Aira Samulin, who experienced the winter and continuation war, wanted to help the child refugees of Ukraine through dance.
Aira Samulin is watching tonight’s TTK broadcast in the audience. Atte Kajova
Aira Suvio-Samulin (formerly Suvio, Samulin-Peltomäki), has died on Monday, October 23. Iltalehti has received confirmation of the death. The entrepreneur-artist was 96 years old when he died.
Samulini’s death was reported first Stop.
Iltalehti republishes Samulin’s last interview in its entirety. The story was originally published on Sunday, October 8.
“Father’s Ghost”
Samulin was only 12 years old when the Finnish Winter War broke out and when his father was reported to have died at the front. The family organized a funeral for the father and the coffin had already been purchased when the father returned home.
On the hoof.
– I thought then that it was my father’s ghost. That even though father is dead, he came to help us.
Father continued to fight and visited his family when he could. In the end, the father fell in the continuation war, so Samulin had to go through the grieving process for the second time.
Another time, he even had to see the body of his father, who had died in the war, on a stretcher. From there, the family continued their journey towards Helsinki, where the father’s funeral was organized.
– We brought the father’s body with us and the next day we were already on the train. Us children, mother and father’s coffin, says Samulin.
Times were hard and the family’s firstborn Samulin had to take care of the rest of the family, as the mother suffered from mental health challenges after the war and the death of the father.
Samulin wants to help children suffering in the war in Ukraine. Atte Kajova
Due to his personal experiences, Samulin has decided to help children suffering in the war in Ukraine through dance.
– When I was a child myself, dancing was forbidden in Finland. However, there were dance schools in operation where you could dance even though nothing was taught in them. Now in retrospect, I’ve thought that maybe dancing has helped me when times were so hard.
Samulin contacted the Mannerheim Child Welfare Association and founded a dance school for Ukrainian children who fled the war.
– I thought we’d let the good go around. I have a hall of mirrors in the Alexander Theater where Ukrainian children come to dance.
The story was originally published on October 8, 2023.