Allemann, L. The sami of the Kola Peninsula : about the life of an ethnic minority in the Soviet Union / Lukas Allemann ; [transl. by Michael Lomax]. - Rovaniemi : University of Lapland Printing Centre, 2013. - 151 p. : ill., map, portr. ; 25 см. - (Senter for samiske studier, Skriftserie ; 19).

The Sami of the Kola Peninsula A sad consequence of the de facto unemployment and homelessness for many peo­ ple, and of the violent uprooting in general, were frequent cases of alcoholism and numerous suicides. Bol'sakova (2003) quotes, unfortunately without citing her sources, the following numbers: among the Sami, there are 2.7 times more cases of alcoholism than the overall average of the Murmansk region, half of all deaths are due to alcoholism (this figure probably refers only to men), half of all Sami men under 40 have not founded a family, and every third family moved from Varzino mourns at least one suicide. As an indirect result of alcoholism or their sentences for 'parasit­ ism', many parents were deprived of parental rights and the children sent to board­ ing schools. After finishing school, many of these children were left completely to their own devices with few prospects, resulting in another generation of alcoholics, criminals and suicides. 163 5.4.4 The educational system 5.4.4.1 Language "Native language is an important ethnic marker, closely tied to an individual's ethnic self-concept, yet also distinct from it. For most people, the change of na­ tive language is a fundamental, though not definitive, indication of change in ethnic self-concept, fairly easily followed by ethnic re-identification. "164 After years of preparation, a 38-character alphabet was published in 1933 for the So­ viet Sami, based on the Latin alphabet, along with a dictionary. But this attempt at codification apparently met with little response, aimed as it was at creating a syn­ thetic language, intended to emerge from a mixture of the different dialects spoken on the Kola Peninsula. These dialects differ so strongly among themselves, however, due to the large distances between the individual communities, that Sami from dif­ ferent regions often are unable to communicate with each other. In 1937, a Sami dic­ tionary based on the Cyrillic alphabet was published. This too, was not a success, be­ 163 Cf.: Bol'sakova 2003, 69 f., 82. 164 Anderson/Silver 1989, 614. Senterfor samiske studier, Skriftserie nr. 19 105