Hanko 1941
Photo: The "Hamsterbo" shelter that burned to the ground in November 1941 was rediscovered and researched by the "Hanko 1941" project 2020-2021. Hundreds of items belonging to three soldiers from Svenska Frivilligbataljonen were found inside the formidable "time capsule".
Photo copyright Hanko 1941 project.
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The exciting excavations of general Kabanovs underground command post continue in 2022!
The planning of next years excavation has started. In 2022 the excavations of Soviet General Sergei Kabanovs "Bunker" will continue on two separate occasions.
A first scientific excavation is scheduled for the 2.-13th of May 2022 (daily 10.00-15.30). Experimental pedagogic excavations for younger schoolchildren will be arranged as part of the fieldwork.
The second scientific excavation will be in autumn and range from the 5.-16th of September 2022. Funding for a large scale pedagogic excavation that is connected with this excavation is currently under way.
The main scientific excavations in 2022 are financed by Mr Kari Karvinen and parts of these excavations will be organized as a field course in Conflict Archaeology at Hangö Sommaruni. We will provide information about how to participate early in 2022.
It is the donators wish that after this research the important structure could serve as a tourist and educational attraction.
The excavations are led by MA Jan Fast and MA Teemu Väisänen, and includes other Hanko 1941 team members Jaakko Ervasti and Aleksi Rikkinen and others.
The scientific research of the command post continues in 2023
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Informal learning and pedagogic WW2 Battlefield Archaeology of the Hanko front
in May 2022.
In September 2021 we finished the excavations of the "Hamsterbo" shelter near the Hanko Front Museum with some 20 students from Hangö Sommaruni, Kallion lukio and Helsingin Kuvataidelukio.
More excavations are now being planned for the 2022 field season. In 2022 we will concentrate on the massive remains of a Soviet underground command post in central Hanko.
The scientific work "on site" will be led by MA Jan Fast, MA Teemu Väisänen and other Hanko 1941 team members.
Lithuanian expert conflict archaeologist Gediminas Petrauskas joined us for in 2021 and shared his knowledge with both the students and us archaeologists. We hope to catch up with him again in 2022.
Photos copyright Hanko 1941 project.
Finding the fallen of the Hanko front in 2022
The scientific ethical work with locating massgraves from the Second World War in the Hanko archipelago continues in April 2022.
The forensic work is made possible with the financial support from a local artist who donates all the incomes from her art sales to the humanitarian work of identifying the unknown war dead and giving the fallen a proper grave.
Click on the links below to look closer at our work "Finding the Fallen of the Hanko Front".
Photos copyright Hanko 1941 project.
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"Sodan jäljet lähelläsi" (The traces of war ear You)
WW2 Conflict archaeology is an important educational tool in order to get a better understanding of the catastrophic and devastating effects of war for the individual and the community as a whole.
With a grant from the Finnish Cultural Foundation (Uudenmaan maakuntarahasto) we are happy to share our knowledge and work with schools and schoolchildren to increase the knowledge of the traces of war in the immediate surroundings of schools in the Uusimaa region during 2021-2022.
Contact us by sending an e-mail to jfarchaeology@gmail.com for more information about our educational packages.
Photos copyright Hanko 1941 project.
Visit Hanko Front Museum
New temporary exhibitions about the archaeology of the underground war and the fierce battles of the Hanko front in 1941!
Photo copyright Hanko Front Museum.
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Academic theses
The authors are responsible for the contents in their respective works and the texts do not represent the views or general research results of the "Hanko 1941" project.
Feel free to contact the authors directly if you have ay questions or disagree with issues that are presented in the papers. Your input is valuable for the students and helps them to advance on their scientific journey.
"Tvärminnen vuoden 1941 venäläiset sotavainajat
Arkeologin etiikka hautakaivauksilla"
BA thesis about ethics and the conflict archaeology of war graves.
Elisa Melasniemi
Turku Open University 20.4.2020 (in Finnish)
"Taistelukentältä konservointistudioon
Hangon hautalöytöjen tutkimus ja konservointi"
Thesis about the conservation of items found on the bodies of the repatriated Soviet soldiers in Tvärminne.
Jarno Huusko.
Metropolia University of Applied Sciences 12.5.2020 (in Finnish)
"Bakom främsta linjen - Militärläger i Hangö från II:a världskriget som konfliktarkeologiska objekt"
BA thesis about the materiality of a DRK dumpsite inside the German WW2 transition camp on Cape Tulliniemi, Hanko S. Finland.
BA Fanny Fagerholm
Umeå Universitet 24.9.2019 (in Swedish)
