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Lotta-Publications

The Lotta-Svärd organisation published a lot of printed material, most of between the years 1930 and 1944. Three main groups of material are

-Organisation’s magazines

-Organisation’s other material

-Public magazines

Other material worth mentioning is e.g. a Helsinki city map.

Christmas Lotta

The earliest publication was the Jul-Lotta Christmas magazine from 1922, this was in Swedish and made by Lolan Vasström of the Western Uusimaa district to raise funds.

The following Christmas both Finnish and Swedish versions were published and all the funds earned were directed to the Lotta-Svärd central board to be used as they saw fit. The sales exceeded all expectations and the profit was over 72.000 finn marks. In 1922 Lolan Vasström transferred all publishing rights to the central board, the Magazine continued to be an excellent money maker and the profit was shared between the districts and local chapters. In 1930 and 31 a childrens Christmas magazine named Lotan joululahja was published but never gained much popularity.

Lotta-Svärd magazine

The publishing of an own magazine was thought of already in the 1923 annual meeting but it did not happen until 1928 when Hilja Riipinen brought it up in a speech at the Vaasa Lotta days. It was felt as being very important and the board was convinced, that same year the first issue was published. Hilja Riipinen was the editor of the magazine until 1936 when she was followed by Fanni Luukkonen. The magazine contained general info and stories, from editors as well as pieces sent in by Lottas. From 1942 there was also a version in Swedish, and it was not just a translation but also contained unique material in addition from the general part. The Swedish version is easily recognized by the yellow front page. Both versions of the magazine were published until the Lotta-Svärd organisation was disbanded.

Other publications

In the 20’s not much written material was produced, apart from the Christmas-Lotta mainly instructions and handbooks for e.g catering and medical Lottas. The handbook for catering was written by Elli Malmgren while the medical handbook was the result of teamwork. The most important Lotta book of the 1920’s was “The White book” which contained stories of women’s roles in the civil war, it was targeted at the general public and was the idea of Hilja Riipinen. The Civil guards song book was another wide-spread publication.

In the 30’s considerably more material was published. “The golden words of Lotta-Svärd” were the rules that every Lotta should obey, written by Luukkonen and Riipinen and given their graphical form by the artist Furuhjelm.The idea came from the “Commandments of the Fatherland” as seen in Porvoo community. Later the same kind of rules were written for the small or Girl Lottas. More song booklets were published, pictorials showing the work of the Lotta organisation and later on a book on the subject Lottas in the Winter war. This book was also translated to Swedish and Hungarian (in 1942). A numbered print was also available. The next large work was a collection of frontline soldiers’ letters home The book was titled “Unknown finnish soldier” and teacher Elsa Kaarlila had over 4000 letters to choose from. Profit from the book went to war invalids and others suffering from the war. In 1942 a book on Field marshal Mannerheim was published, titled “Lottas and the history of our fatherland 1: Mannerheim and my fatherland” The book was later used for educational purposes. Another similar book was written for the Small Lottas, both books were written by Katri Laine. Other books aimed at the general public were “The promise of the young” “Women and the mothers of heroes” “The direction and the road”. Instruction books were published for e.g. Office, Communications, Meteorological and Air surveillance Lottas. Several song books were published in the 40’s. In 1941 the magazine “The Field Lotta” appeared, in that year with three issues and the following years eight issues. The magazine was intended for Lottas stationed away from home and contained greetings, messages and general organisational info and was distributed by the Lotta districts and border offices. A booklet in German called “Wer sind Finnlands Lotten?” came out in 1942, and together with the booklet “They were empty-handed” (in Finnish, Swedish and German) filled a demand for information abroad. Several handbooks were to be published in 1944 but as the war ended and the Lotta organisation was disbanded this never happened.

Small Lotta publications

As with the “real” Lottas, the Small Lottas also had their own magazine, first called Pikkulotta and later renamed Lottatyttö in 1943. First published in 1938, the aim was to produce a high quality, appealing but yet easily understandable magazine for the young.Puzzles, competitions and different stories were part of the content, together with poems and pictorials. A very popular reoccurring story was the one of the little girl Aune Orvokki, whose life the readers got to follow. Aune was the youngest daughter of a family in Kainuu and her father had died shortly after her death. Aune’s mother kept the readers informed of Aune’s life in letters, and the PikkuLottas sent Aune letters back with their greetings. Other publications are e.g song books and handbooks, books on handicraft and hobbies. In 1943 and 44 a magazine for girl Lotta Leaders was published in both Finnish and Swedish.