{"id":73984,"date":"2026-09-30T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/?p=73984"},"modified":"2026-09-29T12:09:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T09:09:34","slug":"in-memoriam-aleksandr-kirjanen-1947-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/in-memoriam-aleksandr-kirjanen-1947-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"In memoriam Aleksandr Kirjanen (1947-2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aleksandr Kirjanen (3 May 1947\u201312 September 2026), the long-standing leader of the Ingrian Finns<\/a> living in the Russian Federation, has passed away. Kirjanen led the All-Russian Union of Ingrian Finns, the central organisation for Ingrian Finns there, from 1994 to 1996 and from 1998 to 2018.<\/p>

Aleksandr Kirjanen was born in Leningrad, where his family had moved from the village of Tehvin\u00e4 (Tihvinka) in the parish of Skuoritsa (Skvoritsy), in what is now the Hatsina (Gachina) district. It was in Skuoritsa that he began his campaign to defend the rights of the Ingrian Finns. On 30 June 1988, he was one of the organisers of a memorial rally for the Ingrian Finns who had been repressed in 1937\u20131938. He was also one of the founders of the Ingrian Union (1988) and was elected to the St Petersburg City Council in 1991. Largely thanks to his tireless efforts, the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation adopted a resolution in 1993 on the \u2018rehabilitation of the Ingrian Finns\u2019.<\/p>

Work for the Ingrian Finns<\/h3>

Aleksandr\u2019s fight for the rights of the Ingrian Finns essentially lasted until the very end of his life. In an interview given to the Daily Storm website in 2021, he said that since 2011 he had been working to secure indigenous status for the Ingrian Finns. He tells the journalist how experts on ethnic relations in the Leningrad Oblast had given a positive response on this matter, and that he had forwarded the replies to the relevant authorities in Moscow, but for years no response came from the capital. In Kirjanen\u2019s view, Aleksandr Zhuravsky<\/strong>, Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs, does not favour the Finno-Ugric peoples. However, he added that, unfortunately, only this agency has the authority to determine indigenous status in Russia. In 2018, Kirjanen made a follow-up enquiry, to which he received a reply stating that the Ingrian Finns had lost their traditional way of life \u2013 a claim which Kirjanen considers absurd.<\/p>

Finally, the journalist asks Kirjanen what he thinks the fate of the Ingrian Finns will be.<\/p>

\u2018If, in a hundred years\u2019 time, even one person were to say, \u201cI am an Ingrian Finn and I can speak Finnish\u201d, that would be wonderful\u2019, said Kirjanen.<\/p>

Societal contribution<\/h3>

Aleksandr Kirjanen represented the Ingrian Finns on the Consultative Committee of Finno-Ugric Peoples and within the Organisation of Unrepresented Nations. He was skilled at liaising with municipal and regional authorities, but sought to understand and assist every Ingrian Finn. He had a great talent for resolving disagreements that arose within Ingrian Finnish organisations and was regarded as a master of compromise.<\/p>

By profession, Kirjanen was a mathematician, a Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, and a lecturer at St Petersburg State University. In the last decade of his life, however, he devoted himself to teaching the Finnish language and culture.<\/p>

Fenno-Ugria Foundation remembers Aleksandr as a friendly and conscientious leader of the Ingrian Finns in Russia, who attached great importance to the consolidation and cooperation of the Finno-Ugric peoples. He spoke quietly and sparingly, but his words carried great weight. \u2018Reliability\u2019 could be a key word when describing Aleksander. Otherwise, the Finnish state would not have organised various forms of social and cultural support for the Ingrian Finns in Russia through the organisations he led. Aleksander was a frequent visitor to Estonia and took part in several cooperation projects with the Estonian Ingrian Finnish Association here.<\/p>

We extend our condolences to the entire Ingrian Finnish community and to Aleksander\u2019s loved ones.<\/p>

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