Tornedalians

The Tornedalians are descendants of Finns who, at some point, settled to the areas of today's Northern Sweden near the Torne Valley district and west from there. Tornedalians are a recognized national minority in Sweden.´

Many Tornedals speak both Swedish, Meänkieli and Finnish, some also Sami. Linguistically, Swedish now strongly dominates in Sweden's Tornedalen, especially in Gällivare and Kiruna municipalities, where Swedish gained a strong foothold with immigrated miners whose mother tongue was Swedish. Even Haparanda, due to the state and municipal administration that was placed there, experienced a large influx of Swedish-speaking people from the south.

Despite an increasingly strong assimilation pressure and pure Swedishization policy from the end of the 19th century until well into the 20th century, the Finnish language has continued to live in Tornedalen. A contributing factor is of course the proximity to Finland and the close contacts with the population on the other side of the Torne River. A particularly important reason for the language's survival is that there has always been so-called cross-marriage, where mainly women from Finland moved west across the river.

Tornedal Finnish, or Meänkieli, was formerly primarily referred to as a Finnish dialect, but was recognized in 1999 by Sweden's Riksdag as an official minority language in Sweden.

The Sami spoken in the Tornedalen are Northern Sami.

Tornedalians descend from Finnish peasants who arrived from today's western and eastern Finland. Settlements began during the Middle Ages around the northern end of the Gulf of Bothnia and along the river valleys nearby (Kalix River, Torne river, and Kemijoki River). Following the Treaty of Fredrikshamn the Finnish-speaking communities on the west side of the Torne river were split off from the rest of the population in what became the Grand Duchy of Finland, in the long term also causing a divergence of language.

Culture

Tornedalingen's culture is multilingual and 'multicultural', characterized by Sami as well as Swedish and Finnish influences. The Sami, Swedish and Finnish cultures are interwoven in several different domains. There is a Tornedal food culture, building style and Tornedal traditions including the custom of bathing in a sauna. The Laestadian revival movement that emerged in the 19th century and which, in addition to Finnish, has Meänkieli as a preaching language has also influenced Tornedal culture.

Tornedal's food tradition is based heavily on Sami and West Finnish culture. People like to eat dried reindeer meat, so-called dry meat. Meat and fish are fried and boiled. In the past, it was common to have blood dishes such as blood sausage (pylsy, verimakkara), blood palt and blood platelets. Boiled new potatoes with fresh onions and melted butter, dipped in a cup, is considered a delicacy after midsummer. Coffee cheese (kahvijuusto) in coffee or as a dessert with gooseberries is common.

The Tornedaling got attention in the media when the linguistic rights were introduced and the group became a recognized national minority and through successful writers in recent times Tornedalen was on the map (even on the world map). The authors Bengt Pohjanen, Bengt Kostenius, Mona Mörtlund, Mikael Niemi and several other artists and musicians have created representations of the multicultural and multilingual Tornedalings.

Literature

Bengt Pohjanen is a Tornedalian author who has written the first novel in Meänkieli, the language of the Meänmaa. He has written dramas, screenplays, songs and opera. He is trilingual in his writing.

The novel Populärmusik från Vittula (Popular Music from Vittula) (2000) by Tornedalian author Mikael Niemi became very popular both in Sweden and in Finland. The novel is composed of colourful stories of everyday life in the Tornedalian town of Pajala. The novel has been adapted for several stage productions, and as a film in 2004.

The flag is a horizontal tricolor of yellow, white and blue.

Torne Valley

Meänmaa (Meänkieli for 'Our Land'), or sometimes Torne Valley or Torne River Valley (Finnish: Tornionlaakso; Swedish: Tornedalen) lies at the border of Sweden and Finland. It is named after the Torne River flowing through the valley and into the Gulf of Bothnia. Geographically the townships and municipalities that make up the area are Haparanda, Övertorneå, Pajala and Kiruna in Sweden, and Tornio, Ylitornio, Pello, Kolari, Muonio and Enontekiö in Finland. Culturally the highland Swedish municipality Gällivare is sometimes also considered part of Meänmaa due to the large share of Meänkieli-speaking population in it. Torne Valley should not be confused with Torne Valley Sub-region.

Meänkieli surnames and village names are common on the Swedish side of the border to this day, in spite of the dominance of the Swedish language in the area. The Finnish side of the border has standard Finnish as the sole spoken language.

History and culture

The cultural environment around the Torne River is characterized by agriculture, reindeer farming and fishing. Meänmaa was one of the oldest inhabited areas in northern Finland. Archeological excavations have revealed evidence of permanent settlements at least from the 11th century, but there are signs of earlier settlements. Agriculture has long been practiced on the fertile flooding meadows by the river. Trading routes followed the river and some trading centers were formed. One of the centers since 16th century was the island Oravaisensaari at Vojakkala. Today, the main center is the twin city of Haparanda-Tornio.

The Finnish and Swedish sides of the river were once one cultural entity, as before 1809 they were both parts of Sweden. Once the current border between the two countries had been established, each side of the river has become influenced by the majority culture in its respective country, but still retains some traditional elements.

Language

On the Swedish side of the valley, Finnish was still the majority language until the 20th century. This is obvious in the many Finnish village and other place names on the Swedish side of the border. The number of Finnish speakers has now declined drastically, because of national Swedish influence and compulsory schooling in Swedish. People in the younger generations mostly have Swedish as their mother tongue, though it is still widely spoken in many homes as a secondary language.

The local variant of Finnish, Meänkieli, has been recognised as a minority language in Sweden. The people who speak it are often referred to as Tornedalians, although this term could also be defined as referring to people living in Meänmaa, who are not all speakers of Meänkieli. The originally Finnish-speaking land area is far greater than the actual river valley; it extends as far west as Gällivare. Although confusing from a geographic point of view, this whole area is often referred to as Meänmaa. Meänmaa, Sápmi and Swedish areas bind together, most places in Norrbottens län have three names, but are mostly called by their Swedish name which often just has a different spelling. For example Kiruna is called Kieruna (Meänkieli), Giron (North Sámi), and Kiruna (Swedish), but is mainly known as Kiruna.

The area where Meänkieli is spoken is also called Meänmaa. Since 15 June 2006, the Tornedalians have their own flag.

Votians

Votians, also referred to as Votes, Vots and Vods (Votic: ва́ддялайзыд, vađđalaizõd; Russian: водь; Estonian: vadjalased; Finnish: vatjalaiset) are a Finnic ethnic group native to historical Ingria, the part of modern-day northwestern Russia that is roughly southwest of Saint Petersburg and east of the Estonian border-town of Narva. The Finnic Votic language spoken by Votians is close to extinction. The language is still spoken in three villages of historical Votia and by an unknown number of speakers in the countryside. The villages are Jõgõperä (Krakolye), Liivcülä (Peski), and Luuditsa (Luzhitsy). In the Russian 2020 census, 99 people identified as Votian.

Votians were one of the founding people of Veliky Novgorod.

Culture

Historically most Votes were farmers. Slash and burn (sardo) was practiced until the early 20th century. Cattle, horses and geese were the most important livestock. Some made their living from fishing. Many primitive fishing habits survived a long time in Votic communities, such as fishing with a club or spear. Seine fishing was practiced during the winter. Votians formed seine groups (artelli) and made fishing trips as far as the Finnish outer islands like Seskar. Fishermen lived in wooden sleds called (pudka) during these trips. Hunting was never an important source of income, because local nobility had reserved the right to hunt to themselves. Since St. Petersburg was so close to Votic homelands, many of the Votes went working there. Men worked in factories and women worked as servants. This contributed to rapid demise of Votic culture.

Votes were quite poorly educated, and only one Vote, Dmitri Tsvetkov, is known to have ever attended and graduated from a university. Ancient Votic religion is not known well, but it is assumed that it was similar to other Finnic beliefs.

