer. I agree with Mantaz: the Lenin is weird!

[Molo]

Lenin was the Russian leader who didn't try and annex Finland (unlike Stalin who failed, fortunately), so I guess that's why there's a statue of him. It does kinda strike me a bit strange though.

[vytauc]

Lenin was the Russian leader who didn't try and annex Finland (unlike Stalin who failed, fortunately), so I guess that's why there's a statue of him. It does kinda strike me a bit strange though.

Thanks for the photos, satama

As for the Lenin, I thought I red somewhere that he was living in Finland for some short period

[satama]

Ačiū jums labai for all the comments!


A couple of picture I forgot to add...








That beauty is in quite a bad shape. But there was another building in a similar state being renovated to I guess her time will come soon.

[liutass]

The last photo just superb

[Whose Homepage]

Thank you for this lovely introduction to Kotke, satama!

As you can imagine, what excites me the most about it are the many nice old wooden buildings. I hope every one of them is treated with loving care, so that they will survive and grace Kotke with their dignified and graceful presence for many years to come.


And as to the presence of that Lenin statue which sort of comes as a surprise: yes, I do believe Lenin spent some time in Finland when things got too uncomfortable in his own country. Kotke is in southeast Finland, so him having gone there would make sense.

[Berliner]

Lenin was the Russian leader who didn't try and annex Finland (unlike Stalin who failed, fortunately), so I guess that's why there's a statue of him. It does kinda strike me a bit strange though.

Well, Lenin was very different than Stalin. However, in 1917 (or 1918 don't remember quite well) the red army tried to occupy Lithuania, and one Lithuanian communist - Kapsukas formed people's government. There were plans to unite Lithuania and Belarus (what a nonsense..) and form a new soviet state of LitBel. However, Russia was very weak at the time and Lithuania managed to defend itself from Kapsukas bullshit. Do not forget that Lenin was in the power then.

I am proud of the bravery of Finns, we are always arguing here why you succeded and we didn't? We would live now in Lithuania as you in Finland if not the occupation. I hate Russians for that.

[Molo]

Well, Lenin was very different than Stalin. However, in 1917 (or 1918 don't remember quite well) the red army tried to occupy Lithuania, and one Lithuanian communist - Kapsukas formed people's government. There were plans to unite Lithuania and Belarus (what a nonsense..) and form a new soviet state of LitBel. However, Russia was very weak at the time and Lithuania managed to defend itself from Kapsukas bullshit. Do not forget that Lenin was in the power then.

I am proud of the bravery of Finns, we are always arguing here why you succeded and we didn't? We would live now in Lithuania as you in Finland if not the occupation. I hate Russians for that.

It wasn't really bravery any more than glory. Quarter a million Finns were lost in that war and after Germany was mostly defeated Russia concentrated such a strong force against Finland that it was something of a miracle that they were finally stopped at the now-so-famous Mannerheim trench line. Finnish forces were outnumbed by a factor of something like 1:10. After stopping the Soviet forces it became Finland's top priority to make peace with Russia, which we achieved in 1944. Still, we paid tremendous war reparations to USSR and had to watch our every step for the next 40 odd years. That's until Gorbatchev became the leader of USSR. He finally admitted that Russia was the guilty party in the war and actually became very popular in Finland as in all western world.

But anyhow, I thank you for your kind, if slightly romanticised words.

[Dramblys]

I say that the Finns were amazingly brave. I recently watched a documentary about Finnish Guerilla warfare tactics against the Red Army on the Discovery Channel.
Man, those Finns were crafty with their white uniforms, skis, and hunting knives. I wish I remembered the Finnish term they used, but the tactic was called something like "chopping wood". The Red Army would travel in caravans along the main road into Finland and the Finns would ambush them, splitting their troop lines up in the middle of the night and slit all of the Red Army soldiers' throats. The part I found most interesting is that it was so frigid at the time, the dead Red Army soldiers would just be frozen solid, standing straight up, holing their necks in the exact spot they were killed.

Pretty bad ass if you ask me.

[Molo]

I say that the Finns were amazingly brave. I recently watched a documentary about Finnish Guerilla warfare tactics against the Red Army on the Discovery Channel.
Man, those Finns were crafty with their white uniforms, skis, and hunting knives. I wish I remembered the Finnish term they used, but the tactic was called something like "chopping wood". The Red Army would travel in caravans along the main road into Finland and the Finns would ambush them, splitting their troop lines up in the middle of the night and slit all of the Red Army soldiers' throats. The part I found most interesting is that it was so frigid at the time, the dead Red Army soldiers would just be frozen solid, standing straight up, holing their necks in the exact spot they were killed.

Pretty bad ass if you ask me.

LOL

I'm sorry but Discovery has "colored up" the story a little bit. Yes, there was a tactic in which Red Army caravans were ambushed and cut to parts, thus making them incapable of concerted fighting. However, knives, I'm afraid, were not used and no ones throats were cut. Also, while the winter of 1939-40 was indeed one of the coldest ever measured, it wasn't quite as cold as Discovery Channel described.

Thanks.

[Berliner]

It wasn't really bravery any more than glory. Quarter a million Finns were lost in that war and after Germany was mostly defeated Russia concentrated such a strong force against Finland that it was something of a miracle that they were finally stopped at the now-so-famous Mannerheim trench line. Finnish forces were outnumbed by a factor of something like 1:10. After stopping the Soviet forces it became Finland's top priority to make peace with Russia, which we achieved in 1944. Still, we paid tremendous war reparations to USSR and had to watch our every step for the next 40 odd years. That's until Gorbatchev became the leader of USSR. He finally admitted that Russia was the guilty party in the war and actually became very popular in Finland as in all western world.

But anyhow, I thank you for your kind, if slightly romanticised words.

Quarter of a million is a huge number. However, after the soviet occupation Lithuania lost a huge number of people too. The exact number is not known, it is only guessed that some 150 000 people (mostly wealthier farmers) were deported to Siberia and a lot of them died there. What is more, a lot of people (mostly educated, famous people) emigrated to the west (mainly USA). Therefore Lithuania lost the best of its people. And its a huge loss for a developing country.

[Molo]

Quarter of a million is a huge number. However, after the soviet occupation Lithuania lost a huge number of people too. The exact number is not known, it is only guessed that some 150 000 people (mostly wealthier farmers) were deported to Siberia and a lot of them died there. What is more, a lot of people (mostly educated, famous people) emigrated to the west (mainly USA). Therefore Lithuania lost the best of its people. And its a huge loss for a developing country.

Yes, for many countries casualities were far harsher than for Finland. I understand that Poland lost more than 15% of their population. Our job today of course is to make sure that nothing like the WWII will ever happen again, and we do have to forget our differences as difficult as it may seem.

As for Lithuania and Baltic countries as a whole, I've always said that imo the number one priority now should be to support families and encourage higher birthrates. And mass immigration atm will have to play a big part in fighting population decline and aging society. The same goes for the Nordics as well, of course. I personally have no doubt in my mind that the Baltic countries will prosper as the rest of Europe in very near future. The key is to make sure that the are people to keep the economy running and growing.

[Dramblys]

LOL

I'm sorry but Discovery has "colored up" the story a little bit. Yes, there was a tactic in which Red Army caravans were ambushed and cut to parts, thus making them incapable of concerted fighting. However, knives, I'm afraid, were not used and no ones throats were cut. Also, while the winter of 1939-40 was indeed one of the coldest ever measured, it wasn't quite as cold as Discovery Channel described.

Thanks.

Oh well, they did a good job though, it was quite entertaining.