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Anti-Finnish sentiment (sometimes known asFennophobia) is the hostility, prejudice, discrimination or racism directed againstFinns,Finland,Finnish culture, or otherrelated Finnic peoples.
Finnish tourists and residents have experienced verbal harassment and at times physical violence, particularly in areas with many Finnish tourists and residents inEstonia.[1]
Finns have been emigrating toNorway since at least the 11th century. Because of this, there exists a Finnic minority group in Norway; theKvens. Speaking a Finnish dialect or a closely related Finnic language (their form of speech is now calledKven) was forbidden in Norway, and they experienced discrimination.[2] Before theSecond World War, Norway feared mass immigration and invasion from Finland. This was used as an excuse to discriminate againstKvens.[3]
The Russian wordchukhna (чухна́) is a derogatory term for Finnish and Finnic people.[4] The ministry for foreign affairs of Russia called for Russians to not use the word.[5][6]
Ingrian Finns were heavily persecuted in Soviet Russia, including being subject toforced deportations, anda genocide.[7] 8,000–25,000 Finns were killed during theGreat Purge, including theFinnish Operation of the NKVD. (These numbers are estimates; real numbers might be much higher)[8]
Agnessa Haikara wrote a documentary bookWho is Knocking at Your Door? aboutMurmansk Finns andKola Norwegians repressed in theSoviet Union, for which she was prosecuted in Russia.[9]
During the 1960s and 1970s, there was a significant influx of Finnish economic migrants intoSweden. Between 1950 and 1980 the number of Finns in Sweden increased from 45,000 to over 300,000.[10] Attitudes towards Finnish immigrants were quite negative in Sweden. Derogatory expressionsen finne igen ('yet another Finn') andfinnjävel (equivalent to 'Finnish bastard' or 'Finnish devil') were commonly used.[11][12] An anthology,Finnjävlar, was published, in which 15 Finns in Sweden describe their lives and lives of their parents in Sweden.[13] In Sweden, theTornedalians were also once seen as an inferior race and speaking Finnish was banned in school.
Both Finnish andMeänkieli (spoken inMeänmaa) becameofficial minority languages of Sweden in 2000, and theSwedish state started an investigation into the historical treatment of Finns and Tornedalians in 2020.[14][15]
Finnjävel (singular) andfinnjävlar (plural) are derogatory terms used in Sweden forFinnish immigrants, mostly during the 1950s and 1960s.Jävel ordjävel, meaning devil or demon, is a generic strong insult.[16]
The prominent role ofFinnish immigrants in the 1907 and 1916Mesabi Range strikes inMinnesota led toblacklisting of Finns. It was a time of anti-Finnish sentiment in the area, and one could see signs "No Indians or Finns allowed".[17] They were also involved with the union, which the exploitative mining companies heavily disliked. In response to the union, the Finns earned a bad reputation among the companies. The fact that theFinnish language is aFinno-Ugric language and not related to most other European languages was used as proof that the Finns were not European, and thus fair subjects of discrimination.[18][19]
China Swede was aderogatory term used forFinnish immigrants in the United States during the early 1900s,[20][21] particularly in northern Minnesota and Upper Michigan.[22] Another term wasroundhead.[23][24] The termjackpine savage was used in northern Minnesota during the early 1900s, referring to the termIndian savage used for Native Americans. Finnish businesses were also harassed with the pretext that they were illegally dealing liquor to Native Americans.[25]