Language and identity

Most Votes were able to speak Ingrian and Russian as well as the Votic language. In fact, Ingrian was more common in every day use than Votic in some villages. Votic was commonly used with family members, while Russian and Ingrian were used with others. Russian was the only language used in churches. Votes often referred to themselves as Izhorians, since this term was more commonly known among others. The term came in use when people wanted to make a difference between Lutheran and Orthodox Finnic populations in Ingria.

Izhorians

The Izhorians (Ingrian: ižorat, ižorit, inkeroiset; Russian: ижо́ра; ижо́ры, ижо́рцы; Finnish: inkerikot; Estonian: isurid) are a Finnic indigenous people native to Ingria. Small numbers can still be found in the western part of Ingria, between the Narva and Neva rivers in northwestern Russia. Although in English oftentimes sharing a common name with the Ingrian Finns, these two groups are distinct from one another.

Language

Larin Paraske, ethnic Izhorian oral poet

Their language, close to Karelian, is used primarily by members of the older generation. Izhorian (also called Ingrian), along with Finnish, Ludic, Karelian and Vepsian, belongs to the Northern Finnic group of the Uralic languages.

In 1932–1937, a Latin-based orthography for the Izhorian language existed, taught in schools of the Soikinsky Peninsula and the area around the mouth of the Luga River. Several textbooks were published including a grammar of the language in 1936. However, in 1937 the Izhorian written language was abolished.

Religion

The Izhorians and the Votes are generally Eastern Orthodox, while the other Baltic Finns inhabitanting Ingria, the Ingrian Finns, are generally Lutheran. Some pre-Christian traditions exist also.

Flag

Ingrians

The Ingrians (Finnish: inkeriläiset, inkerinsuomalaiset; Russian: Ингерманландцы, romanized: Ingermanlandtsy), sometimes called Ingrian Finns, are the Finnish population of Ingria (now the central part of Leningrad Oblast in Russia), descending from Lutheran Finnish immigrants introduced into the area in the 17th century, when Finland and Ingria were both parts of the Swedish Empire. In the forced deportations before and after World War II, and during the genocide of Ingrian Finns, most of them were relocated to other parts of the Soviet Union, or killed. Today the Ingrian Finns constitute the largest part of the Finnish population of the Russian Federation. According to some records, some 25,000 Ingrian Finns have returned or still reside in the region of Saint Petersburg.

Origins

Finnish-speaking Ingrians are not to be confused with Izhorian-speaking Ingrians. Ingrian Finns mainly consist of two groups: Savakot, who originated from migrant Savonians; and Äyrämöiset, coming from the Karelian Isthmus (mostly from Äyräpää), then parts of the Swedish realm. They were Lutheran settlers and migrant workers who moved to Ingria during the period of Swedish rule 1617–1703. Others originated from more or less voluntary conversion among the indigenous Finnic-speaking Votes and Izhorians, where approved by the Swedish authorities.[citation needed] Finns made up 41.1 percent of the population of Ingria in 1656, 53.2 percent in 1661, 55.2 percent in 1666, 56.9 percent in 1671 and 73.8 percent in 1695.

After the Russian conquest and the foundation of Saint Petersburg (1703), the flow of migration was reversed. Russian nobles were granted land in Ingria, and Lutheran Ingrian Finns left Ingria, where they were in minority, for the area known as Old Finland, north of the Gulf of Finland, which Russia had gained from Sweden during the 18th century, and where Lutherans were a large majority. There the Ingrian Finns assimilated with the Karelian Finns.

Developments in the 19th century

In 1870, the printing of the first Finnish-language newspaper, Pietarin Sanomat, started in Ingria. Before that Ingria received newspapers mostly from Vyborg. The first public library was opened in 1850, in Tyrö. The largest of the libraries, situated in Skuoritsa, had more than 2,000 volumes in the second half of the 19th century. In 1899, the first song festival in Ingria was held in Puutosti (Skuoritsa).

By 1897, the number of Ingrian Finns had grown to 130,413, and by 1917 it exceeded 140,000 (45,000 in Northern Ingria, 52,000 in Central (Eastern) Ingria and 30,000 in Western Ingria, the rest in Petrograd).

Ingrians in the Soviet Union

Soviet rule during World War II, were as disastrous for the Ingrian Finns as for other small ethnic groups. Many Ingrian Finns were either executed, deported to Siberia, or forced to relocate to other parts of the Soviet Union. There were also refugees to Finland, where they assimilated.

After the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, Ingrian Finns inhabiting the southern part of the Karelian Isthmus seceded from Soviet Russia and formed the independent Republic of North Ingria, which was backed by Finland. The short-lived republic was reintegrated with Soviet Russia according to the 14 October 1920 Russian-Finnish Treaty of Tartu, and for several years thereafter it retained some degree of autonomy. From 1928 to 1939, Ingrian Finns in North Ingria constituted the Kuivaisi National District with its center in Toksova and Finnish as its official language.

The First All-Union Census of the Soviet Union in 1926 recorded 114,831 "Leningrad Finns", as Ingrian Finns were then called.

In 1928, collectivization of agriculture started in Ingria. To facilitate it, in 1929–1931, 18,000 people (4,320 families) from North Ingria were deported to East Karelia or the Kola Peninsula, as well as to Kazakhstan and other parts of Central Asia. The situation for the Ingrian Finns deteriorated further because of the Soviet plan to create restricted security zones along the borders with Finland and Estonia, free of the Finnic peoples, who were considered politically unreliable. In April 1935 7,000 people (2,000 families) were deported from Ingria to Kazakhstan, elsewhere in Central Asia, and the Ural region. In May and June 1936 20,000 people, the entire Finnish population of the parishes of Valkeasaari, Lempaala, Vuole and Miikkulainen near the Finnish border, were transferred to the area around Cherepovets. In Ingria they were replaced by people from other parts of the Soviet Union.

In 1937 Lutheran churches and Finnish-language schools in Ingria were closed down, and publications and radio broadcasting in Finnish were suspended.

In March 1939 the Kuivaisi National District was liquidated.

Initially during the Winter War, the Soviet policy was mixed. On the one hand, Stalin's government largely destroyed Ingrian Finnish culture, but on the other hand, the maintenance of a Finnish-speaking population was desired as a way to legitimize the planned occupation of Finland. The failure of the puppet Terijoki government led to the ultimate result that in 1941, Moscow officially decided that Ingrian Finns were unreliable, and in 1942 most of the Ingrian Finns remaining in Ingria were forcibly relocated to Siberia. During the Finnish and German occupation of the area, Ingrian Finns were evacuated to Finland. However, after the Continuation War, most of these Ingrian Finns, who were still Soviet citizens, were forcibly returned to the Soviet Union, where they were dispersed into Central Russia. However, some Ingrian Finns were able to flee to Sweden, and nearly 4,000 were able to remain in Finland. Ingrian Finns were largely forgotten during the presidencies of Juho Kusti Paasikivi and Urho Kekkonen.

After the war many Ingrian Finns settled in Soviet-controlled Estonia.

Present day

From the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 until 2010, about 25,000 Ingrian Finns moved from Russia and Estonia to Finland, where they were eligible for automatic residence permits under the Finnish Law of Return. In 2010, however, the Finnish government decided to stop the remigration, so Ingrian Finns seeking residence are now treated in the same way as any other foreigners. There are still about 15,000 people in the remigration queue.

The number of people who declared their nationality as Finnish in the 2010 Russian census was 20,000, down from 47,000 in 1989.

