This was a Thriving Finnish Town. Then the Soviets Came. 🇫🇮 🇷🇺
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- Опубликовано: 13 сен 2024
- Join me on a trip from Moscow to the border with Finland as I intend to explore the town of Vyborg, a place with strong historical significance.
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Vyborg was founded by the Swedes in 1403 as Wyborg, and throughout the course of its history it has been under control of various administrations. The most recent change in the sovereignty of Vyborg occurred in 1944, when following the Winter War between the USSR and Finland, the whole region was transferred back to the Soviet Union.
The Finnish name for Vyborg was, and still is, Viipuri. However, very little is left of the Finnish identity of the town: during the war, the entire Finnish population of Viipuri/Vyborg was relocated to other regions of Finland, to better accommodate the Finnish military fighting on the battlefront. Even after the conclusion of the war, the town was repopulated by bringing entire Russian families from other regions of the Soviet Union. This is also the reason why Finland is not too interested in the Viipuri/Vyborg question and realizes that asking for the region to be transferred back under Finnish control would be highly unfeasible. Even when not taking diplomacy into account, even if Vyborg was indeed to become Finnish overnight all Finland would gain would be a town full of Russians who don't speak Finnish and who don't have any interest in assimilating.
Also, the town of Vyborg is far from being the prosperous town that Viipuri once was. Viipuri was at one point the second largest city in the whole of Finland, second only to Helsinki. And it was a nice town full of Finnish elements, when it came to its architecture. However, the urban elements that are familiar and reminiscent of many other Finnish towns are visibly decaying, and they are combined with newer Soviet architecture. Most Finns are sad when visiting the town as they believe that after 70 years of Russian care, the town looks visibly unkempt.
That is essentially why I decided to jump on an early morning flight from Moscow to Saint Petersburg and then continue further towards the border with Finland. I wanted to see with my own eyes how Vyborg, formerly known as Viipuri, looks nowadays.
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Hi guys, Davide here. Hope you enjoyed this historical excursion into Vyborg. Instagram is @davelegenda
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On Patreon, you will be able to enjoy extra content in the form of:
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You will rarely find any homeless peoples in Russia, but western media will tell you differently, there are more homeless peoples in France, Italy, UK, Germany, Spain, Greece, Turkey, USA, Japan than in Russia.
Where are you from??? David....
The original railway station was a different building during the Finnish time and really beautiful, quite similar to Helsinki station. But it was blown up in the war.
@@patricksputnick5094
In 1913 by Herman Gesellius.
fi.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viipurin_rautatieasema_(1913)
Vyborg/Viipuri/Wyborg was so beuteful back in the day... but now it has bin left to die in the care of first the Soviets and now Russia :(
Vyborg (then known as Viipuri) was one of biggest cities in Finland and was a very prosperous place. So sad to see it in this condition. The city basically was ignored and left to rot.
Многие города в России вот так оставили гнить. Будь Выборг в составе Финляндии, он несомненно был бы процветающим и развитым городом, как и вся Финляндия.
same with Königsberg, nowadays it’s Kaliningrad. It was prosperous city, and after the name was changed, it becomes… ya know
Then people wonder why the eastern bloc countries were so happy to see the Soviets leave in 1989.
@@hellion605 True, and Putin propaganda claims Lithuania wants it and plans to attack. We would not want it if it was given to us.
@@tnickknight Lithuania is busy getting buggered and shining Berlin's/Brussel's knob.
As a finn i too can appreciate how much you digged in our history and covered that on your video. I never even knew how bad shape Viipuri is now a days. Hard to believe that this was one of the biggest cities in Finland. Jesus the whole town looks almost abandoned right now..
Yes :( As a Swed and Finn i feel for Viipuri/Vyborg my great grand mothers father lived there right before the war. He moved into a smal city in upper Finland. To see a over 600 year old city be forgoten and left to die makes me feel sad.
God save the King and God save Viipuri!
Viipuri's old buildings would have been destroyed if it stayed in Finland
You guys are lucky that your ancestors managed to fight back commies, otherwise Finland would have been turned into another Soviet republic and most Finnish cities would have looked like today's Vyborg. Baltic countries weren't that lucky.
@@virologi3348 You are solely Mistaken! Just look att Helsinki/Helsingfors or Vaasa/Vasa they have beutefuly preserved buildings from the over 600 years under Swedish rule. The swedish embassy in Helsinki is Literally a Mini Stockholms Palace and this Embassy has hosted both Gustav III and Catherine the great in the late 1700s
Imagine: If Finnland would get occupated in WW2 (like the baltic states), most of the country would look like this. Its really sad that the USSR ever existed.
The most frustrating thing about it is that a 100 000 Finns and 500 000-1 000 000 Russians died so the Soviets could let the city become a ruin.
many of the soviet soldiers that were sent to fight in the winter war were ukrainian; stalin thought that people from further away couldn't sympathize with people of the north+ he didnt like ukrainians anyway
hundreds of thousands ukrainians died during the finnish wars
@agapp11able ukrainian national identity clearly existed; they used to be independent after germany withdrew and even had their own soviet republic
and yes, the red army mostly consisted of russians, but stalin intentionally picked ukrainian units to fight in finland. i cited above a few reasons
@agapp11able you are a foolish man if you think Ukrainians never existed, they always did.
@agapp11able you are wrong. Ukraine has existed forever. Had anyone told you names could change? There was Bohemia and now it’s Czechia, there was Siam and now it’s Thailand. Also Russia wasnt a thing till 1721, it was Muscovy. And Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia were called Ruthenia.
If galicia (Austria) was making ukrainian identity, then how come Austria had crushed ukrainian nationalism, together with Hungarian, polish and other nationalities in Austrian Empire? This doesn’t make sense. Make up your mind.
