“There are many refugees here, hundreds, perhaps their total number will rise to several thousand. All the churches and prayer houses are full of them. They have come from Ylöjärvi, Teisko, Kuru, Siuro, Messukylä—from within a radius of a couple of dozen kilometers around Tampere. And the closer the line of fire draws to the city center, the more the suburbs empty.”

—Journalist and medical orderly Matti Kivekäs

The White Army’s attack toward Tampere began on March 15, 1918, in Ruovesi and Vilppula. Tampere was encircled only ten days later. The Whites’ advance caused a flood of refugees into Tampere, as many fled from the midst of the fighting. Refugees arrived from the nearby municipalities north of the city, where fierce battles had taken place. Most of them were women and small children. A large number of refugees also moved from the outskirts of Tampere toward the city center in search of safety.

In August 2026, the virtual exhibition Sanctuary in wartime – the Tampere cathedral refugees of 1918 will be published at the Vapriikki Museum Centre’s Tampere 1918 Civil War Museum. The exhibition offers perspectives into the experiences of refugees during the Finnish Civil War—moments when the security of home is broken and must be left behind. The exhibition tells the story of people who were forced to seek a new place of safety as refugees.

The virtual exhibition is part of the EU-funded x-CITE project.