Seutula ( sv, Sjöskog) is a district in

Vantaa Vantaa (; sv, Vanda, ) is a city and Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. It is part of the inner core of the Greater Helsinki, Finnish Capital Region along with Helsinki, Espoo, and Kauniainen. With a population of (), Vantaa i ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, located inside the curve of the River Vantaa. Seutula is also a village in the medieval town of Helsinki, stretching to Rajakoski in the north, Lavanko in the east covering the whole district of Kiila, and including Sotilaskorpi in the south. On the other hand, the western part of the river's curve, including the Königstedt Manor, belongs to the village of Riipilä. Seutula is often considered a region stretching even outside the official district, and it has an active local community. In terms of government, Seutula, Riipilä, and Kiila belong to the

Kivistö Kivistö is a district and major region of the municipality of Vantaa, Finland, located within the northwestern part of the city. The district has a population of 3,452 and a population density of . The district is bordered to the west by Hämee ...

major district. Vantaa Seutulan koulu1

In the early 1950s, a new

airfield An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

for

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

was built along the Seutulantie road, stretching from Tuusulantie in Ruskeasanta to Seutula. This airfield was opened in 1952, and became the

Helsinki Airport Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (; fi, Helsinki-Vantaan lentoasema, sv, Helsingfors-Vanda flygplats), or simply Helsinki Airport, is the main international airport of the city of Helsinki, its surrounding Greater Helsinki, metropolitan area, and the ...

in 1977. Already during its construction, the airfield was commonly called the Seutula airfield, because Tuusulantie had a sign pointing to Seutula. In reality, the airfield was built about 8 kilometres southeast from Seutula, in the northern parts of Veromiehenkylä and Kirkonkylä. Nowadays, Lentokenttä (

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

for "airfield") is its own district in Vantaa. The name Seutula is often connected to

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

s, although there never has been a prison in Seutula. The reason for the connection is that the airfield was mainly built using prisoner labour. Some of the prisoners used to build the airfield were public figures of the 1960s, convicted of

driving under influence Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

, bringing the activity to light. An

open prison An open prison (open jail) is any jail in which the prisoners are trusted to complete sentences with minimal supervision and perimeter security and are often not locked up in their prison cells. Prisoners may be permitted to take up employment w ...

was located in Seutula until 2009. This prison was originally called a

labour colony A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (especi ...

, and one of its inmates in the 1960s was

Irwin Goodman Antti Yrjö Hammarberg (14 September 1943 – 14 January 1991), professionally known as Irwin Goodman, was a popular Finnish rock and folk singer. In the late 1960s he was widely known as a protest singer. He recorded over 300 songs, most of which ...

,Vantaan Sanomat
who had made records about the subject called ''Terveisiä Seutulasta'' ("greetings from Seutula") and ''Autolla Kanarian saarille'' ("to the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

by car"), with lyrics by

Vexi Salmi Veikko Olavi "Vexi" Salmi (; 21 September 1942 – 8 September 2020) was a Finnish lyricist. He wrote the lyrics to numerous popular songs for several prominent artists, including Irwin Goodman, Jari Sillanpää, and Katri Helena. His career ...

References

* Vantaa alueittain (2003). Downloadable as two PDF files fro
the web site of the city of Vantaa
Pages 104-107 in the beginning part are about Seutula. * Vantaan väestö kaupunginosittain 1.1.2006. Statistics map, downloadable as a PDF file fro
the web site of the city of Vantaa
{{Vantaa Districts of Vantaa