Immigrants in Helsinki exhibition

Volker von Bonin was part of a century-long succession of German-speaking immigrants in Helsinki. Helsinki was already an international city in the 19th century, and German was the third most spoken minority language after Russian and Swedish. The German-speaking population played a key role in the development of Finland and its capital. Fazer, Stockmann, Paulig, Pacius – these Finnish families, still famous today, were originally German and Swiss immigrants. There are many German institutions in Helsinki, including a church, a school and a library.

To learn more about the history of German immigrants in Helsinki in the 19th century, you can visit the bilingual touring exhibition produced in 2013 by the Aue Foundation, the City of Helsinki and the Federation of Finnish-German Associations (Suomi-Saksa Yhdistysten Liitto).

Photo: The name of the Stockmann family, of German origin, has been visible in the streetscape of Helsinki since 1862. Volker von Bonin, 1979 / Helsinki City Museum.