@agapp11able how they were promoting it if Austrians had been relying on poles in governing this territory. Stalin incorporated territories into Ukraine but it was not “reunification of people” he did it so he could simply gain more resources and expand soviet territory
Being Russian, this is really embarrassing to watch. Huge sorry to our Finnish neighbours.
Most of us arent mad at the people, just the goverment.
My grandfather was born near Viipuri. His father died defending the city in 1944
При себе своё мнение оставь, спасибо. На видео не было показано уникальные детали архитектуры советских зданий, на пример герб на жд вокзале и другие места как памятник воинам интернационалистом.
Bygones are bygones. Would be kinda cool to have some kind of joint effort to restore the city, though.
You're ok! Your government is garbage.
My grandmother was the first woman to get a driving license in Viipuri.
No she was not. Dream on.
ruclips.net/video/86khmc6y1yE/видео.html
Your grandmother is an NBD.
@Vincent Ivanoff turpa kiinni
@Vincent Ivanoff i do
This is how whole Finland was supposed to look. To all finns - your grandfather's were heroes. Greetings from Baltics.
(a lot of pro-soviet shittroll comments inside)
A fact that modern finnish generations could never comprehend. All the love towards our brothers in Baltics.
@@Rewolweri I think that is a big generalization, I suppose this is true in the big cities, but I for one definitely am well aware of our history.
All kids who listen in history class are well aware what a annexed Soviet Finland would've meant for our country.
Long live our baltic brothers in arms coming directly from sweden!
@@unknownentity8256 Uhh yeah I think most are aware of our history. Seems like this guy has never even been to Finland and projects based on American society or something. Almost every member of the "modern" Finnish generation has talked to their grandparents and went to school, and heard of the war and what their grandfather and mother went through etc etc. The war happened on our own soil, our own relatives were there, and the memories of those have been passed on to the "modern generation" within the family, on top of school/film/internet and so on.
How are they heroes when they were with nazis?
Thanks for the video; this is the home town of my mother. She started school in Viipuri, had to leave the town and everything behind in 1939; only light luggage was allowed.
That is very interesting! It's a pity I didn't get to speak to people like your mother and hear more similar stories - that was the motivation behind my trip to Vyborg. I'm currently editing my next one from Karelia - the whole region has a lot of history.
I got goosebumps
As a Czech I must tell you a secret, although not everyone will admit it. Here in the Czech Republic, everyone is looking up and pay deep respects to Suomi, because you did exactly what we couldn't. You fought for your country at the right time, and now you are prosperous.
@agapp11able Why are you bringing politics here? All I wrote is that we SHOULD HAVE FOUGHT at that time. That means we should have ignored the western allies and done things in our own way and defend ourselves, just like the Finns. That is all. No Russians, No Brits, No French, No anybody. Maybe we wouldn't even exist at all now but it would be morally right.
@agapp11able The Czech would have been so much better without Soviet occupation and the decay what brought with it. Germany was completely destroyed by the Allied in WW2 , but they got back to their feet pretty quickly. The same would have happened to the Czech without rotten Soviet oppression and braindead economic model. The Czechs are now catching fast and I hope they invest both in defense and will to defend.
@agapp11able I think Czech people disagree on the “saving” part. Soviet occupation of Czech and imposing its broken model on it causes massive harm on Czech which they are still paying for. I visited most of the ex-Eastern block countries in early 2000 - 10 years after they got their independence - and the rotten impact of Soviets was obvious. Where as Western countries devastated by the war rose up and had thriving societies, the ex-Eastern block was filled with poorly maintained buildings. Everything was broken, unmaintained and crappy. True Touch of Anti-Midas. Some of countries Still suffer from the Soviet occupation in their “national psyche”.
@agapp11able With respect? SOVIETS LITERALLY *RAPED* CZECH, SLOVAKS & POLES.. WHEN THEY ADVANCED TO BERLIN
@agapp11able Soviets didn't save anyone, Czechs were Puppet Government to Moscow. They threw priests into the MINES. There is a reason why Eastern bloc Governments collapsed.
Who says Finnish people doesn't want Viipuri back?! My grandfather was born there, after the war the Russians took Finnish graves and made a street from it, Not even respect the dead ,they distroy everything they touch,
as a finnish person, i definedly want viipuri back
@@Saqux As a Finnish man, there is no Viipuri to be had back. The Finnish people were evacuated, that is what matters. A piece of land, however fine, is secondary. Ukraine forgot that, by the way. And the US & UK prevented the peace deal, not that the news would tell that.
Tikkurila Is Finnish paint manufacturer and it is huge and one of a kind in a world with one other in USA. Their paint is best. Ps. They also make other chemicals.
I live in Tikkurila a suburb in Finland home of the paint factory
When Soviets wanted to repopulate areas that were not Russian before, they moved in people from failing areas of Russia. And this is reflected in the change that these people brought with them years later.
@Vincent Ivanoff I don't want to assume they were alcoholics even though it was very widespread in Russia. But most of the regular people were not cultured and did not have a tradition of keeping their environment clean and organized. Which is a part of why the areas they came from were failing. Another part is that Soviets exterminated and moved to Siberia most or almost all of the successful farmers and peasants during forceful collectivization.
LOL! 😀
@@geothon I was born in Vyborg and live here whole my life. And I never seen more alcoholic people than finn's.
Besides, you behave arrogantly and think you are smarter than us.
@@hererov because we are? Russians think only about themself. Never others, nor their city. You should be ashemed of your country and your city
@@NokianEdustus no, we didn't.
Russia itself is, aside from few big cities, a huge wasteland full of abandoned towns and villages.
With so much land and quite a big population its hard to maintain a nice looking infrastructure throughout the whole country. But i do think russians could do a lot better if they actually cared.
