1920s
In the early 1920s, Katri Bergholm, chair of the Helsinki Soldiers’ Home Association, began to prepare for the establishment of a national union. In the War Ministry and with the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, General Karl Wilkama, he negotiated the establishment of a new alliance and soldiers’ home days.
In the early stages, many shunned the creation of a new body. There were fears of segregation if small associations could not afford to send a representative to the days. However, the board of the Helsinki Soldiers’ Home Association decided to organize the days, and they were held on 6.-8.4.1921.
At the Soldiers’ Home Days, Katri Bergholm highlighted four themes as the foundations of a national association:
- Is there a need for an association
- how the members should be selected
- what the relationship with the Finnish Defence Forces would be like
- how the union’s activities would be financed
The delegates unanimously decided to establish the Finnish Soldiers* Home Association. The rules meeting was held on 11.11.1921 at the Helsinki Soldiers’ Home. The purpose of the association was summed up in the following points:
- assists the Finnish army with soldiers’ homes in peacetime and wartime
- acts as a link between soldiers’ home associations and other organizations working for the same purpose;
- is the body through which the wishes of the army leadership go to the boards of soldiers’ homes and vice versa
- takes initiatives to establish soldiers’ homes where needed
- engage in advisory activities
In the 1920s, the Finnish Soldiers’ Home Association quickly became the central command staff of soldiers’ home work under the leadership of chairperson Katri Bergholm. The most important forms of work and expenses during the first half of the decade were cross-border work, awareness-raising events for non-commissioned officers, support for small associations and assistance in association construction projects. Donations were collected from the officer corps, bourgeois circles, companies and soldiers’ home sisters.
The Soldiers’ Home Association took on the role of public enlightener and communicator. The association made strong efforts to develop, among other things, the social conditions in the border region and to bring frontiersmen closer to the native population. Indeed, there was smuggling and drunkenness among the border population, left-wing ideology spread and trust in the authorities was low.