How Finland built its reputation as a reliable debtor - The country that paid its debts -exhibition at the Bank of Finland Museum until 29 August 2004

Releases Press release number 28 Friday 13 August 2004, 12:00 AM
The Bank of Finland Museum's current seasonal exhibition describes in words and pictures how Finland gained a positive reputation in the 1930s by its repayment to the United States of its war and post-war reconstruction loans from the First World War and the post-war period. Composed of press cuttings, photographs, letters and other material, the exhibition is open until Sunday 29 August 2004.

The United States financed the countries of Europe with war and post-war reconstruction loans both during and after the First World War. In 1931, in response to the worldwide economic problems at the time, the US government announced the Hoover Moratorium, which granted a deferment of one year on repayments on these loans. Most of the debtor nations subsequently defaulted on their loans. Finland alone repaid its debts in full, an occurrence that attracted wide attention in the American press at the time. During the course of the 1930s almost 3,000 articles, photographs and cartoons were published in the United States on the relatively unknown country of Finland, which was more conscientious than other countries in repaying its debt. Even today, many Americans still remember Finland as the country that paid its debts.

The exhibition presents letters, press cuttings and photographs from the 1930s that shed light in an interesting way on the various stages in the repayment of Finland's debt and the country's public image in the United States at the time. Exhibits include letters of gratitude from private American citizens, while the press cuttings include both extensive factually based treatments of Finland and cartoons displaying popular stereotypes. The exhibition has been assembled by Vappu Ikonen, archivist at the Bank of Finland.

The Bank of Finland Museum is located at Snellmaninkatu 2 in the centre of Helsinki. Admission is free. The museum is open Tuesdays to Fridays from 12 noon to 7 pm, and on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 am to 4 pm. It is closed on Mondays. The museum also houses a small café and shop. The website www.rahamuseo.fi provides more detailed information and visual material on the museum and the exhibition 'The country that paid its debts'.

For further information please contact museum curator Jaakko Koskentola, tel. +358 9 183 2981 or archivist Vappu Ikonen, tel. + 358 9 183 2578.