@@valitsemllaluokanavahyvaks3556 Well, that's the thing. It could be at least as good as USA, but most people there don't really care.
@@valitsemllaluokanavahyvaks3556 Well yes, it's just their politicians who always rob the average people there and instead of using tax income to improve the standard of living for everyone, they take it to themselves and their buddies to live in luxury.
No
@@matsopelle haha, nope
Viipuri was a very international city in the early 1900s. There were also a lot of Germans and Swedes at the time.
At that time it was... Russian! In a way, at least. Sweden lost Finland in a war 1809. Finland became an autonomous part of Russia. Finland became a sovereign nation in 1917.
@@altoclef6688 As you said, Finland was autonomous. Technically a part of the Russian Empire, but with its own laws and so on. A couple of czars tried to russify Finland culturally, but with poor success.
@@altoclef6688 No. It was Finnish
@@kaksidaksi3455 No ei periaatteessa ollu. 1900 luvun alussa ennen suomen itsenäistymistä, Viipuri oli osa Suomen suurruhtinaskuntaa joka kuulu venäjään. Eli 1809-1917 Viipuri oli virallisesti venäläinen.
Mostly Ingrians, Karelian’s, and Finns lived there though
Same happened in Narva, Estonia. It once was a beautiful city but during the war it got bombed to shit. And instead of rebuilding it, the soviets built their commie blocks in it. Nowadays all estonians are ashamed of the once beautiful city.
My hometown in Lithuania is just 30km from border with Kaliningrad, once a beautiful trade center with deep proud history. It used to be a first stop in Russian empire/Lithuanian-Polish commonwealth from Prussia for centuries, legendary writers and royals have spent time here. Absolutely destroyed during the war. Commies built Chrusciovkas even in the historical city center. Nowadays, we are rebuilding buildings in the old areas in an interwar style, it looks pretier and pretier every season. Estonia is doing the best out of all the baltic sisters, we look up to you, i am sure you will figure it out.👍
Vyborg was the second largest city of Finland before WW2.
The Finnish leadership refused to attack Leningrad with the Germans...the result of not helping their German allies, they lost their second biggest city to the Soviets.
@@cyberhermit1222 I dont believe it was a mistake. I doubt Leningrad would have fallen with finnish help. Even if Leningrad had fallen it would not have meant that the soviets would have surrendered. At best that would have been a moral boost for axis powers.
After 1941 Mannerheim was very skeptical of Germany winning the war agains the Soviet Union and the Allies. Finnish leaders knew after 1941 that the germans had probably bitten more than they could chew. Mannerheim and the other finnish military leaders knew that a victorious Soviet Union would not forget attacks on Leningrad. Anyway, Finland had already lost 26 000 soldiers killed between July and December 1941. That number was very heavy for finnish army. Assaults towards Leningrad from the Karelian Ishtmus would have cost very high casualties for the finnish army.
@@cyberhermit1222 Nope , it wouldn't change the outcome of the battle, it would only increased casualties on both side.
@@cyberhermit1222 They refused to attack with germans, because it would've meant USSR would attempt to take entire Finland for siding with Nazi Germany, and Mannerheim was very strict with his diplomatic neutrality. For all Mannerheim attempted, was to never side with a genocidal dictator. Both USSR and Nazi Germany had one, though Stalin was far bigger threat almost snuffing entirety of Karelia lives.
2:16 This city was founded in 1293. The city is at least 700 years old.
It's most likely much older. Most of the cities the Swedes "founded" already had Finnish settlements.
We know this thanks to modern archaeological finds.
Greeting's from Minneapolis Minnesota USA. Many of us here are of Finnish heritage and love learning this history. Thank you for a look at Vyborg! Chow!
Viipuri kuuluu Suomen kansalle me tulemme ottamaan vielä omamme takaisin
This one makes me sad as Finnish...I can see that city shining ang looking great if we still owned it. No hate to Russia/Russians what so ever.
I can see it prosper as well if it wasn't stolen from Finland. I hate Russia and Russians.
@@diha2271 same russia is bad russians are good people i just hate putin
@@diha2271 Oot aikamoinen natsi sitte, onnittelut!
@@corner16 Ei duo oo natsismia. Ookko kenties kommunisti?
@@corner16 Jos Venäjä on nii ihana paikka nii kanttii muuttaa sinne. Vaikkapa Siperiaan.
If this city were a part of Finland today it would be one of the greatest and outstanding in terms of education and economy. But Russia has a style when it comes to renovating and reinvigorating the captured territories and it is called Potemkin Village, in other words, there won't be anything worthy to that place - only poor and despair.
Finland was part of Russia. LoL.
@@150qwertyu Autonomic part.
@agapp11able what do you mean by big towns as viipuri was one of the biggest cities in finland????
@agapp11able Finnish economy has not had many major changes, and even if had, it hasnt really affected the bigger cities. also there are really no ''devastated'' cities in Finland.
@agapp11able Finland was part of russia for 1809-1917. Soon Finland has been independent longer than it was part of russia.
Looking how Finland has skyrocketed in everything for the past 100 years, Vyborg would be better place right now.
As a estonian this is sad to see but also we are so proud of finns that they mostly kept their country.
I visited Viipuri with some family in the late 80's, when the Soviet Union still existed. It was even worse back then. I remember that most of the manhole covers on the streets were missing, because someone had stolen them and sold them for scrap metal. We visited my grandmother's old home near Viipuri, where she evacuated from the second time back in 1944. Only the stone foundation of the house was remaining.
Don't be sad that Viipuri is like this, be happy that Helsinki isn't like this! and you don't have to thank god for that, you thank Finnish men!
Wow, great vid 👍!
