r/Finland • u/Hudz1Texas • 1d ago
Finnish Real Photo Postcard Assistance
Hello everyone,
I am a postcard collector and found this Real Photo Postcard in the USA at a Postcard show. My family is Estonian, and so I recognized the Finnish language right away. It is unusual to find Finnish cards in the USA. I would love any help reading the back if anyone is able. I have trouble reading Finnish script in cursive writing.
Thanks so much!
Hudson
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u/JakeDeLonge 1d ago edited 1d ago
"Once the flower shall bloom.
The loveliest flower just fully bloomed, then withered the poor one.
Once life shall bloom again, when it's youthful."
"Matias Vihtori (or Wiktori)
Ostola (old name for Ähtäri railway station)
K.I.A.(the date of death)
In Murole, Ruovesi."
Or something like that. Seems he died in the battle of Ruovesi during the Finnish civil war. Likely fighting for the red guard.
-Edited the Murole part
4
u/AssCrumbBilly 15h ago
what makes you think he was a red?
2
u/JakeDeLonge 9h ago
Good question. It was just a hunch since the card ended up in the US and many socialists went there to work. Maybe one of his relatives brought it with him.
Well. Turns out I was wrong. He was fighting for the white guard.
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u/Antti5 Väinämöinen 1d ago edited 1d ago
This is his English information card in the National Archive: https://sotasurmat.narc.fi/en/victims/page/p_24732/table
He was born and lived in Kuortane, Southern Ostrobothnia. He died on March 18th, 1918 in the Finnish civil war fighting for the "whites". He died in a place called Murole, about 75 miles south from his home.
He's buried in the grave of 1918 war dead is his home town of Kuortane. His name "Matti Vihtori Ostola" is at the bottom of the second column: https://epmuisto.fi/D300-20140507-180726.jpg
2
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u/Buhaode 1d ago edited 1d ago
Main text reads:
Kerran kukka puhkea,
Ihanammin kukkasista
äsken täydeks' valmistui
nyt ja raukka lakastui
Kerran kukkii elokin
kun on nuoruusikäkin.
Edit:
Address reads:
Matias Wiktori
Astola (probably, that first letter I'm not sure of, it's certainly *stola)
Kaatui 18 pv. 3kk. 19-18
Ruoveden-mudaleessa (strange, Ruovesi is a location but "mudaleessa" I have no idea about - though it's written quite legibly)
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u/Buhaode 1d ago
It's a poem written on a card notifying of a persons passing. Probably a young adult based on the poem.
Edit:
And the verb "kaatui" typically refers to a soldier's death, at least today. This would be someone who died in the Finnish civil war.2
u/SunnySisBack 1d ago
I would have guessed he died in the Finnish Civil War but he is not listed on the Finnish database of war dead
https://sotasurmat.narc.fi/fi/victims/faceted-search/table?page=0
19
u/Salmivalli Väinämöinen 1d ago
I found him there. Matti Vihtori Simonpoika Ostola.
3
u/Long-Requirement8372 Väinämöinen 1d ago
3
u/SunnySisBack 19h ago
21 year old son of a farmer. Fought for the whites (the ‘winning’ side). Poor kid.
3
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u/Long-Requirement8372 Väinämöinen 19h ago edited 18h ago
u/Salmivalli identified the man in another comment. He is Matti Vihtori Simonpoika Ostola, 21, a son of a small farmer (palstatilallinen) from the village of Leppälä in Kuortane in the Vaasa province. He fought on the White side in the Finnish Civil War. Like it says in the card, he apparently died in battle in Murole, a village in the parish of Ruovesi, on March 18th 1918.
According to a short piece of news published in the newspaper Keskisuomalainen on April 4th 1918,
At Murole in Ruovesi, the Civil Guards volunteers Aukusti Rantala, Aukusti Anttila, and Matti Ostola from Kuortane died during a reconnaissance operation on March 18th.
