Vanajanlinna’s history links a German arms dealer and communist school

Vanajanlinna, a grand manor house in Hämeenlinna, has served as a hunting estate for Finland’s elite, a German arms dealer’s home and a communist folk school. Yle reports that a new theatre production is bringing its history and ghost stories to audiences.

The production, Varjojen Vanajanlinna, premiered in October and sold out immediately. Actors from Hämeenlinna Theatre lead audiences through the manor’s salons and normally inaccessible rooms, including a hidden bedroom associated with Märtha, a former resident said to haunt the building.

Märtha was devastated when financial difficulties forced the Rosenlews to sell their home in 1941. She is said to have wandered the corridors and gardens ever since. The production’s writers, Miikka J. Anttila and Pauliina Salonius, say they experienced unexplained events while working at the manor. During filming, a red-covered book titled Invitation to Dance appeared on a billiard table in a room the crew had left unattended. They also report that recording equipment malfunctioned and captured a third audio track despite only two people wearing microphones.

The manor was built between 1919 and 1924 after doctor Carl Wilhelm Rosenlew bought the Äikäälä estate. Designed by architect Sigurd Frosterus, it featured oak floors, marble window sills, Indian mahogany walls and Finland’s first indoor swimming pool. Servants used hidden corridors, while the estate hosted large parties and pheasant and moose hunts. Regular guests included Marshal Mannerheim, President P. E. Svinhufvud and chocolate manufacturer Karl Fazer.

When Vanajanlinna went on sale in 1941, President Risto Ryti wanted the state to buy it as a summer residence. But German arms manufacturer and dealer Willy Daugs completed a deal first. His associate Josef Veltjens brought Nazi officers to the manor, and Nazi Germany’s eagle emblems appeared on the stone pillars at its gates. The play uses a line attributed to Daugs, “When Europe burns, someone sells matches,” to explore the logic of the arms trade.

Under the 1944 Moscow Armistice Agreement, German property in Finland was transferred to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Control Commission and embassy initially used the manor for recreation and rest. For nearly half a century, it housed the communist Sirola folk high school, where working-class young people slept in rooms once used by Finland’s elite.

Vanajanlinna has also provided a setting for television series, including Petolliset and the 1990s series Tuntemattomalle jumalalle.