As a finn, I really appreciate the digging you have done for the video and your interest in Viipuris history, keep it up 💪
Cheers, appreciate the support
Finnish people, companys and goverment have donate much money to restaur old buildings in Viipuri. Especially 90's to 2010. But that is like carrying water to fill up a dry well
Thank you for this video! My father was born 1934 in Viipuri. When the winter war began, they have to leave, leaving everything there. Sad to see the city in that condition.
Viipuri actually even had a tram! It was the third finnish city to receive one, but it was later closed along with the one in turku.
And decades later Tampere got one. this year 😂
My grandma and grandpa met when they were stationed there, her as a communication Lotta (Finnish voluntary auxiliary paramilitary organisation for women)
and him in the military band as a trumpet player. I have never been there. Maybe one day when it is restored.
"When it is restored"
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Thanks for this video.
Vyborg is translated from Swedish to English "a fort with a view" and typically Finnish translation Viipuri/Wiipuri is a Finnish version of Vyborg, Viipuri has not any meaning in that sense, a name.
My mother was born in Viipuri and got evacuated as a child when the WW 2 started. She lived close to Monrepos in a area called Saunalahti back then.
The original Swedish name is Viborg from that the Finnish Viipuri and the Russian Vyborg.
The Vyborg Castle was founded during the Third Swedish Crusade in 1293 by marsk Torkel Knutsson. (that is long before Columbus).
I had relatives living there before the war but visited the town the first time some 40 years ago. It was disheartening with all the ruins and extremely bad and broken streets and roads.
But It is a lot better now, in comparison, and there seems to be a new generation of Russians who are interested in the history of the town and feel very much like having a Viking heritage due to the town.
But still I think I can feel the the town as it onec was looking at the architecture, the buildings.
It was also a very multilingual town with people speaking Finnish, Swedish, Russian and German.
On RUclips there is a lot about old Viipuri, of course.
And about the town there is Wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vyborg
PS. Finland did not sign up with Germany, but had to ask for help against the Russians. The help promised from England and France never came and only the Germans were interested in delivering in the old mantra of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".
The German help was absolutely crucial for Finland. Still eventually the Finns had to force out German troops in the Lapland war.
(when the big countries go mad, small countries are just kicked around)
Come to Monrepos , it is very beautiful there now.
@@user-xg6uw1iv9b , perhaps, I have been to Viipuri many times.
Old Monrepos is of course gone, some pics here from the past:
ruclips.net/video/lWjjyLb05j0/видео.html
@@hurri7720 Thanks. Now Vyborg is being restored a lot. It's weird that the videos didn't show it.
@@user-xg6uw1iv9b , Yes, this guy has no eye for such things, nor could he have any knowledge of before and after.
My grandma used to bike to dances to Viipuri from Uusikirkko, before the war. Shame the Russians didn’t have enough land space..
They never do.
@@apuuvah Well atleast they were less populated after war. Climate act for Finns.
@@apuuvah your hate comments did not help, don't you think? What have i done to you?
Well, if "Russians had enough", maybe Finland was still a part of Sweden. And if independent, only without karelia and lapland, i guess. I am trying to say that it must be much more complex than just land. But it is shame that your family lost their home, nothing can justify war.
@@semyonkatantsev2221 Finns were smarter under rule of Kekkonen... Russia must be strong to be respected
Ah, Vyborg, Viipuri
I've visited it. Went on a trip to look for the old house of my great grandmother (she used to live very close to Ladoka, or Laatokka as we call it in Finland). They had to flee the war twice and on the last one I'm pretty sure they had to burn the house down. Such is the nature of war, really saddens me
But
Yes
Vyborg. Being there for only less than a day we really didn't have a lot of time to explore or look at things, which is a bit of a shame, but I do still remember a few things. Mainly a market square - or building - which is very similar to the one in the town I live in currently. Was my first experience with a big building made specifically for such use, multiple smaller stands where people could sell their products, was kinda cool, makes me a little nostalgic, but I know it's not exclusive to Vyborg or anything, we got plenty of those in Finland still.
Outside of it was one of the landmarks, the round tower with the copper roof. I forget if it had a name it was called, but yeah, that thing. I remember that next to it
Most we saw other than that were like, handcraft stores and souvenir things at the request of the elderly
The main thing to me about Vyborg though... While being there, everyone looked very old. Or not like Very but still old. Like I'd been transported to 1950-1990 kinda period. The buildings, the atmosphere... It just felt older than the one I was used to. Almost nostalgic, like childhood. But at the same time it felt so strange and alien, so familiar yet 'distant'. It was the most Finnish Russian city/town I've been to, that I can say for sure
sad
I actually live in Lappeenranta right across the border and the difference is pretty striking even though it is less than a hundred kilometers away.
Detroit Michigan??? How can you say that? I didn't hear any gunfire :-)
3:55 Those are Finnish buildings. And actually Swedes built Viborg on a old Karelian( one of the old Finnish tribes) town, and Viborg castle was built on a Karelian Fort. Finns controlled Viborg from 1809-1944. When Finland was in Russian control, they had autonomy and had their own laws, currnecy, police ect. And Finns didnt have to serve in the Russian military.
@Jake Johansson Jake is russian liar, that's all folks.
@Jake Johansson so by your logic Helsinki is russian because most important landmarks were built under russian rule by finns
@@StatusFennica lmao the bot was deleted
Uhhh, Finns built and controlled Viipuri too. There was no ethnic Swedish lordship over Finns, the kingdom was a common effort of both peoples.
Finns served in Russian Empire army with limited recruitment up to 20k soldiers.
City originally belongs to Finns
Greetings from Seattle Washington, My paternal family was displace by the Winter War so I was excited to watch your video. I find it interesting that there were buildings at the center of the old city that remain abandoned. Was it a monument to Finland's defeat. It seems strange. I enjoyed the Video and your humorous narrative.