Many Ingrian Finns, including mixed families, who moved to Finland did not speak any language other than Russian and in many cases still identify as Russians. There are social integration problems similar to those of any other migrant group in Europe, to such an extent that there is a political debate in Finland over the retention of the Finnish Law of Return. In contrast, native Finnish-speakers have been easily assimilated into mainstream Finnish culture, leaving little trace of Ingrian Finnish traditions.

In Estonia, the Ingrian Finns have enjoyed cultural autonomy since 2004, being the first minority to organize and use such a right after Estonia's restoration of independence. The 2011 census counted 369 Ingrian Finns in Estonia, a large majority of whom are also citizens of Estonia.

In Russia, many Ingrian Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria.

Genetics

Ingrian Finns cluster with Finns from Finland, Karelians and Vepsians. Half of Ingrian Finns belong to the maternal haplogroup H and 19.4% carry U5.

Ingria

• History of Ingria

Ingria (Russian: Ингрия, Ингерманландия, Ижорская земля; Finnish: Inkeri, Inkerinmaa; Swedish: Ingermanland; Estonian: Ingeri, Ingerimaa) is a historical region in what is now northwestern European Russia. It lies along the southeastern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordered by Lake Ladoga on the Karelian Isthmus in the north and by the River Narva on the border with Estonia in the west. The earliest known indigenous European peoples of the region are the now mostly Eastern Orthodox Izhorians and Votians, as well as the Ingrian Finns who descend from the Lutheran Finnish immigrants who settled in the area in the 17th century, when Finland proper and Ingria were both parts of the Swedish Empire.

Ingria as a whole never formed a separate state; however, North Ingria was an independent state for just under two years in 1919–1920. The Ingrians, understood as the inhabitants of Ingria regardless of ethnicity, can hardly be said to have been a nation, although the Soviet Union recognized their "nationality"; as an ethnic group, the Ingrians proper, Izhorians, are close to extinction together with their language. This notwithstanding, many people still recognize their Ingrian heritage.

Historic Ingria covers approximately the same area as the Gatchinsky, Kingiseppsky, Kirovsky, Lomonosovsky, Tosnensky, Volosovsky and Vsevolozhsky districts of modern Leningrad Oblast as well as the city of Saint Petersburg.

The names of the region are: Finnish: Inkeri or Inkerinmaa; Russian: Ингрия, Ingriya, Ижора, Izhora, or Ингерманландия, Ingermanlandiya; Swedish: Ingermanland; Estonian: Ingeri or Ingerimaa.

Under the Russian-Estonian Peace Treaty of Tartu of 1920, a small part of West Ingria became part of the Republic of Estonia. In contrast to other parts of Ingria, Finnish culture blossomed in this area. This was to a large extent due to the work of Leander Reijo (also Reijonen or Reiju) from Kullankylä  on the new border between Estonia and the Soviet Union, who was called "The King of Ingria" by the Finnish press. Finnish schools and a Finnish newspaper were started. A church was built in Kallivieri in 1920 and by 1928 the parish had 1,300 people.

In 1945, after the Second World War, Estonian Ingria, then in the Soviet Union, became part of the Russian SFSR. Since Estonia reclaimed its independence in 1991, this territory has been disputed. As Russia does not recognize the Peace Treaty of Tartu, the area currently remains under Russian control.

Free Ingria (1988–present)

The first who began to propagate the idea of the revival of Ingria was the ideologist of Peterburgian vedism Viktor Bezverkhy. In the mid-1990s, the “Movement for the Autonomy of St. Petersburg” and the group “Independent Petersburg” began their activities too.

The goal of the public movement “Free Ingria” is the declared unification of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region into a single subject of the federation, giving the new region the name Ingria or Ingria. Some activists are calling for the creation of an independent Ingria as the fourth Baltic republic if Moscow refuses the real federalization of Russia, and this statement became more common after 2022. The process during which the construction of a new regional Ingrian identity should be carried out was called “practicing local history” by supporters of the movement.

Despite the fact that the borders of the historical Ingria regions are 3 times smaller than Leningrad Oblast, the founders of this organization, for unstated reasons, extend “the borders of “their” Ingria to the entire territory of the Leningrad region and consider St. Petersburg as part of it”. This predetermines “the political superficiality and marginal format of the Ingrian movement as a whole”. According to the Russian historian Daniel Kotsiubinsky, the Ingrian idea of the network movement is to replace the image of St. Petersburg as a city with a certain “country” of Finno-Ugric-Scandinavian ethnicity, culture and history.

Rauno Gustaf Kallia: Secretary of the Food Legislation Committee (1927-1932), Chairman of the Academic Karelia Society (1935-1936), Member of Parliament (1939-1945) and Teacher of Criminal Law at the University of Helsinki (1946-1947)

(28 June 1901 – 10 October 1948)

Rauno Gustaf Ilmari (R. G.) Kallia (until 1906 Hallsten, June 28, 1901 Helsinki – October 10, 1948 Helsinki) was a Finnish deputy judge, the steward of the student union of the University of Helsinki and a member of parliament of the IKL.

Kallia's parents were Master of Philosophy, Member of Parliament Gustaf Onni Immanuel Hallsten and Member of Parliament Ilmi Lovisa Bergroth. He matriculated in 1919 and graduated with a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1923, as well as an upper law degree and a bachelor's degree in law in 1927. Kallia received the rank of deputy judge in 1930. He also completed a guardianship officer's degree in 1922 and was later the assistant and commander of the commander of the blue regiment of the Helsinki guardianship district's 1st battalion.

Kallia worked as a lawyer 1927–1928, secretary of the Food Legislation Committee 1927–1932, and child supervisor of the city of Helsinki 1929–1935. He was acting mayor of Helsinki. III city viscal 1934 and additional official of the Supreme Court 1933–1937. Kallia was the editor-in-chief of Suomen heimo magazine 1928–1929 and IKL's Ajan Suunta magazine 1935–1939. In the university world, Kallia worked as a steward of the student union of the University of Helsinki 1935–1948, and after the war years as a chamberlain of the student loan foundation 1945–1948 and as an additional teacher of criminal law at the University of Helsinki 1946–1947.

Kallia was an IKL member of parliament from 1939 to 1945, representing the constituency of Uusimaa County, and was involved in municipal politics as a member of the Helsinki City Council and the City Board. He was married from 1928 to Helvi Margareta Sakar.

Kallia's sister was Armi Hallstén-Kallia, an influencer in women's organizations, who also worked in IKL.

Aulis Ojajärvi: Chairman of the Sinimusstat (1931), Doctor of Philosophy, Chairman of the Finnish Academy Principals' Association (1960-1964) and Chairman of the Association of Mother Tongue Teachers (1960-1968)

Aulis Onni Ojajärvi (April 5, 1913 Alajärvi – October 13, 1968 Helsinki) was a Finnish rector, doctor of philosophy and writer.

Career

Ojajärvi matriculated in 1932 and graduated with a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1937 and a licentiate and doctorate in 1950.

From 1938 to 1947, Ojajärvi was a scholarship holder of the Sanakirjasäätiö, tasked with glossing the dialects of Southern Ostrobothnia and Eastern Karelia. He was executive director of the Southern Ostrobothnia regional association 1946–1947, Finnish language and history lecturer at Vähänkyrö co-educational school 1949–1953, and senior Finnish language lecturer at Seinäjoki girls' high school 1953–1955.

Most recently, Ojajärvi was the head teacher of the Finnish language at the Finnish Normal Lyceum in Helsinki from 1955 to 1968 and the principal of the lyceum from 1959 to 1968.

Ojajärvi was the chairman of the Association of Mother Tongue Teachers from 1960 to 1968 and the chairman of the Finnish Academy Principals' Association from 1960 to 1964. He served as the first chairman of the Sinimusstat organization in its founding year 1931 and was a member of AKS in the 1930s.

