Swedish families are moving to Åland to be able to homeschool their children and for the safe, small-scale community that many feel has been lost in Sweden. But after a report from the left-wing radical Expo in Sweden, Finland’s security police sounded the alarm that far-right extremists were moving to the island to homeschool their children. Now Yle has investigated the claim. The result is embarrassing for both Expo and the police – not a single such case has been substantiated.

The story spread widely during the spring. Finland’s security police, Skyddspolisen, warned of radical and anti-social homeschooling and specifically pointed to Åland. Skyddspolisen chief Juha Martelius went a long way in his statements.

– We really do see quite a lot of far-right teaching for children there, he said about Swedish families who had moved to Åland.

The information was picked up by the media and created political concern on the island. Åland’s education minister Annika Hambrudd (Centre Party) even opened up, after the alarm, to abolishing the possibility of homeschooling and introducing compulsory schooling.

But when Svenska Yle and Yle’s investigative team MOT started to look for the far-right homeschoolers, a problem arose. They could not be found.

The Alarm Came from Expo

Yle traced the information back and found that Skyddspolisen’s warning was based on a report from the left-wing radical foundation Expo in Sweden. There, it was claimed that people with links to the Nazi organization Nordisk styrka had moved to Åland. Among them is a couple with children. One person is said to have encouraged others on an online forum to move to the island.

At the same time, Expo claimed that homeschooling occurs within parts of the far-right and estimated that more families with such connections were moving to Åland. However, the information seems to have shifted significantly from there.

READ ALSO: From bomb attacks to school peace – Swedish families flee to Åland

When Svenska Yle asked Expo’s journalist Jonathan Leman for concrete cases, it turned out that Expo is not aware of a single documented far-right family who moved to Åland to homeschool their children.

– It’s a risk we highlight, rather than something we have been able to document, said Leman.

The family with connections to Nordisk styrka mentioned in the reporting does not homeschool their children, according to Yle’s information. One of the parents has even posted on social media about attending a parent meeting at school.

What Expo’s material described as a possible future development had, along the way through authorities and the media, been transformed into an ongoing and widespread phenomenon.

Åland Police Do Not Recognize the Picture

Even the local police react to the description. Commissioner Tommy Thörnroos at Åland’s police authority is aware that there are a few individuals on the island with links to far-right organizations. However, the police do not recognize the claim that homeschooling is part of the problem.

– We have many who homeschool, and of course that attracts attention. But there is definitely no direct link between far-right extremism and homeschooling.

He does not rule out that Skyddspolisen may possess information the local police lack, but at the same time notes:

– But we do not have that knowledge.

When Skyddspolisen has been pressed regarding what information the warning was really based on, the authority has referred to Expo. After Yle’s review, the security police do not wish to comment further, instead referring to the Åland authorities. The problem is simply that these authorities also do not recognize Skyddspolisen’s image.

“Trumpeted as Truth”

Meanwhile, the consequences have become very real for Åland’s approximately 130 homeschooled children and their families. Åland’s homeschooling association states that they do not recognize the description of any far-right environment surrounding homeschooling. Board member Leif Hammar calls for evidence.

– It’s unfortunate to create these headlines and then not follow up with facts.

Eva Ekström-Andersen, who is responsible for the supervision of homeschooling in Åland, also considers that the families have been unfairly labeled.

– It’s not pleasant to be accused of something you do not recognize at all. When it is also trumpeted as the truth, it gets even worse.

Ironically, the control over homeschooling is stricter in Åland than in the rest of Finland. Since 2024, supervision has been centralized in Mariehamn. The children’s knowledge is regularly monitored, and if they do not reach the curriculum’s goals, the authorities may terminate homeschooling.

This possibility does not exist in the same way on the Finnish mainland. For this reason, Ekström-Andersen finds it difficult to understand why families who wanted to isolate their children from society or pursue extremist education would choose Åland.

– Why come here where the rules are so clear? They could just take the ferry to you instead. The control is not the same there.

Moved from Sweden – But Not for Extremism

One of the Swedish families Yle met is Linnea and Simon Alm. They have no background in any far-right organization but have previously been politically active in the Sweden Democrats. The family chose Åland in part for the possibility of homeschooling their children.

Linnea Alm describes a daily life where the children study a few hours before lunch and the family has more time together. The family first considered the USA, since homeschooling is practically banned in Sweden, but then discovered Åland.

