Genocide of the Ingrian Finns

Genocide of the Ingrian Finns
Part of the population transfer in the Soviet Union and the Great Purge
Ingria and Karelia Isthmus in 1740s
Location	Ingria
Date	1920s–1930s
Target	Ingrian Finns
Attack type	Mass murder, persecution, ethnic cleansing, deportation
Deaths	18,800[1]
Victims	60,000 to 105,000 victims of deportation and imprisonment[2][1]
Perpetrators	Soviet Union
Motive	Anti-Finnish sentiment, Sovietization, Russification

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The genocide of the Ingrian Finns (Finnish: Inkeriläisten kansanmurha) was a series of events triggered by the Russian Revolution in the 20th century, in which the Soviet Union deported, imprisoned and killed Ingrians and destroyed their culture.^[3] In the process, Ingria, in the historical sense of the word, ceased to exist.^[4] Before the persecution there were 140,000 to 160,000 Ingrians^[5][6] in Russia and today approximately 19,000 (including several thousand repatriated since 1990.^[7])

From 1935 onwards, the genocide manifested itself in deportations of entire Ingrian villages, mass arrests and executions, especially in 1937 and 1938 associated with the Great Purge. The reason for the genocide was the skeptical attitude of the Soviet Union towards the Ingrian people due to their close cultural and historical relations with Finland. At the same time, many other ethnic groups and minorities were also persecuted.^[3]

The destruction process targeted at Ingrian Finns was centrally managed and considered. Russian legislation in the 1990s refers to it as genocide. The aim was, in particular, to assassinate the male population. Tens of thousands of Ingrians died due to deportations and in labor camps.^[8]