Reino Ala-Kulju: General Secretary of the IKL (1932-1936), Member of Parliament (1933-1939, 1952-1954 and 1959-1966) and Elector of the President (1950, 1956 and 1962)

(25 April 1898 – 5 August 1983)

Reino Ala-Kulju was a Finnish politician, principal, reverend and school counselor. He served as a member of parliament in the years 1933–1939, 1952–1954 and 1959–1966, first representing the Patriotic People's Movement (IKL) and later the coalition. He was the general secretary of the IKL in 1932–1936.

Ala-Kulju was involved in both provincial and national activities and teaching work. He was invited as honorary chairman or honorary member of about ten organizations. In addition to his other career, he worked as a teacher and principal in Seinäjoki.

Family

Ala-Kulju's parents were farmer Aleksanteri Ala-Kulju and MP Eveliina Ala-Kulju. Reino Ala-Kulju's wife was Kerttu Sylvia o.s. Soiniemi. They married in 1928.

Civil war, tribal wars and activities in protectorates

Ala-Kulju participated in the disarmament of the Russians carried out by the Lapua Protectorate on January Sunday, 1918. He participated in the Finnish Civil War in the ranks of the Whites and was involved in the battles of Vilppula, Ruovesi, Länkipohja and Orivesi. Ala-Kulju served as a group leader in the capture of Tampere, Lahti, Kouvola and Vyborg. He was wounded on March 18, 1918 in Oripohja.

Ala-Kulju participated in the Estonian War of Independence in 1919. He served as the head of Kuortanee's conservatorship and was also a member of the Independence Club Junkkarie 1917–1918. In his later years, Ala-Kulju participated in the activities of the Invalids of the War of Independence. Ala-Kulju participated in the work of the Protectorate as an education officer and a priest.

Education and career

Ala-Kulju graduated in Lapua in 1918. In the same year, he went to the University of Helsinki, where he graduated with honors in theology in 1925, a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1931, and a master's degree in 1932. Ala-Kulju was ordained a priest the same year. During his student days, Ala-Kulju participated in student activities, being a member of the board of the student union in 1925–1926. Ala-Kulju also participated in the activities of the Academic Karelian Society, serving as vice-president of the organization in 1926.

Ala-Kulju started his work at Kristiina's Finnish middle school in 1924. In 1927, he accepted the lectureship of religion and philosophy subjects at Seinäjoki joint school. In the years 1930–1944, he was a senior lecturer at Seinäjoki co-ed high school, vice-principal of the girls' high school 1930–1952, and principal 1952–1963 until his retirement.

Ala-Kulju was also ordained a priest in 1929, and he served as a military chaplain during the Second World War. During the Continuation War, he was an enlightenment officer of the tribal warrior brigade and a pastor in Eastern Karelia.

Congressman

Ala-Kulju served as a Member of Parliament three times. In the years 1933–1939, he represented IKL in the parliament, and was also its general secretary in the years 1932–1936. He was later a member of parliament in the coalition between 1952–1954 and 1959–1966, and an elector of the president in 1950, 1956 and 1962. In 1964, Ala-Kulju joined the parliamentary inquiry started by Margit Borg-Sundman because of Hannu Salama's novel Midsummer Dances, which caused outrage in some circles.

Ala-Kulju pushed for school reform and emphasized specialization and matriculation. clarify He supported the merger of lyceums and emphasized the importance of continuous study. He opposed the uniforms of schoolchildren and political youth organizations.

Ala-Kulju was a member of Yleisradio's supervisory board in 1964–1967.

Provincial acts of trust

Ala-Kulju was a member of the board of the South Ostrobothnia regional association from 1939 to 1971, was vice-chairman 1948-1955 and chairman 1955-1971.

Ala-Kulju served as chairman of the Southern Ostrobothnia College Association from 1960 to 1972 and actively promoted higher education in the province. He particularly pushed for the teaching of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and theology in the province. Ala-Kulju also served as chairman of the vocational school teachers of Southern Ostrobothnia 1952–1964.

The city's fiduciary duties

Ala-Kulju worked in the leadership bodies of the Seinäjoki parish for about 40 years. Among other things, Ala-Kulju served as chairman of the construction committee of Lakeuden Risti from 1950 to 1960. Ala-Kulju belonged to the Seinäjoki township/city council 1946–1968 and the board 1948–1961.

Hobbies

Ala-Kulju was involved in radio activities and saw the cultural importance of radio. Ala-Kulju served as the chairman of the program council of Seinäjoki regional radio 1950–1956 and later on the program council of Yleisradio 1961–1962 and the supervisory board 1963–1967.

Ala-Kulju used his time to develop domestic work and cultural activities. Later, Ala-Kulju was invited to be the honorary chairman of both Seinäjoki and Kuortane's home region associations. Ala-Kulju influenced the history of South Ostrobothnia through the South Ostrobothnia museum association, Kotiseutliitto, Talonpoikaissäätiö and the Finnish Cultural Foundation's South Ostrobothnia fund. As part of his work in the home region, Ala-Kulju also dabbled in genealogy.

The last few years

After his retirement, Ala-Kulju reduced his duties of trust and used his estate as a painter. He had received the stimulus already during his parliamentary years when he was living with Eero Nelimarka.

Elmo Kaila: Chairman of the Academic Karelia Society (1923-1927 and 1928-1930) and Caretaker of the War Archives

(6 February 1888 - 16 March 1935)

Biography

Kaila's parents were Kokkola vicar Edvard Johansson (1859–1915) and Märtha Carolina Anna Köhlin. Kaila's brothers were the diplomat, statistician and writer Toivo T. Kaila (1884–1961) and Jaeger Colonel Auno Kaila (1898–1975).

After attending Kokkola's Finnish co-educational school, Kaila completed her matriculation in 1905, graduated from the University of Helsinki with a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1908 and received her doctorate in geography in 1932. He worked as a teacher of economic geography at the Finnish Business School 1908–1917 and at the Helsinki University of Business and Economics 1911–1912, and wrote the national school's geography textbook together with Mikael Soinine and also delivered Geographical section of the encyclopedia.

After the outbreak of the First World War, Kaila worked as a recruit in the jaeger movement, and with her help, among others, Paavo Talvela started a trip to Germany. After the Russian revolution of March 1917, Kaila joined the pro-independence newspaper Uusi Päivä as the editorial secretary. Kaila was also creating a secret network of activists and considered its central location to be first her own office in the Otava publishing house and then the cover company called Uusi Metsätoimisto, which operated at Yrjönkatu 25. From there, contact was made with the Jaegers in Germany, a network of agents operating around the country was managed, passports were forged, espionage information was passed on to the Germans, and weapons were smuggled into Finland.

In the fall of 1917, through Kaila's network, guardianship councils began to be founded and trained all over Finland. Kaila hoped that the working population would also have joined the protection councils in the same way as they did in the jaeger training, but the wish did not come true. After the civil war broke out in 1918, Kaila continued to lead her network from Helsinki.

Kaila was involved in hijacking the icebreaker Volynetši and moved via Tallinn to Berlin, from where he returned to Finland after the Germans captured Helsinki

Elmo Kaila with Elias Simojoki

In May 1918, Kaila gave her network to the monarchists and sent anti-republican propaganda through her agents. In Kaila's opinion, only German support and a German king in Finland would enable Eastern Karelia to be annexed to Finland. After the end of the First World War in November 1918, with the defeat of Germany, Kaila changed direction and started planning a right-wing coup d'état, which would make General Mannerheim the dictator of Finland and launch an attack on St. Petersburg. However, these plans failed in the summer of 1919, and Ståhlberg became the president of Finland.

