Bolshoi Tyuters (; ; ; ) is an

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

in the

Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland (; ; ; ) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and Estonia to the south, to Saint Petersburg—the second largest city of Russia—to the east, where the river Neva drains into it. ...

of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

, located away from the coast of

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, to the south-east from Hogland. The island is a part of the

Leningrad Oblast Leningrad Oblast (, ; ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). The oblast has an area of and a population of 2,000,997 (2021 Russian census, 2021 Census); up from 1,716,868 recorded in the 2010 Russian census ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The area is approximately . There are no permanent inhabitants, save for a lighthouse keeper.

History

The island was populated by Finns from the 16th century to 1939. After the Soviet Union attacked Finland in the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

, the island, along with other Finnish islands in the

and communities in Finnish Karelia, was ceded to the Soviet Union under the

Moscow Peace Treaty The Moscow Peace Treaty was signed by Finland and the Soviet Union on 12 March 1940, and the ratifications were exchanged on 21 March. It marked the end of the 105-day Winter War, upon which Finland ceded border areas to the Soviet Union. The ...

of 1940. Islanders were among the Finnish evacuees, and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

they were not permitted to return to their homes. Before the war, the island was a lively Finnish fishing and trading community, with a population of 436 in 1939. Many cargo and fishing ships were registered to the island. It had a wooden church built in 1772, a Finnish graveyard, a school, a lighthouse built in 1904, a Finnish Coast Guard station and a weather forecast station. Tourism was a growing business in 1920–39. The name Tytärsaari means "Daughter Island" in Finnish. Bolshoi Tyuters is sometimes referred to as the "mined island" because its World War II minefields have not been cleared. Thousands of rusting pieces of German equipment and weaponry, including artillery and ammunition, are scattered on the island.

References

External links

The Mined Island

{{in lang, fi Russian islands in the Baltic Islands of Leningrad Oblast