People came to live in Penttilänvaara at the beginning of the 18th century. Then the name of the place was Kontiovaara, and it later belonged to the church village. The forest covered hill offered warm southern slopes as farmland.
For a long time, Penttilänvaara had no roads. The village’s status from a remote village changed during the war. The trench railway built by the Germans ran from the north side of the village. There was a prison camp and warehouses in Penttilänvaara.
The border of the war zone passed at Kuolio, at the crossroads of Penttilänvaara. Kuolio had a military police department.
In the fall of 1944, after the armistice was concluded, there was a border barrier at the intersection. First it was the Finns’ blue-white and then the Russians’ red-green.
Those returning from evacuation had to show their pass permits at the barrier. For the returning Penttilänvaara villagers, the barrier was moved to the north side of the crossroads, so that the villagers did not have to cross the border barrier.
Photo and text: Erkki Pätsi’s house in Kontioluoma in Penttilänvaara in the 1960s. From the front Pentti Pätsi, Reino Pätsi and Viljami Pitkänen.
Photo: Kuusamo heritage archive.