In the winter of 1919−1920, Kaila began to outline a new action program, the purpose of which was to unite Finns in the fight against Russia and Russianness. The program also involved the replacement of officers who had previously served in the army of the Russian Empire with officers with a Jaeger background in the Finnish army. In Kaila's opinion, a war between Finland and Russia was inevitable in the future, and before that the nation had to be unified and the defense forces strengthened and the people's support obtained for them. Kaila therefore opposed the right-wing trend against the social democrats in the protection councils and wanted to gather working-class Finns into the ranks of the protection councils as well. Kaila started to influence opinion through her agent network. In addition, he influenced the opinions of the rank-and-file, first as editor-in-chief of Suojeluskuntalainen Lehti 1919–1923 and then as editor-in-chief of Sana ja Mieka 1924−1926. Kaila's new program brought her closer to her former opponent during the monarchy struggle, the Maalaisliitto and its leader Santeri Alkio, and led to a break with Mannerheim, the former general of the empire.

In the 1920s, Kaila was the chairman of the Academic Karelian Society from 1923−1927 and 1928−1930, and here, too, he emphasized the unification of the people and the emphasis on the hatred of Russians. AKS members committed to Kaila's goals formed an inner circle called Vihan Veljet. Kaila did not accept the true Finnishness of AKS, because in her opinion it violated the goal of unifying the nation when it pitted Finnish and Swedish speakers against each other.

In 1929, Kaila was seriously injured after being hit on the head by an airplane propeller, and he never fully recovered from the injury. Kaila, who was the secretary of the Finnish Air Defense Association, had arrived from Helsinki in Hämeenlinna for the flight days held on Pentecost 1929 with the Air Defense Association's new "Pilvetär" airplane. When the plane had landed in Hämeenlinna at the Aulango airstrip, Kaila got out of the plane that had landed in the water and tried to get to the pier along the pontoon. However, he did not notice that the plane's propeller was still spinning, and the propeller hit him in the back of the head and in the face.

In the early 1930s, Kaila began to focus on research instead of politics. He received his doctorate in 1932, and the subject of his dissertation was Ostrobothnia and the sea in the 17th and 18th centuries. Kaila was appointed caretaker of the War Archives, and he served in this position until her death.

Kaila remained relatively little known in politics, because he did not want to appear in public herself, but pursued her goals by behind-the-scenes influence.

Elmo E. Kaila was married twice, from 1912 to 1920 to Aino Lyydi Pohjonen and from 1922 to Martha Maria Eleonora Anthon.

Iivari Leiviskä: Director of the Central Ostrobothnia Folk College (1902-1905), Docent of Geography at the University of Helsinki (1908-1921), Inspector of the North-Polish Department (1921-1932) and Co-founder the Academy Karelia Society (1922)

Iivari Gabriel Leiviskä (22 August 1876 Oulu – 2 September 1953 Helsinki) was a Finnish geographer and professor of geography at the University of Helsinki. Leiviskä wrote many geography textbooks and was also involved in founding the Academy Karelia Society in 1922.

Leiviskä's parents were blacksmith Juho Leiviskä and Maria Kujala. He graduated from the Finnish Lyceum in Oulu in 1896 and then studied at the University of Helsinki, graduating with a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1901 and a licentiate and doctorate in 1907. Leiviskä made a study trip to Munich in 1909 and later two research trips to Iceland in 1927 and 1928.

Leiviskä became known especially for his research on Salpauselkä and other transverse ridge systems in Finland. They were based on ten years of work, which was completed in 1920. The work was widely recognized, but also harshly opposed, as critics who evaluated the matter from a geological point of view disputed the part of the study concerning landforms. - In order to promote university studies in Finnish, he prepared university textbooks covering all areas of geography. A geography textbook made for secondary schools was still in use in the 1960s.

Leiviskä began his career working as the director of the Central Ostrobothnia Folk College 1902–1905 and as a teacher at the Finnish Business College 1907–1909. He was a docent of geography at the University of Helsinki 1908–1921, deputy professor 1914–1917 and personal additional professor 1921–1945. Leiviskä also served as inspector of the North-Polish department from 1921 to 1931 and was a member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences from 1921. He considered it important to promote the position of the Finnish language in the university and in politics, and he co-founded the Academy Karelia Society in 1922 and was later an honorary member of the society. Leiviskä was also the supervisor of the Aitosuomalaisten liitto in 1931 and 1937–1938.

Leiviskä was married from 1902 to Sofia Castrén (1880–1950); they had three children.

Erkki Räikkönen: Editor-in-chief of Itsenäinen Suomi (1926-1933) and a Major Founding Member of the Patriotic People's Movement (1932)

(13 August 1900 – 30 March 1961)

Erkki Aleksanteri Räikkönen was a Finnish nationalist leader.

Born in St. Petersburg to a cantor, he attended the University of Helsinki before taking part in the ill-fated mission to secure independence for Karelia in 1921. Like most of those who took part in this event he joined the Academic Karelia Society (AKS), helping to found the movement along with Elias Simojoki and Reino Vähäkallio. After the AKS era, in 1924 he founded together with others the patriotic organization Svalständighetsförbundet, where he was secretary 1926–1928 and chairman 1931–1933. From 1926 to 1933, he was also editor-in-chief of the mouthpiece Itsenäinen Suomi. During this time he made the acquaintance of Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, and wrote a number of works about him, Ukko-Pekka (a nickname introduced by Räikkönen). He quit in 1928 to join Itsenäisyyden Liitto (Independence League), a group that had been formed by Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, Räikkönen's most admired political figure. Räikkönen took this decision in response to the banning of the Lapua Movement, a move that had left the far right in Finland without a wide organisational basis (groups like AKS having small, elite memberships).

Along with Herman Gummerus and Vilho Annala Räikkönen was the founder of the Patriotic People's Movement in 1932. He would not stay a member long however as the group soon became purely Finnish (isolating the Swedish-speaking Räikkönen) and he moved closer to National Socialism.

Having left the movement he contented himself with editing the journal Suomen Vapaussota, whilst also becoming involved in Gustav Vasa movement, a National Socialist organization for Finland's Swedish-speaking population and Blue Cross, another National Socialist group. 

During his stay in Berlin in 1940–1941, he addressed a letter with an attached memorandum to Heinrich Himmler. Here it was pointed out, among other things, that immediately after the National Socialist takeover Finland had shifted its orientation towards Germany, that the events of the last few months had clearly shown the disaster that the democratic system was able to bring upon the country, and that it would now be high time to switch to an authoritarian form of government. He wished to see a National Socialist Finland. He sought Germany's support to make Svinhufvud dictator, but the German leadership felt that Räikkönen had too little political support.

However, Räikkönen continued to conspire, mainly at a lower level, with representatives of various German party and state bodies and in 1942 founded the organization Siniristi, whose weekly newspaper was Uusi Eurooppa. According to the statutes, Siniristi had both foreign and domestic policy objectives.

• To bring Finland to an active participation in the construction of the new Europe as a full member of the new community and to gain recognition for and to make known "Finland's Germanic community of destiny"
• To help the Finnish-related peoples to an independent national life and to carry out their incorporation into the new Europe
• To introduce the idea of a community of people in Finnish conditions by placing the common interest before different group interests
• To implement social justice by putting competence and work at the forefront
• To remove the influence of international forces and secret societies.

After the war in 1945, Räikkönen moved to Sweden, where he lived until his death. In Helsingborg, he founded Finlandia Publishing and was its director.

Vilho Annala: Member of Parliament (1933-1945), Caucus Chairman for the Patriotic People's Movement (1936-1944), Minister of Transport and Public Works (1941-1943) and Professor of Political Economy at the University of Helsinki (1951-1957)

(17 January 1888 – 28 July 1960)

Vilho Annala was a Finnish civil servant, economist and far right politician.

