Nazi memorabilia, dark heritage and treasure hunting as “alternative” tourism: Understanding the fascination with the material remains of World War II in Northern Finland

Abstract

Sites connected to the Second World War (WWII) are increasingly recognized as worthy of archaeological investigation. Researchers are also becoming aware that that the collectors market in objects connected to WWII, particularly those connected to Germany, is encouraging the stripping of conflict landscapes in the search for “collectors items.” Finnish Lapland is sometimes regarded as peripheral compared to more centrally located regions of Europe. Archaeologists working here nonetheless find themselves in direct competition with enthusiastic treasure hunters. This is complicated even further by the myriad ontologies employed by different individuals in the construction of their relationship with the material culture connected to recent conflict periods, and on specific “other” or “exotic” landscapes, such as Lapland. This paper examines what might be learnt about the nature of treasure hunting for and trading in WWII material from Lapland, and its position within the emerging research on broader trends in “dark” approaches to and encounters with heritage.

Keywords:

• treasure hunting
• Second World War
• Finland
• dark heritage
• Lapland

Acknowledgments

This article is a part of the research project “Lapland's Dark Heritage: Understanding the Cultural Legacy of Northern Finland's WWII German Materialities within Interdisciplinary Perspectives,” based at the University of Helsinki, Finland, and funded by the Academy of Finland (Decision no. 275497).

ORCID

Suzie Thomas http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3365-0136

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Suzie Thomas

Suzie Thomas (Ph.D. 2009, Newcastle University) is University Lecturer in museology at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Her research interests include community archaeology, archaeology and amateur metal detecting, and alternative perspectives on cultural heritage.

Oula Seitsonen

Oula Seitsonen (MSc. 2014, University of Helsinki) is researcher in the project “Lapland's Dark Heritage” at the University of Helsinki, Finland. His research interests cover a wide variety of subjects, ranging from prehistoric palaeoenvironmental studies to contemporary archaeology and digital humanities.

Vesa-Pekka Herva

Vesa-Pekka Herva (Ph.D. 2004, University of Oulu) is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Oulu, Finland. He has studied various aspects of material culture, human-environment relations, cosmology, and heritage in North-Eastern Europe from the Neolithic to the modern times.