Every single major City in rusland with ancient buildings look exactly like on the video. Destroyed, in disrepair, abandoned. All of Saint Petersburg is covered with hundreds of buildings with the same or worse level of destruction. Im from rusland and seeing something like this is heart breaking.
The cathedral you're taking about is the church of Dominican order, later Finnish church, and its building was used in Soviet times as a factory. The cathedral that was left to rot is just a couple blocks away.
Also, the buildings "obviously destroyed during the war" were destroyed some nine years ago by the officials. Much of the city's current state is the direct result of current administration's neglect and incompetence rather than scars of war. Though, to be honest, after the war. as much as 75% of the city remained destroyed for a couple of decades.
One side of my family is from there and my heart broke when I visited Viipuri. It's so shameful that they have done this. This topic is still very painful topic in many families and even though many of us weren't born there the trauma has been passed down through generations.
Yes indeed 😞 it is quite tragic, the tale of Viipori that is...
I have actually visited over the eastern border that goes from Finland to Russia in the eastern side of Finland as a child and all the areas in the Russia side look like a shithole! Rancid rotted buildings, unkempt broken roads etc. however the gas, candy, soda etc. was cheap and the small shops were neat suprisingly. Why the hell did they want these areas from Finland in the first place? We would have taken care of them! 🇫🇮
The politburo was corned with the fact that Leningrad could be reached within a few hours if an enemy force launched a surprise attack on the city from the (then) Finnish border. There was also a concern with protecting the railway to Murmansk, which was the port that would later receive lend-lease supplies from the West. In the runup to Soviet involvement in WW2, the Soviets were very concerned with acquiring as much "buffer zone" land as possible.
@@Waldemarvonanhalt Leningrad aka Petersburg was built ontop of Finnish Town and Finnish settlements
@@no8592 Not really relevant to answering the thread OP question, but that does make sense. The city was build on land ceded by Sweden after the great northern war IIRC.
@@Waldemarvonanhalt Thing is, most of the people who managed stuff in Finland during the Swedish era were Finnish with Swedish names.
@@Waldemarvonanhalt Also the fact that the Russians were interested in the minerals in Lappi that could be used to make artillery shells.
There is also the fact that occupation of Finland by installing a puppet regime (Terijoen hallitus) would increase Russian power projection in Scandinavia.
I visited Vyborg, I thought it was a nice place. Go in the summer when you can walk to Monrepos, a former estate just outside town. One funny thing was that there were tour busses of Finns arriving. Why? Because alcohol and tobacco are expensive in Finland. So there were trips where you could come and drink and smoke all you wanted for cheap, and be back home at night. Sort of like a subarctic Tijuana.
As a Finn, I respect your video and hard work here. Grazie!
All the best to Italy, greetings from Finland! Grappa kippis!
It's the result of the SU collapse, so it's the result of 30 years of capitalism. All these destroyed buildings were in order and working back in the days.
+ he visited only the old factory zone, which, of course, is in a deplorable state due to the economic collapse. He showed only one side of the city and did not mention its tourist center in any way.
@@B1sher Actually, that is not true. All the decay and destruction has been going on all the time Viipuri/ Vyborg was part of the Soviet Union. Believe me, I have been there, and thousands and thousand of finns who visited Viipuri during the soviet time know that as well. On the contrary, after the collapse of the Soviet Union something has been done in oder to save what is still possible to save and restore. Restauration works were mainly done in the 1990's and early 2000's, often in co-operation with finnish companies - so for example, the city library, work of worldwide famous finnish architector, Alvar Aalto, has been restored. The same goes with the city art museum, designed by architect Uno Ullberg in 1930. The now restored modernistic building of the art museum, representing early fuctionalism, is seen in your video at the background where you are going towards the bay. Also, there has been projects, in finnish-russian co-operation to restore the Monrepos -park, and presumably works going on now by russians. All results not quite succesful, though. In a way one interesting architectonal object is also the railway station. Previous railway station, which resembled much the railway station of Helsinki, and was designed by architects Gesellius and Saarinen 1913, was destroyed in the war in 1941. One can talk a lot about Viipuri/Vyborg being Swedish or Russian, but after all, fact is that in those distant historic times, what was Wyborg - a castle for a king or a tsar and small insignificant fort town, whereas for Finland it was a thriving and modern, lively city.
My family originates from Heinjoki, which is near Vyborg. Sad to see it this way.
The Finnish leadership refused to attack Leningrad with the Germans...the result of not helping their German allies, they lost their second biggest city to the Soviets.
you're deluded
The Finns helped the Nazis blockade Leningrad and starve to death up to 1,000,000 Russians.
Check your facts more carefully. The city was founded by the Swedish nobleman Tyrgils Knutsson in 1293. It's more than 700 years old, not 300.
And before that, it was a Russian territory, perhaps, a small village or just a forest. So, Russians are now restoring this historic site 😄
@@Anton-wv9nt Maybe it belonged to Novgorod. But it was Swedish 1323-1721 and Finnish 1812-1940 and 1941-44.
@@francisdec1615 To be precise: Novgorod? before 1293, Sweden 1293-1710, Russian Empire 1710-1918, Finland 1918-1939, USSR 1940-1941, Finland 1941-1944, USSR 1944-1991, RF 1991-
@@Anton-wv9nt Bullshit, Russia didn’t even exist when the swedes founded the city.
@@Jonsson474 Novgorod is as old or probably even older than Uppsala. This territory belonged to Novgorod, which means it was under Russian control. The place was populated by Finnish-Russian Karelian people.
A kind of finnish Königsberg. Next to Petsamo?
My great grandfather took a piece of lace from a wall canvas in the Vyborg castle as a memoir when the troops had to leave the city for the very last time. He fought in every war from -39 to -45. Mom always said he just liked it so much that he didn't come back for 6 years. One crazy bastard apparently.