Early years

Annala was born in Lapua, and first came to prominence as a student at the University of Helsinki, where he edited the student union newspaper Ylioppilaslehti from 1916 to 1919. He went on to work for the Bureau of Statistics, whilst serving on the editorial staff of the conservative daily Uusi Suomi. He gained a doctorate in 1932 and became one of Finland's leading civil servants.

Politics

Annala joined the Lapua Movement and became Helsinki District Chairman in February 1931. Ideologically Annala was heavily influenced by the corporatism of Italian fascism. He supported the co-opting of the working classes into the Lapua Movement and opposed the influence of wealthy industrialists.

In April 1932 Annala joined Herman Gummerus and Erkki Räikkönen in founding the Patriotic People's Movement (IKL) and he served as caucus chairman from 1936 to 1944. Between 1933 and 1945 he also represented the party in the Parliament of Finland. Whilst the official leader was Vihtori Kosola real control of the movement rested with Annala and his close lieutenant Bruno Salmiala. It was Annala who dictated the policy of the movement although his hard-line views led to condemnation by both the government and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland that damaged the group. 

He supported the replacement of capitalism and the free market economy with state-led corporatism, which he saw as an example in fascist Italy. Italian fascism was modeled on in many other respects as well, right down to external symbols. Programmatic anti-capitalism was used to attract the support of the working population away from the shackles of Marxist socialism, which admittedly did not succeed; On the other hand, the capital and industrial circles that supported the Lapua movement distanced themselves. Annala also influenced IKL's adoption of a strict authentic Finnish language program, which in turn effectively expelled the Swedish-speaking extreme right.

Annala held the post of Minister of Transport in the unity government of Johan Wilhelm Rangell from 1941 to 1943. This however was a last throw for the IKL as the group faded soon afterwards and Annala left politics.

Later years

With his political career over Annala became an academic back at the University of Helsinki. He served there as the professor of political economy 1951–57. He died in Helsinki, aged 72.

Herman Gummerus: Classical Scholar, Diplomat, and one of the Founders of the Patriotic People's Movement (IKL)

(24 December 1877 – 18 July 1948)

Herman Gregorius Gummerus was a leading Finnish classical scholar, diplomat, and one of the founders of the Patriotic People's Movement (IKL).

Early life

Born in Saint Petersburg into a Swedish speaking family, Gummerus became an expert on the economy and society of Ancient Rome, and lectured at the University of Helsinki from 1911 to 1920 and again from 1926 to 1947. He initially studied in Helsinki, and then specialized in ancient history under the direction of Eduard Meyer in the University of Berlin.

Academic

His studies on Rome were particularly concerned with rural life in the later period of the empire, a subject upon which he wrote widely. Gummerus' doctoral dissertation Der römische Gutsbetrieb als wirtschaftlicher Organismus nach den Werken des Cato, Varro und Columella (1906) examined large Roman estates using mainly literary sources. He further examined the economic system of the Roman empire in an article (Industrie und Handel, RE IX (1916), coll. 1381–1535) published in the Pauly–Wissowa classical encyclopedia, this time systematically using Archeological artifacts in his study. Gummerus' technique predated the work of Michael Rostovtzeff by a decade.

Political

An early advocate of Finnish independence, Gummerus was imprisoned for this in 1904, spending time in Peter and Paul Fortress. He went on to edit the journal Framtid and before forming the anti-Russification Wetterhof Bureau (later Finnish Bureau) in Germany in 1915. After independence had been achieved Gummerus was appointed to posts in Stockholm and Kiev, where he had extended his anti-Russian activity and where he helped set up a legation during Ukraine's brief independence. He became Envoy to Rome in 1920 (a post he held until 1925) and developed an admiration for the growing fascist movement whilst in Italy.

On his return to Finland, and with the leaders of the Lapua Movement mostly imprisoned, he joined with Erkki Räikkönen, a fellow Swedish-speaker, and Vilho Annala to form IKL as a slightly more moderate continuation. Driven by an inherent conservatism, Gummerus desired an electoral alliance with the National Coalition Party but soon found that the rank and file of IKL had no interest in this. IKL also adopted a strong position on the importance of the Finnish language, following the lead of the Academic Karelia Society and further isolating the Swedish-speaking Gummerus. He finally left the movement in 1934 and took no further role in active politics.

Despite his linguistic identity Gummerus went on to criticize Sweden, attacking the Blue Book of former Swedish foreign minister Johannes Hellner, which claimed that Sweden had only been interested in cultivating Finland as a good neighbour in the Åland crisis. Gummerus argued that, whilst this may have been the case, Swedish attitudes towards the newly independent country where such that a state of mistrust and suspicion was engendered between the two countries.

Bruno Salmiala: Professor of Criminal Law and Deputy Leader of Patriotic People's Movement

(24 August 1890 – 4 September 1981)

Bruno Aleksander Salmiala was a Finnish legal theorist and a far-right politician.

Legal career

Salmiala completed his PhD in jurisprudence at the University of Helsinki in 1924 and became a career academic, serving as a professor of criminal law at the institution from 1925 to 1959. He worked as the secretary of the Finnish Bar Association from 1920 to 1957 and was the executive editor of the legal journal Defensor Legis for 48 years (1920–1968). Salmiala also had an extensive career in the civil service, first as the deputy Parliamentary Ombudsman (1924–1928), then as a prosecutor (1926–1930) and finally as the head of the Criminal law institute (1955–1959).

Politics

Salmiala's first involvement in politics came in 1928 when he was appointed to the board of directors of Uusi Suomi, the organ of the conservative National Coalition Party. However his opinions shifted to the right and in 1932 he joined the Academic Karelia Society and became a founder member of the Patriotic People's Movement (IKL). He was appointed deputy leader in charge of organisation in the latter movement. An opponent of the violent tactics sometimes employed by the IKL due to his legal background he was nonetheless ideologically radical in contrast to the more conservative likes of Herman Gummerus and Erkki Räikkönen. He also represented Häme Province in the Parliament of Finland for the IKL from 1933 to 1944. Additionally, Salmiala served as an elected member of the Helsinki city council.

Later years

Salmiala dropped out of politics after the Second World War and, as well as continuing his academic work, was a member of the Finnish Radio and Television Committee. He lived to the age 91.

Paavo Talvela: Commander-in-chief of the Aunus expedition (1919), Commander of VI Corps (1941-1942) and General of the Infantry (1966)

Paavo Juho Talvela (born Paavo Juho Thorén; 19 February 1897 – 30 September 1973) was a Finnish general of the infantry, Knight of the Mannerheim Cross and a member of the Jäger movement. He participated in the Eastern Front of World War I, the Finnish Civil War, the Finnish Kinship Wars, the Winter War and the Continuation War.

Talvela was also active in Finnish far-right politics, being involved in both the founding of the Academic Karelia Society and in the Lapua Movement. In 1940, he was also involved in talks with Germany about forming a Finnish Jäger battalion as part of the Wehrmacht.

Early life

Paavo Juho Talvela (originally Thorén) was born 19 January 1897 to farmer parents Johan Fredrik Thorén and Helena Uino in Helsingin maalaiskunta. One of eleven children, Talvela enrolled in secondary education, but became involved in the Jäger Movement, where Finnish volunteers received military training in Germany, leaving for Germany in 1916. While in Germany, the Finnish volunteers formed the 27th Royal Prussian Jäger Battalion, fighting for the Imperial German Army on the Eastern Front of World War I. During this time, Talvela saw combat in battles in the regions of Misa and Gulf of Riga, but was sent to Sweden and Finland for "special tasks" in 1917. He was arrested on the Finno-Swedish border and detained by Swedish authorities for multiple months. In late 1917, Talvela was able to enter Finland by traveling to Turku via Åland. In December 1917, Talvela moved from Turku to Vimpeli, where he would act as a military instructor. During 1918, Talvela took part in the Finnish Civil War on the side of the Whites under the pseudonym Strömsten. In 1918, Talvela was promoted from the private-equivalent rank of jäger directly to a lieutenant of the Finnish Army.

