As late as 1926, 115,000 Inger Finns lived around Leningrad. Nowadays, there are only a few thousand Ingers who can speak Finnish living in the former Inkerinmaa.
During the Soviet era, the Ingers had to experience hard times. The policy of collectivization of agriculture mainly tested the position of the peasants engaged in agriculture. Opponents of the collective farms were deported to different parts of the Soviet Union. Even worse times came during the years of Stalin’s persecution. Especially in 1937–38 Finns were subjected to severe ethnic persecution. Families were forcibly moved away from their home region and Ingersolls were imprisoned and executed based on their Finnishness.