Thank you Dave for doing this video.
What a pile of crap Vyborg is nowadays, you can't find any place even close to that in Finland.
Kouvola is pretty close to that xd
@@iTzNitrOxZ Haha good one
@@iTzNitrOxZ Oi, Suuri ja mahtava Kouvostoliitto
Vantaa also
Kontula, Kluuvi, Kamppi kyl näitä lähiöitä löytyy joka kaupungista, älä jauha paskaa :D
My grandfather was born in Viborg when it still was part of Finland, I would like to visit this town and have a look around and check out the address were he lived.
It looks a little bit better than at the end of the 1990s. The Vyborg library, by architect Alvar Aalto, has been completely restored.
My school was originally located in Viipuri before the soviets took over, it and its people were then evacuated to my city and we still have a lot of the memorabilia from Viipuri, everything from art to old books and photos. Really interesting.
All areas Soviets annexed, look grim.
There is a restoration efford going on. Unfortunately 1.5 billion rubles were stolen by few local officals to fund projects that were never done (roads, buildings etc.). Court case for that is still going on.
But there are funds being directed at Vyborg to restore it. We must just wait and see how long it will take
My grandparents had a flowershop in Viipuri, fascinating city to visit, greetings from UK
Tikkurila is a Finnish listed company that manufactures paints and varnishes.
it's pretty funny cuz it literally translates as '' you smoked'' to russian and that's why those women laughed. haha
@@user-ge7jh2jw2f Hah you're right! XD
@@ExploringWithToive 😂
I was there a month ago, there are not so bad , many sites are restored
He exaggerated the problem, but frankly speaking, it's true compared to what a nice town it was during Finish/Russian Impire time.
@@Anton-wv9nt Yes, it's work in progress
This just makes me feel that no ones believes in this city; no one loves it. The country is so vast its love does not reach further outposts. It is ruled by force and due to vast distances it cannot control with delicacy and understanding its regions. This is why your hearts are at times weak, and understandably so.
Thank you for this video. Sad to see what have happened to this once so beautiful city.
Soviet Union and Russia didn't need those buildings and purposefully left historic finnish and swedish buildings to rot. Most of the city needed permission from KGB and FSB to stay there. So it is only now getting money and attention.
My ancestor Torgil Knutsson founded Viborg in 1293. I am the right descendant of Torgil Knutsson on my father's side
I hope that Finland can get its territory back as Russia falls apart.
Россия никогда не развалится😁
Не надейся)))
Let this be a warning to Eastern Ukraine.
Truth !
Look how they massacred my boy... This was once a thriving Finnish Cultural City.. know just a shadow of it's former glory
I have said many times and I say once again. Russia is like a bully who takes from other and keeps taking. Once it has taken something it looses interest as we can see in Vyborg. Russians know how important this city was for Finns, they had to get it only for that reason. Please watch how beautiful this city once was, it was called the lock of Karelia. Now lock has been open and destroyed. Very sad.
Very well said. Think of all the lives lost and suffering caused just so the russians could let this beautiful place turn to rubble. Unbelievable..
Vyborg has almost 200 years of Russian history; 1721 - 1812 Completely Russian, 1812-1917 as part of the Grand Duchy of Finland, which was part of the Russian Empire.
My grandmother lived there when he was kid but they had leave because the war. She always tells how beautifull it was before
5:13 Tikkurila is a finnish company producing paints
My grand grand father was actually from viipuri before the war. He had to leave everything behind and go war against soviet soldiers. He always missed his true home
I went to Vyborg last Oct 2019, weird thing happen to me as an ASIAN backpacker (Filipino), after getting off the train, I was greeted with 2 female Russian Police(God they look like models) and was brought to their office for some questions. It was due to the fact that Vyborg is a hotspot for illegal immigrant wanted to cross to the EU (Finland) and they wanted to make sure that I am not doing it (which I will never do), after some convincing and proving to them I am not doing it as I am just a normal backpacker, they let me go through and inform me to visit their office once I will leave the city LOL.
Sounds like an intro to certain kind of video😅
It is good to know that at least the Russian side keeps guard on the border lol.
@@vihavoittamaton849 Russia knows these things. They prevent hundreds of illegal immigrants from entering Finland every year
@@vihavoittamaton849 I mean they did also push around a 1000 illegal migrants to the finnish border in 2016 because they didnt feel like dealing with them..
Honestly, it seems like this guy have never seen abandoned building. Of course, current Russian government don't give that much attention to saving old intresting buildings, but Vyborg is not nearly so bad as this guy tries to portrait it. It still has its historical areas in normal condition (could be better), and destroyed church is not that shocking, considering atheistic nature of early USSR.
And I don't mean that church shouldn't be reconstructed, but that's another question
I agree, Dave show us only abandoned building, but there are much more intresting places in better condition or good condition. So I think it is political video. Or maybe Dave like italian Varlamov XD. And if anyone is interested I can list local interesting places.
@@iulkolog No need to even make a list, just go to pre-Soviet parts of the city
You can go to any city in Finland and you'll find zero buildings in conditions like those anywhere so it is quite shocking. It's not even about restoring the buildings which should have been done over 70 years ago, but if you're not going to fix anything at least tear them down and build something new. That looks like some post-apocalyptic scenery.
Not to mention Finland has paid for restoration of buildings in Vyborg, yet the money just disappears and nothing is done.
@@jm-holm Maybe I'm too Russian and used to see building in not good condition so I don't pay attention to it
@@SpongeChadSquareJaw Well yeah, I'm a Finnish person and it is quite rare to see buildings in these conditions. But we still see these every now and then around cities but it's still quite rare. But we do have soviet apartment blocks like in Russia. So we have some similarities to Russian towns.