Talvela was promoted to a major after the civil war, briefly commanding both a battalion and a regiment, but resigned in 1919 to participate as a regimental commander in the Kinship Wars of the 1920s. Talvela became the commander-in-chief of the Aunus expedition after it had reached Petrozavodsk. After the failure of the Aunus expedition, Talvela re-joined the Finnish Army, but continued to view efforts to integrate East Karelia to Finland as crucial for both the security and the economy of the newly-independent Finland. As such, Talvela resigned again in 1921 to command a battalion during the Viena expedition which also failed. Following the failed military expeditions, Talvela joined the Finnish army the third time in 1922. He was also involved behind-the-scenes in the founding of the Academic Karelia Society, a student association that was also the first Finnish radical nationalistic movement.

Having returned to service, Talvela graduated from the English Coast Artillery School in 1923 before acting as the chief of coastal artillery in 1925. In 1926, he graduated from the Finnish War College, taking on the duties of commander of the Savo Jäger Regiment in 1926–1927. Following a 1925 promotion to lieutenant colonel, he was promoted a colonel in 1928. In 1930, he acted as the head of the Finnish General HQ's Operations Section, but conflicts with the head of the Finnish General Staff Martti Wallenius led to Talvela's third resignation.

Following his resignation, Talvela became politically active. He was a member of the electoral college for the President of Finland in 1931. He also became active in the radically nationalistic and "fascist-style" Lapua Movement, organizing the Peasant March. The movement was disbanded in the wake of the Mäntsälä Rebellion. Talvela ran for parliament as a member of Kokoomus in 1936 but was not elected. Talvela was also active in various economic affairs, working as the deputy director of Suomi-Filmi from 1929 to 1932 and the Finnish state alcohol monopoly Oy Alkoholiliike Ab from 1932 to 1937, following the end of the Finnish prohibition. From 1937 to 1939, Talvela worked as the deputy director of Suomen selluloosayhdistys, the association of Finnish cellulose producers. Concurrently with these duties, Talvela continued his activities in national defense, working as the chair of the Jäger Union to 1934 and in the governmental Defense Council.

Winter War and Continuation War

The Finno-Soviet Winter War broke out on the morning of 30 November 1939 with a Soviet assault over the Finno-Soviet border on the Karelian Isthmus. In the lead-up to the war, Talvela had been promoted to a major general and became a member of the war materiel council, but just two days after the start of the war he approached the Finnish commander-in-chief Mannerheim asking for a field command. Talvela proposed that he should be given command of a regiment of the 7th Division, which was being held as commander-in-chief's reserve. On 6 December, Mannerheim ordered that the Finnish IV corps would be split into two commands, with one being given to Talvela. Talvela's orders were to halt and throw back the Soviet advance in the area of Tolvajärvi.

The Finnish position in the Tolvajärvi region was in severe danger, and upon arriving in his area of operations Talvela's first task was to halt the retreat of Infantry Regiment 16. The following Battle of Tolvajärvi resulted in a Soviet retreat and the first Finnish victory of the war: The Soviet 139th Rifle Division lost its headquarters and most of its artillery. The 139th Division was replaced with the 75th Division, which was also forced to retreat just a few days later. Following these victories, the area saw only limited action to the end of the war. In February, Talvela was given command of the III Corps on the Karelian Isthmus in the area of Vuoksi and Lake Sukhodolskoye.

During the Interim Peace, in 1940, Talvela took part in the Finno-German negotiations regarding weapons shipments and the movement of German troops through Finland. He was made the chair of Suomen Aseveljien Liitto, the Union of Finnish Brothers-in-Arms. Talvela was also involved in 1940 talks about establishing a Finnish jaeger battalion within the German Wehrmacht. While these talks didn't lead to results, the Germans recruited some 1400 Finnish volunteers into the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS between 1941 and 1943.

At the start of the Continuation War in 1941, Talvela commanded the II Corps, but immediately following the start of the hostilities he was given command of the VI Corps. Under his command, the VI Corps participated in the Finnish invasion of Ladoga Karelia. As part of the Army of Karelia, VI Corps surrounded parts of the Soviet 7th Army north of Lake Ladoga. On 3 August 1941, Talvela was granted the Mannerheim Cross. The VI Corps reached Svir in September 1941, with the Finnish forces forming a 100 kilometer wide, 20 kilometer deep bridgehead over the river, thus cutting the Murmansk railroad. The Finns' refusal to advance further from Svir caused strain in the Finno-German relations, as German forces were able to reach a point some 80 kilometers to the southwest of the Finnish positions. The Germans had even moved the German 163rd Division to the Svir to help in securing the flanks for the "handshake at the Svir". The issue resolved itself once Soviet counter-attacks pushed the Germans further from the Svir in the south. In January 1942, Talvela was removed from his position as the commander of VI Corps and transferred to Germany, where he was the representative of the Finnish army in the German high command.

Talvela was recalled to Finland in February 1944. Having been promoted to lieutenant general in 1942, he was given command of the Aunus Group, which was in charge of the Finnish forces along the Svir. Following a Soviet landing in Tuloksa as part of the Soviet Svir–Petrozavodsk Offensive in 1944, the Finnish IV Corps, part of Talvela's Aunus Group, was in danger of being cut off. When the commander of VI Corps, general Aarne Blick, requested permission to pull back, Talvela refused and ordered the corps to instead conduct a delaying action. Blick ignored the orders, pulling VI Corps back, causing significant strain in the two commanders' personal relations. The animosity resulted in the replacement of Blick on 6 July.

On 16 July 1944, the Aunus Group was disbanded and Talvela was ordered to return to Germany. He would stay in Germany until the Finno-Soviet cease-fire and the breaking of the Finno-German relations, both of which came as a surprise to him. Before leaving Germany, Talvela was approached by Himmler, who requested that Talvela would lead Finnish armed resistance. Talvela indicated that he would be willing to lead a resistance movement, but only under orders from Mannerheim.

Later life and legacy

Talvela left the army in September 1944, returning to his job as the director of Pohjolan Liikenne which he had taken during the Interim Peace. As a result of the time he had spent in Germany during the war, he found working in Finland difficult, and lived in Rio de Janeiro selling cellulose between 1946 and 1949. Talvela returned to Finland in 1949, serving as a member of the City Council of Helsinki between 1954 and 1960. In 1958, he was the head consul for Philippines. He continued to be active in various activities related to paper production until his retirement. Talvela received his final promotion to the rank of general of the infantry (Finnish: jalkaväenkenraali) in 1966.

Talvela married twice during his life. His first marriage with Martta Sofia Nikoskelainen ran from 1919 to 1922, ending in a divorce. He remarried in 1923 to Karin Johanna Tengman. During his marriages, Talvela had a total of four children, born between 1919 and 1926. He secretly had a fifth child born out of wedlock, Swedish writer Gunilla Boëthius in 1945; this wasn't discovered until long after his death. Talvela died on 30 September 1973 in Helsinki. He is buried in the Kulosaari Cemetery in Helsinki.

During his career, Talvela was granted several awards. The most notable of these is the Mannerheim Cross, which Talvela was the second to receive. He also received the Finnish Order of the Cross of Liberty and the Order of the White Rose. He also received the German Iron Cross (both 1st and 2nd class), German Cross in Gold and the Order of Merit of the German Eagle; the Swedish Order of the Sword and Order of Vasa; the Order of the Crown of Italy; and the Norwegian Order of St. Olav.

