NLHN: The Lord and Masters put us here. The Deportation of the Sámi Webinar 17 January
2023 3 PM CET he Sámi people have lived and worked in the northern parts of Fenno-Scandia
and Russia for as long as anyone can remember. Their name for their arctic lands is Sápmi,
and until the national borders separating the Scandinavian countries from each other were
drawn in 1751, the Sámi freely migrated over this vast area, moving their reindeer herds
between grazing grounds.
But by 1751, the border treaty became the beginning of the end to this way of life. The
treaty recognized the Sámi as a distinct people with rights to the land in form of
fishing, hunting, and herding reindeer. By 1905, when Norway became independent from
Sweden, the migration of the reindeer herds between the summer pastures on the Norwegian
coast and the winter pastures in Sweden became a border dispute between the governments in
Oslo and Stockholm. And in 1919 the number of reindeer permitted to cross the border was
limited. As a result, a large number of Sámi people had to leave their summer homes in
Norway and move to a region in northern Sweden, where they had no connections of family or
kin. They became the sirdolaččat, the displaced.
Journalist and author Elin Anna Labba has written the first history of the sirdolaččat,
the book Herrarna satte oss hit: om tvångsförflyttningarna i Sverige (2020). It is under
translation to English by translator Fiona Graham, and an introduction to the book as well
as excerpts of the English translation can be found
here>><https://www.balticsealibrary.info/66-balticsealibrary/essays/776-sirdolaccat-the-deportation-of-northern-sami.html>.
Presenter: Elin Anna Labba
Chair: Silke Neunsinger, Arbetarrörelsens arkiv och bibliotek, Huddinge
Time: 3-5 PM CET
Link to the webinar:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83464195439 (no registration needed)
Welcome!
Silke Neunsinger
Arbetarrörelsen arkiv och bibliotek
Elektronvägen 2
141 49 Huddinge
tel 08-4123927
mobil 070-7613927
www.arbetarhistoria.se