Irina Takala
Irina Takala is a Russian historian and educator. Her interests include history of Finland and Karelia, Finland–Russia relations, Stalinism, alcoholism in Russia.
Education and research
In 1978 she graduated from Petrozavodsk State University specializing in history. In 1984 she earned Ph.D. with thesis "Россия и общественная мысль Финляндии " .She started her research on Stalinist persecution of Finns in early 1990s, when many KGB archives were opened under Boris Yeltsin. She has become interested in this, because more than 10 members of her immediate family were victims to varying degrees. However under Vladimir Putin they were closed again, and materials about victims are available now only to close relatives.
Books
- 2002: Финны в Карелии и в России: История возникновения и гибели диаспоры
- 2002: «Веселие Руси». История алкогольной проблемы в России
- 2014: Search for a Socialist El Dorado: Finnish Immigration to Soviet Karelia from the United States and Canada in the 1930s. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press; Winnipeg, MB: University of Manitoba Press
- *2019: : В поисках социалистического Эльдорадо: североамериканские финны в Советской Карелии 1930-х годов
- 2021: Taistelua ja kuolemaa: Neuvosto-Karjalan suomalaiset 1920- ja 1930-luvulla
- : The book is about the history of Finns who emigrated to the Soviet Union from Finland and North America in the 1920s and 1930s, in search for better future. However he Great Terror that happened the second half of 1930s brought tragedy for them.