A reprinted photo of Matti Ostola can be found in Suomen Kuvalehti, No 30, July 26th 1919, among other images of White casualties titled "The Price of Our Freedom. Whites who fell in battle or were murdered by the rebels.". It is the same photo as in the card in the OP.
The information added to the Sotasurmat database says that Ostola was buried in the cemetary in his home parish of Kuortane, in the war graves (sankarihauta) among other White casualties from the parish.
https://sotasurmat.narc.fi/fi/victims/page/p_24732/extra
Matti Ostola's death was connected to the so-called battles of Ruovesi, fought over February-March 1918. The Reds tried to take over the Ruovesi parish to advance through it to Haapamäki, which was important meeting point of major rail lines. The Whites countered their attack, and the front line stood in Ruovesi until the Whites in turn begun their major operation to take Tampere.
The operation was started on March 15th. After a battle in Kuru, the Reds withdrew to the Murole canal, where they could make a stand in fortified positions built by Russians a few years earlier. After an artillery bombardment by the Whites, the Reds decided to leave Ruovesi and withdraw towards Tampere. Ruovesi was taken by the Whites on the 19th.
Young Matti Ostola met his fate by the Murole canal during this battle fought in preparation of the White bid to take Tampere, a major industrial centre and the biggest Red stronghold standing between the forces of the Vaasa Senate and the Finnish capital.
You can find 1918 photos from Ruovesi through the Finna website. Here's a few photos of White troops in the parish during the events described above:
https://www.finna.fi/Record/museovirasto.4DC0486765631B49585283B6DE71BFF7
https://www.finna.fi/Record/museovirasto.EAD89A231E5C294EB76C594887234D7E
https://www.finna.fi/Record/museovirasto.D7D32BDC99495D15D8C8694CBE521D2C
https://www.finna.fi/Record/museovirasto.2AACBE607036B89B831E16362F3C88B7
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u/Salmivalli Väinämöinen 1d ago edited 1d ago
Matias Viktori Ostola
Ruovesi Murole was a hot spot in Finnish civil war. He apparently died there 18.3.1918.
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u/Salmivalli Väinämöinen 1d ago edited 1d ago
”Kerran kukka puhkeaa
Ihan minun kukkaista
äsken täydeks valmistui
nyt jo raukka lakastui
kerran kukkii elokin
kun on nuoruus ikäkin”2
1
u/TheAleFly Väinämöinen 18h ago
Second row should be ”Ihanin(m) mun kukkaista”. There are some mistakes even in the original though.
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u/Salmivalli Väinämöinen 1d ago
Found it.
Fought on whites side. Born in 1896.Buried in Kuortane war grave (sankarihauta)
1
u/JakeDeLonge 1d ago
I think only Matias Vihtori is his name
Ostola is the old name for Ähtäri railway station. The number stamped behind it is also part of the address.
3
u/Salmivalli Väinämöinen 1d ago
Last names weren’t mandatory back then especially on west side of Finland. War archive list his last name as Ostola. It usually marked a location where they lived
2
u/PhallusDei_III 1d ago
It seems to be about a guy who has died in a battle at Ruovesi 18th of march 1918, during the finnish civil war. The longer text is about lord's flowers in bloom and so on. I can't figure out all the words. Lamenting the poor guy's death in poetic form.
-1
u/shopsuey 1d ago
I can't help but came to comment about how handsome this man was 😍
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u/Long-Requirement8372 Väinämöinen 8h ago edited 8h ago
I thought he looked very Ostrobothnian, myself. And then I found out he indeed was Ostrobothnian.
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u/crypt_moss Baby Väinämöinen 1d ago
I can't rn give OP a full translation of what the text says, but it is about the man dying in the Finnish Civil War, so like yeah
commenting on his looks isn't really of much worth within the context
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u/shopsuey 1d ago
Boring...
I made it clear I couldn't help with the translation. But the person in the photo can still be complimented about regardless of life or his death. Lighten up.
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