Patriotic People's Movement (1932-1944)

Patriotic People's Movement (Finnish: Isänmaallinen kansanliike, IKL, Swedish: Fosterländska folkrörelsen) was a Finnish nationalist and anti-communist political party. IKL was the successor of the previously banned Lapua Movement. It existed from 1932 to 1944 and had an ideology similar to its predecessor, except that IKL participated in elections with limited success.

Ideologically, IKL was ardently nationalist and anti-Communist, and endorsed an aggressive foreign policy against the Soviet Union and hostility towards the Swedish language. The creation of a Greater Finland was an important goal for the party.

The IKL uniform was a black shirt with blue tie, inspired by the Italian fascists, and also by the Herännäisyys movement, which had a tradition for black clothing. Members greeted each other with a Roman salute.

The IKL had its own youth organization, called Sinimustat (Blue-and-blacks), members of which were trained in combat. It was led by Elias Simojoki, a charismatic priest. Sinimustat were banned in 1936 (although they were immediately reformed as Mustapaidat ("Blackshirts")).

IKL became the most significant Finnish right-wing radical group of the 1930s, with a maximum of 100,000 members. The number of members was equal to that of the largest parties.

According to docent André Swanström, IKL was by far the most popular party among Finnish Waffen SS recruits.

Leaders & Founders

• Vilho Annala
• Erkki Räikkönen
• Herman Gummerus
• Bruno Salmiala

Members of the Parliament 

• Elias Simojoki
• Hilja Riipinen
• Paavo Susitaival
• Arne Somersalo
• Reino Ala-Kulju
• Rauno Gustaf Kallia

Activists and politicians

• Vihtori Kosola
• Iivari Koivisto
• Walde Sario
• Jukka Tyrkkö
• Jaakko Virkkunen

Members

Ideology

At the core of IKL's ideology was opposition to parliamentarism. From its point of view, party politics led to fragmentation. The goal was national unity, one party and one strong leader. Other ideological strands were opposition to communism, nationalism and the emphasized role of national defense. Like Italian fascism, the party's goal was the so-called third way between the Marxist and bourgeois alternatives. They wanted to replace democracy with corporatism, where the power of parliament would be transferred to the government and instead of parliamentarism, power would be exercised by trade union representatives. However, the dictatorship was not spoken out loud. Although IKL emphasized the principle of one strong leader, there was no such thing in the movement. The management of the movement was collective.

The examples of IKL were Italian fascists and German National Socialists. It brought visible military organization, uniforms and organizational symbols to Finnish politics. The movement characterized its activities and organization in military language: "The actual political combat unit of our organization is the group." In the movement's own organization magazine, it was written how "we are fascists". Later, the magazine's extensive articles presented an ideology that included influences from the National Socialists, anti-Semitism and racial doctrine. The Italian delegation in Helsinki tried to bring IKL into the sphere of influence of the Italian fascist party by supplying it with propaganda material presenting Italian fascism and Mussolini. IKL activists were involved in the Nuoret Italien Ystävät organization supported by the Italian Embassy.

The beginning of the movement

IKL was initially founded as a registered association in Hämeenlinna in June 1932 after the failure of the Mäntsälä rebellion. In December of the same year, Ajan Suunta, the voice of the party, started. The nominal leader of the movement was Vihtori Kosola, the leader of the Lapuan movement, but the real leadership of the Patriotic People's Movement was in Helsinki's academic circles. Kosola, who received a prison sentence as a result of the Mäntsälä rebellion, gradually became a ballast for the movement and was finally ousted in 1936.

The establishment of IKL was preceded by multi-stage and often contentious negotiations. The Academic Karjala Society (AKS) was strongly involved from the beginning. Disagreements arose, for example, over the language issue. There was also an argument about whether a movement uniting the bourgeoisie or a separate association should be founded, which should not be called a party. AKS launched the Suur-Suomi idea and authentic Finnishness, which alienated Swedish and bilingual people, including General Gustaf Mannerheim. The IKL condemned the freemasons, which expelled Rafael Haarla, a right-wing industrialist and background influencer of the Lapuan movement.

IKL's key figures were Vilho Helanen, leader of the Academic Karjala Society, party secretary Reino Ala-Kulju, Aja Suunna editor-in-chief Rauno Kallia, University of Helsinki professor of economic history Vilho Annala and criminal law professor Bruno Salmiala. Salmiala assured the president P. E. Svinhufvud that he would monitor the operation of the store within the framework of the law. The supporters of the Lapuan movement in Ostrobothnia, who were used to direct action, did not like the policy, but the rides remained in history. Although the Lapuan movement had already been controlled from the capital, the leadership of the extreme right now moved from the peasant houses of Ostrobothnia to the cabinets in Helsinki. In practice, IKL's line was defined by AKS and academic right-wing circles, especially professors Annala and Salmiala. The academic background of the patriotic people's movement and its influencers later made it a more influential influencer than its size in Finnish politics.

Parliamentary elections of 1933

At the same time as the founding of the IKL, the internal crisis of the Coalition escalated. In the coalition, the Lapuan movement's anti-communism was widely supported. In the previous year, 1932, the Coalition had supported the Mäntsälä rebels and the party had discussed a right-wing dictatorship as an alternative to be taken seriously. Kaarlo Koskimies, editor-in-chief of New Finland, was fired and replaced by S. J. Pentti. The "Lapua wing" led by Eino Suolahte and Edwin Linkomie, appointed priest politician Paavo Virkkunen as the party's chairman.

While preparing for the 1933 parliamentary elections, the IKL secretly decided that it would enter the elections in an electoral alliance with the Coalition and perhaps other groups, but after the elections the movement would form its own parliamentary group. The "Patriotic Electoral Alliance" of the Coalition and IKL received only 16.9 percent of the votes cast and 32 MPs, while the Coalition's support in the previous elections had been 42 seats. Voters had clearly rejected the right-wing Lapuan movement as a result of the violence and the Mäntsälä rebellion. The coalition was left with only 18 parliamentary seats, which was the weakest result in its history. My parliamentary group of 14 MPs made IKL a party, although the movement itself never used or wanted to use this designation.

Anti-parliamentarism and the self-defense of democracy

The operation of the Patriotic People's Movement with other parliamentary groups was problematic. A faction had entered the Finnish parliament that challenged the entire system. IKL's parliamentary group arrived at the opening of the Diet wearing a new military organization uniform, which included a black blouse and a blue tie. Especially during IKL's first parliamentary term, parliamentary sessions and even budget debates became the scene of heated exchanges between IKL and its opponents. IKL was a reminder of the real threat when it recognized itself in the parliament. In the same way, the far-right movements that opposed parliamentarism had come to power in different parts of Europe. The anti-parliamentarian ideology quickly isolated the IKL as a solitary actor, and the legality front that was in power in Finland waged a tough battle against the IKL in the name of self-defense of democracy. Already in 1933, the operation of militarily organized organizations was prohibited by law. In 1934, the Sweater Act was enacted, which prohibited the use of political insignia. In addition, laws were enacted that made it possible to limit or prohibit the activities of political organizations.

In 1934, IKL became embroiled in a foreign policy conflict. At the beginning of the 1930s, a strong far-right Estonian Freedom Fighters Union, or Vapsit, arose in Estonia. The youth organization Sinimustat led by IKL MP Elias Simojoki participated in the vaps movement and illegal activities in 1934, which attracted international attention. Konstantin Päts changed the Estonian government in a more authoritarian direction, but the Estonian extreme right continued to plan the coup. Sinimustat supported the Estonian far-right with, among other things, arms deliveries. When Sinimustie's role was revealed, the Finnish judiciary closed down the organization in January 1936. To continue the work, a new youth organization Mustapaidat was founded in the spring of 1936, but it was no longer as powerful an actor.