The Sami and World War II, by Álehtta (Jessica Johnson)

Lapons devant leur tentes. Photographie (XIXe siècle). Source: Wikipedia

Comme les animaux sauvages migrateurs, les peuples nomades sont étrangers aux frontières abstraites des États et comprennent encore moins les guerres dans lesquelles les États veulent les mêler, pire, se combattre les uns les autres pour une question étrangère de "nationalité".

Exemple: les Lapons (Sames) pendant la Deuxième Guerre mondiale.

P.O.C.

The Sami and World War II

By Álehtta (Jessica Johnson)

World War II was a pivotal point in world history. It seems as though, during the years of war, there was no nation or peoples left untouched by the repercussions of war. Take for instance the Sami. Here are a people whose culture has been known as a peaceful culture for hundreds of years. Yet, even they were involved in a war they did not start and possibly did not entirely understand. The Sami have never asked for or wanted Sapmi, their homeland, to be an independent country from the countries that it is located on. These countries are Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. WWII was about the conquest of land and the conquest of peoples to rule over. So, the idea of fighting over land and borders must have seemed foreign to the Sami who have never asked for any borders to form a country of their own. However, without the Sami, who knows how the war would have been in the circumpolar area of Europe. The Sami that fought in the war were excellent skiers and navigators because this knowledge and skill have been a part of the Sami way of life for thousands of years. Thus, they were used in the war as navigators and belonged to long distance patrols because they were able to navigate and cross several kilometers a day in unfamiliar terrain. However, the Sami were forced to fight other Sami because they were separated by country borders that had been determined long ago. If their “countries” were fighting, they were pulled into the fighting as well. The events of WWII are presented as they occurred in chronological order in the circumpolar area of Europe. They are presented in this way to give some background knowledge as to why the Sami were fighting and whom they were fighting during the war.

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Source: https://www.laits.utexas.edu/sami/dieda/hist/wwii.htm

Paysage de Laponie dans le Kvalsund, près de Hammerfest (source: Wikipedia)

Sur la Laponie et sur ce même blog:

http://pocombelles.over-blog.com/article-linne-les-lapons-et-les-gens-d-eglise-85786181.html

http://pocombelles.over-blog.com/article-linne-meditation-sur-la-mort-et-sur-la-vie-86521559.html

http://pocombelles.over-blog.com/article-orion-et-la-poursuite-de-sarvas-86486334.html