Rusinoita pullassa: Vihreät sisaret sotilaskotityössä vuodesta 1918

2009 | 45 min | S | documentary

The Green Sisters have been serving in military canteens since 1918. Every Finnish conscript and veteran of the last wars appreciates the military canteen, whose over 90-year history is now, for the first time, brought to a wider audience in the form of a video documentary. In the documentary, about ten sisters who served during the Winter and Continuation Wars recall their experiences and anecdotes from their work with military canteens during both wartime and peacetime.

Regarding the wartime years, the documentary sheds light on a rarely discussed topic: women in active war zones. Few people know that the Military Canteen Organization is the oldest continuously operating national defense organization in Finland. Military canteen sisters contribute nearly 200,000 hours of voluntary work annually to support conscripts, bringing warmth and comfort to garrisons, camps, and military exercises.

While comparing wartime and peacetime military canteen work is challenging, the friendly smile of a sister behind the counter and the scent of freshly baked buns and coffee have remained unchanged since the founding of the military canteen.