Class dates: Thursdays,  October 29, November 5, 12, 19, December 3   (5 weeks)

Class time: 10:00 am to 11:30 am

Location: Online (via Zoom)

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the USSR recruited North Americans of Finnish descent to work in the forests, farms, and mines of Karelia, the northwestern Soviet province that bordered on Finland. Young and old, thousands contracted what came to be called "Karelian Fever." They answered the call, but their zeal for work was no match for Stalin's paranoia about these foreigners. Many were shot, imprisoned in Siberia, or simply left to starve. This course will show you how Stalin's Great Terror battered and betrayed the Finnish socialists and communists who had come to help.

Optional reading:  They Took My Father by Mayme Sevander, ISBN 9780816643363;  The Search for a Socialist El Dorado by Alexey Golubev and Irina Takala, ISBN 9781611861150

Instructor: Karl Hakkarainen is a long-time WISE instructor who has taught courses on history, technology, literature, music, and intellectual property law. He previously taught "Suitcases Full of Socialism," which examined immigrants who came to the United States in the 19th century, bringing with them their socialist ideals and strategies.