– Then we found Åland, which is much closer. Here people speak the same language and the culture is the same, says Alm.

She has also publicly criticized how the discussion about homeschooling has come to focus on Nazism despite the absence of concrete cases. In an opinion piece in Nya Åland, she describes the extremism threat as a “straw man” that risks being used to justify restrictions on all homeschooling families.

At the same time, she wants the possibility to intervene against families if a security service can actually substantiate illegal violent extremist activity. “Let us choose facts over fear,” writes Alm.

The Minister Previously Understood Why Swedes Move

The policy shift is particularly notable against the backdrop of what Education Minister Annika Hambrudd previously told Samnytt. When we interviewed her in 2025, the conversation was about the increasing Swedish immigration and why above all families with children could be attracted by Åland’s small-scale and safe society. Hambrudd herself pointed to Swedish gang crime, shootings, and bombings.

READ ALSO: Åland a haven for Swedes – Minister’s explanation: “We have no bombings and such things”

– I don’t think it’s strange at all, if you live with your family and have young children – and there are bombings and shootings – that you start thinking about whether you should stay here and live – what are the alternatives?

After Skyddspolisen’s alarm, the tone changed.

– I get worried if far-right extremists choose to move to Åland and homeschool, said Hambrudd, and opened up to possibly abolishing homeschooling entirely on Åland.

But the scenario that sparked the political discussion has, according to Yle, not been substantiated. It is based on Expo’s pure fantasies.

“Bullerby Mentality” Became Part of the Suspicion

There is evidence that a handful of people with what is described as far-right links have moved from Sweden to Åland. Åland Radio’s political reporter, Felicia Bredenberg, says that a few such families are known – but that they have not chosen homeschooling.

Instead, she points to other possible explanations for why Åland might attract people far out on the right wing – on internet forums, the island is described as a kind of “old Sweden,” with greater cultural and linguistic homogeneity. Even police commissioner Tommy Thörnroos uses the term “Bullerby mentality” about the small-scale society in Åland.

READ ALSO: 800 bombings later – Swedes seek refuge on Åland

But the same characteristics can attract people with no extremist convictions at all. Wanting to live securely and in a small community, appreciating cultural continuity, or wishing to homeschool your children does not make you a far-right extremist. And those who are given that label by the left-wing radical Expo feel – rightly – slandered.

A Recurring Pattern at Expo

For Expo, the method of mapping people, their contacts, statements, and environments and then constructing larger networks of “connections” is well known. Samnytt has reviewed several such publications over the past year.

Before the parliamentary election, Expo, among other things, singled out an SD employee born in Russia as a security risk, claiming she had obtained a residence permit through a fake marriage. Expo was later forced to correct this – the woman had never been married at all.

READ ALSO: Here is Expo’s spy circus before the election: Lied about a false marriage to discredit the SD woman

In another “investigation” by Expo, an SD politician and former Ikea manager was singled out as a “Putin lover.” When Samnytt reviewed his email correspondence, a much more nuanced picture emerged than what was presented by the left-wing radical foundation.

READ ALSO: Expo outs SD politician and former Ikea manager as ‘Putin lover’ – but the emails show something else

When hundreds of reports of alleged irregularities in the Swedish election were collected, Expo chose to investigate the man behind the campaign and describe him as “pro-Russian,” rather than testing the veracity of the actual testimonies. At the same time, real police investigations into suspected electoral crimes were ongoing in several parts of the country.

From Possible Risk to Government Alert

The Åland story illustrates the problem unusually clearly. Expo thought it had identified, or simply invented, people from an extremist environment in Åland, claimed that homeschooling occurs among certain far-right circles – even though the actual far-right extremists they know about do not homeschool – and warned that these phenomena were on the rise.

Skyddspolisen then went out and stated that Swedish far-right families had moved to Åland to homeschool, and that “quite a lot of far-right teaching for children” was seen there. The media reported the threat. Politicians started discussing bans. Ordinary homeschooling families felt singled out.

READ ALSO: Expo: We will “make things uncomfortable” for alternative media

Then journalists began looking for the families that the whole story was about. They found none. It was all a desktop product from Expo in Sweden, far removed from the reality in Åland.

The link between far-right extremism and homeschooling that Expo initiated an alarm about has not been shown to exist by either Skyddspolisen, the Åland police or Yle’s investigative journalists.