The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Letters from Karelia is a documentary produced by the National Film Board of Canada in 2004. It will be shown at the Appelo Archives Center, 1056 SR 4, Naselle, at 11 a.m.. on Saturday, January 18.

This film tells the story of Aate Pitkanen, an idealistic Canadian-Finn who went to Soviet Karelia in 1931. Aate sent letters home to his sister in Ontario until 1941 when Hitler attacked the USSR. After that no one knew what happened to Aate until 60 years later. Aate lived his last days in a Finnish prisoner-of-war camp and wrote letters home, but they were never mailed. A guard kept them and finally located family and gave the letters to them. This is a touching story of a young man with great dreams who gets caught up in the politics of the 30s and 40s.

The film runs 76 minutes and is mostly in English. There are some subtitles in English. It is appropriate for 12 year olds and older. There is no admission charge.