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).

Lukas Allemann 6. Final considerations: The Sami and the Soviet state - an ambivalent relationship The present study of the living conditions of the Sami of the Kola Peninsula during the Soviet era has opened up a number of new perspectives. Firstly, it has become clear that the black-and-white image that is often drawn in the highly polarized liter­ ature cannot be maintained. Secondly, it has become evident that the greatest evils for many Sami were not collectivization per se nor the Stalinist terror, but the reset­ tlements. This "experiment with human beings "200 affected almost every Sami family. The issue of the resettlements has been given too little attention in previous publica­ tions, and I hope that my study can contribute to closing this knowledge gap. The ambiguous impressions of my interview partners can be summarized as fol­ lows: Ms Jur'eva glorifies the Soviet reindeer herding system, because she did not ex­ perience the dark side, was able to combine the Sami traditions with the Soviet inno­ vations relatively well, and today has to look on and see how much has perished. For her and her family, the collective economy of the post-war period between the 1950s to the 1980s brought an unambiguous increase in prosperity. This prosperity has now evaporated. Ms Jur'eva is, on the other hand, fiercely critical of the educational system: having always lived and worked in an environment in which the Sami lan­ guage was used in everyday life, she criticizes the repression of the Sami language in the schools. The state-organized education thus worked against parental education at home. The fact that Ms Jur'eva has no further criticisms and is silent about the re­ settlements should not be read as her being unaware of them; rather it is hard for her to accept that her fellow human beings who were outwardly equal and worked in the same collective as herself had to contend with massive social problems deriving from their resettlement experience. Ms Mat^hina experienced the resettlement from Iokanga to Gremiha during the Soviet period. She criticizes the educational system and places the entire blame on 200Gucol/Vinogradova/Samorukova 2007, 5. Senterfor samiske studier, Skriftserie nr. 19 134