Of the history of Viipuri it should be understood that originally Swedish, it was lost to Russia as early as 1721 and was then governed by Russian law. However, in 1812 the town and the area around it was incorporated into Finland. Although the area of Finland had been ceded to Russia completely in 1809, it maintained the Swedish law and formed an autonomous area within the Russian empire. Due to the declaration of Finnish independence in 1917 the area thus became fully Finnish, but we can say that at that point it had almost 200 years of Russian history behind it; 1721 - 1812 fully Russian, 1812 - 1917 a mixture of Swedish law, Russian monarch and Finnish citizens.
Thanks for your detailed input! :D appreciate it
@Jake Johansson Yes, you are right - practically lost in 1710 in war, but officially ceded to Russia in the peace of Nystad that was signed between Sweden and Russia August the 30th, 1721.
@Jake Johansson russians didn't inhabit the town. It was Finnish, and always had been. If you think it was russian for 207 years then you must think all of Finland is russian.
@@hyljix а разве это не так ?!
@@МояЛепта Suomi oli Ruotsin hallinnon alainen noin 800- 900 vuotta, mutta ei silloinkaan ollut eikä muuttunut ruotsalaiseksi. Finland was under Swedish regime about 800 years, but it didn't make Finland Sweden, or the finnish people swedish, if you understand what I mean conserning Finland being russian. I could write it in Russian also, but the shift to kirillitsa, hope you understand.
Before the covid-19, Finland reached Vyborg several times a day by train. Required a visa. Now none.
It is weird to open up street view and see that nothing has been done in the last 70+ years.
First of all, thanks for this vid, this is a really good thing that you're doing - showing to everyone here different corners of Russia (not just Saint Pete or Moscow).
My grandmother was one of the first Soviet resettlers who moved to Vyborg after the 1st Soviet-Finnish War. Although she was a 3 years old child, she still remembers surprisingly a lot about the life of her family in that city. When the Continuation War began, she had to move to another region of the USSR and stayed there till 1944. Due to the lack of witnesses who could confirm that my grandmother's family had been living in Vyborg before the 2nd war with Finns, they were refused to come back and ended up in Saint-Petersburg. Fortunately, my grandma is still alive and thanks to her, I still feel this inextricable link between my family and this city.
I wanted to say that Vyborg is indeed not in good shape nowadays. Nevertheless, unlike what you said, the worst damage was done to this city not by the Soviets. On the contrary, the Soviet people restored many buildings in Vyborg and gave them a second life. For example, the church you mentioned in your video was rebuilt after the war and was serving as a factory before it was burnt in the '90s... You must have mistaken this church for the Old Cathedral in the Old Town.
In your video, you also showed the ruined houses and said they were destroyed during the war. That's not true, actually. This is the so-called "Set Solberg's Quarter" that survived the war and was damaged by the Russian officials in 2013 who didn't want to restore it. Thanks to a public outcry, the wanton destruction of the historical monuments has been stopped. Hopefully, it'll rise from ashes soon and there will be a theatre (check out the project here: nsp.ru/30257-kupol-nad-vyborgom).
Many people are willing to save the cultural heritage of Vyborg and I'm sure there will be more of them in the future. A lot has been done in this city, many buildings and places were restored (for example, the Vyborg Castle and Monrepo Park). And of course, there even more is yet to be done in the future. However, Vyborg has seen a change for the better recently and I suggest everyone come to this city as soon as you have a chance to do that. I can guarantee you won't regret it and will be charmed with its coziness ;)
This is so shameful! I cry when I think of the fine Finnish history and culture of Viipuri
Tikkurilla is a paint company and a place in Finland (where the paint factory is)
Yes exactly… Tikkurila is the city center of Finlands fourth biggest city Vantaa, a paint factory with lot of exports to Russia and Tikkurila is one of the finlands very first railwaystations in the first ever opened railway section Helsinki Hämeenlinna. Today the Tikkurila railwaystation is one of the finlands busyest becouse it lies on the finnish main track, all the main tracks long fistance trains stop at tikkurila, it is important hub for commuter rail and u can also change from the long distance trains in tikkurila to reach finlands biggest international airport Helsinki/Vantaa with a commuter line. And normally (not at the moment becouse of covid boarder restrictions) u can reach Viipuri and St Petertsburg from Tikkurila with alegro international train and Moscow with night train Tolstoi:) therefore is Tikkurila one of the very few stations in Finland that also has international railtraffic. Finland shares allmost the same gauge Russia uses becouse finnish rail networks (first ones) whre constructed on the time we where autonomous granddutchy under russian empire…
If you read the real history, that part of Finland was taken by Stalin and it goes back to the time when Russia attack Finland In 1939 called the Finish Soviet War
Yes, Stalin made an agreement with Hitler (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) 1939, they divided the countries of Europe for themselves like best friends. Hitler was able to conquer new territories easily, Stalin thought the USSR army could do the same and take Finland in two weeks. USSR (population of 190,7 million) attacked Finland (population of 3.5 million) for no reason. It didn't go well for the USSR, hundreds of thousands of Soviets died. Soviet gets a piece of land as a reward and that's a big win, own losses mean nothing. History repeats itself, the same is happening now in Ukraine.
Once it was Finlands most modern and vibrant city. If you think Helsinki now. What would finlands 2nd largest city should look now in 2022? Is this crap or not??? You tell me. What a waste of everything!!!
Thanks for covering this! Thanks so much..
Ad a Ukrainian, can imagine the feelings of Fins about Vyborg.
It's like comparing Donetsk in 2012 and now.
the only thing that hurts more than how this city has been treated is opening this video at full volume
As a Finnish person I'm sad that we lost Viipuri and that it was neglected by the Soviets. However, in the 60's and 70's we Finns destroyed most of our previously beautiful cities with modernistic architecture, so I'm really not sure if Viipuri would look any better than that even if we managed to keep it.
