Abstract My article focuses on the places of memory and utopias, on how a lost Karelia has been constructed as a utopian place in Finland after the wars of 1939-45. I start by defining the phrases "place of memory" and "utopias." Because my methodology is based on oral history,5 the terms place of memory and utopias derive their meaning from this tradition. It thus has a slightly different perspective than usual. I will present an interpretation of a utopian Karelia, which is defined on the one hand by the experience of place in exiles' reminiscences, and on the other hand by an ideological dream of the restoration of Karelia that persists in Finland.
