Germans in Finland are immigrants from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

residing in

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 ...

History

During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, the most important officers and other nobles were

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

or Germans. In

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

and Viipuri 75% of bourgeoisies were German. Germans were also merchants. By 1924 there were 1,645 Germans in Finland. German families were essential for the development of Finland and Helsinki in the 1800s. German was the third most spoken language in Helsinki at the time, and German schools which still operate today were established in Helsinki. During World War II, there were about 200,000 German soldiers in Finland in the period 1941–1944, and an estimated 700 children were born to German soldiers and Finnish women. Many present-day Finnish companies were started by Germans, like

Paulig Paulig is a Finnish family-owned food and drink company, founded in 1876. The company's brands are Paulig, Santa Maria, Risenta and Poco Loco. Paulig has 2,000 employees in 13 countries and its net sales in 2019 were EUR 921 million. History The ...

and

Stockmann Stockmann plc is a Finnish retailer established in 1862. Stockmann's eight company-owned department stores are in Finland (six), Estonia (one), and Latvia (one). There also was an additional nine Stockmann-branded department stores in Russia o ...

. FC Germania Helsinki is a sports club funded by Germans in Finland in 2017.

Finnish people of German descent

Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (, ; 4 June 1867 – 27 January 1951) was a Finnish military leader and statesman. He served as the military leader of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War of 1918, as Regent of Finland (1918–1919), as comma ...

, former Finnish president *

Maria Guzenina Maria Edith Guzenina (née Stieren, previously Guzenina-Richardson and Lindell; born 12 January 1969 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish politician who became a household name in Finland after working as the first Finnish VJ for MTV Europe from ...

, politician *

Peter von Bagh Kari Peter Conrad von Bagh (29 August 1943 – 17 September 2014) was a Finnish film historian and director. Von Bagh worked as the head of the Finnish Film Archive. He was the editor-in-chief of ''Filmihullu'' magazine and co-founder and direct ...

, science author *

Lasse Pöysti Lasse Erik Pöysti (24 January 1927 – 5 April 2019) was a Finnish actor, director, theatre manager and writer. He was born in Sortavala. Biography Pöysti began his career as a child actor, becoming known to the Finnish public as Olli Suomin ...

, actor *

Carl Ludvig Engel Carl Ludvig Engel, or Johann Carl Ludwig Engel (3 July 1778 – 14 May 1840), was a German architect whose most noted work can be found in Helsinki, which he helped rebuild. His works include most of the buildings around the capital's monumental ...

, architect * Eva Polttila, former news anchor * Roman Schatz, writer *

Fredrik Pacius Fredrik Pacius (; born Friedrich Pacius; 19 March 1809 – 8 January 1891) was a German-Finnish composer and conductor who lived most of his life in Finland. He has been called the "Father of Finnish music". Pacius was born in Hamburg. He was ap ...

, composer *

Samu Haber Samu Aleksi Haber (born 2 April 1976) is a Finnish singer, songwriter, television music competition judge, entrepreneur, and is the lead vocalist and frontman of pop-rock band Sunrise Avenue. Haber established a band Sunrise in 1992 with his fri ...

, singer-songwriter

References

Ethnic groups in Finland Finland–Germany relations

{{germany-hist-stub

History

Finnish people of German descent

See also

References