Well, there would at least be much less ruins left as they are. And luckily enough, most Finnish buildings don't look so unkempt.
And it seems to me that the Soviets kept their buildings and infrastructure in much better confition than Russians.
I used the city as a backdrop for my Finnish/Estonian historical novel, Sukulaiset: The Kindred. I do want to visit one day ... Thanks for the video!
And now that beautiful town is destroyed, and so are the all other areas as well that Russia took from us🙁
Fascinating video, thank you/спасибо/grazie 👍
Viborg with all it's soviet archetecture looks like it still would be a swedish town. Definetly with the house remembering of Detroit
What an interesting geographic history. Interesting to see the differences in architecture too.
In 1939 Nazi Germany and Soviets were allies and they divided Europe between them. They agreed that Finland was to be under Soviet influence. So that became the Winter War. Finland never sided with Germany, but instead Germans betrayed their allies Soviet Union and attacked them. Thus Finland and Germany were fighting the same enemy for different reasons. Finland to gain back the land they lost earlier and Germany just to get what was never their.
My great grandmother's mother committed suicide because of the war. She jumped into a river there somewhere
I remember some years ago when there was big unrest in Tallinn because Estonians were moving the statue dedicated to Red Army that "liberated" the country. Russians felt it was disrespectful to the Soviet dead. As that was happening, I remember how Soviets built a road straight through a Finnish graveyard in Viipuri. They did take the gravestones and used them to build staircases.
We have a large city in Denmark called "Viborg"
Yes, of course we know 👍
I have to add.. How come a Dane ended up watching this video ? I´ve read through comments in this section and it is pretty hard to believe we are living in 2023. I guess after Chechnya, Georgia, Krim and Ukraine one should not wonder. Coming from a nordic neighbour to another, how come you never felt to claim Malmö to yourself in order to secure more space for the security for København 😂😂😂? Just wondering for the sake of it...
@@JSEITSONEN Mainly because we live in 2023, and Sweden is considered a brother nation now.
Exactly , as it should be 😏👍@@MistaLiir
this historical town should have been returned to Finland.
The day will come :)
Тебя первого закопаем
@@efim_sivacholi если легко похоронить тебя коммунист
Thank you for your videos ! They make travel in a country I like very much
Я из Выборга, хороший город и мне очень нравится жить здесь! Выборг основан в 1293 году, в 1993 году было масштабное мероприятие празднование 700лет городу, приезжали самые популярные певцы из России с концертами. Выборгу 728 лет сейчас.
Почти каждые выходные бываю в Выборге, наконец-то город начали приводить в порядок, видны изменения, но работы непочатый край. П.С. привет соседям из СПб)
joopa joo
@@notedc5483 Выборг должен быть в составе финляндий
@@warrenkensington6091 molon labe.
tikkurila is finnish paint company
The city had 4-5 languages when it was part of Sweden, and later Finland. Besides Finnish and Swedish, there was a strong presence of German- and Russian-speakers. The Russian-speakers might have come mainly after 1721, when the Swedish kingdom lost part of Karelia, and after 1809, when Finland was completely taken over by the Russian empire, and would become an autonomous Grand Duchy within the empire. German-speakers were part of most Swedish coastal towns back from medieval times, as they were trading across the Baltic sea. The fifth language would be Karelian, which is of course related to Finnish, but I'm not sure what the status was of that language back then, but It's a minority language in Finland nowadays. Anyway, the Finnish name is Viipuri, but the name Viborg was never dropped, but used in tandem in Swedish (and German). There might have been some Tatar- and Yiddish-speakers in town too, as some Tatars and Jews settled in Finnish cities after they'd served in the Imperial Russian army in Finland.
Karelians as in Karelian language speakers in Viipuri were basically non-existent, as they were in the rest of the Karelian isthmus region except for some areas north of Ladoga. However, Finnish Karelians were there and made up the majority of the Finnish population in the city. Finnish Karelians and their southeastern dialects of Finnish were and still are the closest related dialect to Karelian, since they are direct descendants of ancient Karelians left on the Swedish side of the Swedish-Novgorod border. Only places where Karelian was spoken in Finland were the northern areas of Ladoga referred to as Raja-Karjala or "Border Karelia" and eastern parts of modern North Karelia, now inhabited almost exclusively by Savonians.
@@jokemon9547 Yes, that sounds plausible, although it has to be said that there has been quite a lot of confusion over the years about what the Karelian language actually is, as some would have it as a "Finnish dialect". Also, I imagine that it's quite possible that not only Russian-speakers moved in after 1721, but also some Karelian-speakers. All this is speculation of course, but within the realm of possibility.
@@Cikeb Even if it might have been hard to distinguish between Finnish Karelian and Karelian, there was another way to identify who belonged to which group. Finnish Karelians were Lutheran due to being a part of Sweden while Karelians were Orthodox due to being a part of Novgorod and later Russia. So if they were Lutheran, they likely spoke Finnish and if they were Orthodox, they were speaking Karelian. And yes, I'm not denying the possibility that Karelians might have been relocated or migrated into the city after 1721, but I doubt it was a significant enough amount to take note. It wasn't a case where a significant amount of people were needed to be moved into the city because most of the population had fled like would happen later in 1940 and 1944. Most of the population actually remained in the city after Russia captured and occupied it in 1710 and would remain there even after 1721.
@@jokemon9547 You are probably right. There might have been a Karelian language presence, but it most likely wasn't significant.
Detroit and Grand Theft Auto Vibes...Well said!😅✌🏾Thanks for a fascinating tour.
Russian Tsars literally created Finland...
Russian history books tell all kinds of things
🙏✨🇫🇮 Grazie, Kiitos!