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 twentieth centuries, literally catapulted into modernity. The form of reindeer herding taken over from the Komi after the October Revolution was insofar nothing new. Konstantinov and Vladimirova (2002) identify a majority "pro-red "204 attitude among Sami towards the Soviet period. This they attribute to the already intensive contact with Russians before the Revolution. In contrast, for many members of small peoples of Siberia, the first contact with the Communists was also the first contact with Russians. Wrong, in my view, however, is the claim that there is almost no collec­ tive memory of the period before the state farM s205 I f Ms Jur'eva or Ms Golyh look back with pleasure at the sovkhoz period, this is not because there is no memory of the time before that, but because the 1970s and 1980s appear stable and prosperous compared with the years before and after. The analysis of my interviews has high­ lighted this point. The fact that the hard times of the 1930s to the 1970s are far from forgotten is shown by the informants' statements. The real evil that befell the Sami during collec­ tivization was not the expansion of reindeer herding. This was an inevitable process that was not initiated but only continued by the Soviet state. The systematization and enlargement of the reindeer stock need not, however, have been accompanied by a relocation of almost the entire Sami population. Instead of centralization, an ex­ pansion of the transport infrastructure, primarily in the form of roads, would have been more efficient and eco-friendly for both the population and nature. This would, however, have been at the expense of the state, while the transfers were mainly at the expense of the people. Nor did the end of collectivization mark the end of forced resettlements. Electrification (reservoirs), industrialization and militarization of the Kola Peninsula meant that many Sami had to change their place of residence unvol- untarily, being uprooted from their livelihoods and their social environments. If, however, one views the mass colonization, industrialization and militarization of the Kola Peninsula as given and immutable, Lovozero would basically not have been such a bad concept, as shown by the life of Ms Jur'eva who came voluntarily to 204Konstantinov/Vladimirova 2002, 12. 205Cf.: Konstantinov/Vladimirova 2002, 14. Senterfor samiske studier, Skriftserie nr. 19 137