Academic Karelia Society

Last updated January 08, 2024

The Academic Karelia Society (Akateeminen Karjala-Seura, AKS) was a Finnish nationalist and Finno-Ugric activist organization aiming at the growth and improvement of newly independent Finland, founded by academics and students of the University of Finland in 1922. Its members retained influential positions in the academic life of the era as well as within the officer corps of the Army. The AKS controlled the student union of the University of Helsinki from the mid-1920s right up to 1944, when the Society was disbanded in the aftermath of the Continuation War.

Ideological roots

The political and philosophical ideology of the AKS had its main roots in the philosophy of the 19th century Fennophile statesman Johan Vilhelm Snellman who emphasized a strong national state and the need of bringing the Finnish language into the forefront of the Finnish cultural life, which was dominated almost exclusively by the Swedish language.

The nationalistic ideology of the AKS also stemmed from the common European discussion of national rights based on the 14 points of President Wilson. Also the experience of the Finnish Civil War bolstered a deep anti-socialist sentiment in the Finnish nationalist circles of that time. One of the slogans the AKS used was "Pirua ja ryssää vastaan!" (Against the devil and the Ruskies!) where the devil is referring to the Society's main domestic enemies, the socialists and communists. Despite holding views close to the Fascist movement of Italy, there was no influence from abroad - the AKS was founded in February 1922 before the March on Rome and its origins were purely domestic. The group was founded by Elias Simojoki, Erkki Räikkönen and Reino Vähäkallio.

Symbols

A bullet was sewn in the black AKS flag, which was the same one that had killed Repola's Lensmann Bobi Sivén (See: Aunus expedition). Sivén became a martyr of the AKS and had a cult of personality similar to that of Horst Wessel in Germany later on. Sivén was an example to the people of AKS of how the issue of Karelia is more important than one's own life, as Sivén himself had said.

Members of the AKS were sworn in before the black flag. From 1923, oaths were held twice a year, on Day of the Finnish Identity and Independence Day. In the spring of 1924, an oath was also introduced, which, in addition to the flag, became the AKS' second main rite.^[1]

The oath taken in front of the AKS black flag was as follows:^[2]

Under and to our flag I swear by all that is sacred and dear to me, to sacrifice my work and life to my Fatherland, to Finnish national awakening, for Karelia and Ingria, for Greater Finland. For as surely as I believe in one great God, I believe in Greater Finland and its great future.

Karelia

Many of the founders of the AKS were veterans of the Karelian wars and thus had knowledge of the plight of the Karelian-speaking population in Soviet Karelia. The Karelians were considered to be a part of the Finnish heimo (folk) and their fate was of utmost importance for the AKS. The Academic Karelia Society's program was centered around their main demand: the acquisition of East Karelia from Soviet Russia and the liberation of the Karelian kinfolk. The work towards this goal was mainly done by propagandist efforts to keep the matter in the public eye.

AKS also organized aid to Finnic minorities in Soviet Russia and refugees from there and promoted cultural efforts to help the Finnish-speaking minorities of northern Sweden and Norway. They also tried to cultivate friendship between the newly independent states of Finland and Estonia (and, to a lesser degree, Hungary).

Domestic policies of the AKS

Domestically the AKS was an emphatic proponent for a strengthened army and for strict restrictions against Socialists, although it at the same time stressed the need of improving the lot of the working classes in the interest of the national community. It also promoted the rights of the Finnish language to become the first language in the country, especially in the Universities and in the bureaucracy of the state. Initially the group was ambiguous to democracy but under the chairmanship of Vilho Helanen it came to oppose the concept.^[3]

In the 1930s, the AKS was an ally of the ultra-right Patriotic People's Movement party. AKS also maintained close ties with a militant secret society called Vihan Veljet. Some authors claim that Vihan Veljet was actually a group inside the AKS, not a separate organization, but there is not much evidence either way.

Legacy of the AKS

After the end of World War II, the organization was labeled "fascistic" and officially disbanded in September 1944 on the order of the Allied Control Commission. The archives of AKS, which were originally located in the New Student House in the heart of Helsinki, were hidden or destroyed by its members because they were considered insignificant at the time.^[4] They contained current correspondence, publicized materials, handwritten essays, writings related to the early stage of AKS's activity.^[4]

Prominent former members include quite a few academics, bishops, business leaders, generals and politicians (e.g. president Urho Kekkonen). Many officers of the Finnish army during the wars of 1939–1940 and 1941–1944 were members of the Society. "By 1966, 41 former members of AKS had the rank of a senior officer in the Finnish army." In 1968 seven of the nine bishops of Lutheran Church of Finland were former members of AKS.^[4]

Up to the 1970's AKS influenced primarily on the cultural life of Finland according to Risto Alapuro.^[4]

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References

↑ Eskelinen, Heikki: Me tahdoimme suureksi Suomenmaan: Akateemisen Karjala-Seuran historia. 1, Tausta, organisaatio, aatteet ja asema yhteiskunnassa 1922–1939. Väitöskirja: Jyväskylän yliopisto. Helsinki: WSOY, 2004. ISBN 951-0-25056-2.
↑ Neljätuhatta veljestä, sataneljä elämäntarinaa, p. 42.
↑ Philip Rees, Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890 , 1990, p. 176
1 2 3 4 Viena-Tuuli, Vasara (2017). "Problems of Finnish extreme right-wing organisations of Finland's first republic". Вестник Санкт-Петербургского университета. История (2). ISSN 1812-9323.

v t e Far-right politics in Finland
Pre-1945 groups	Academic Karelia Society Blue Cross Blue-and-Blacks Export Peace Finnish Realm Union Finnish-Socialist Workers' Party Finnish National Socialist Labor Organisation Front Soldier League Finnish People's Organisation Finnish Labor Front Labor Organisation of Brothers-in-Arms Lalli Alliance of Finland Lapua Movement Organisation of National Socialists National Socialists of Finland National Socialist Union of Finland National Trade Union Confederation of Finland NSDAP/AO Finnland Party of Finnish Labor Patriotic Citizens of Viitasaari Patriotic People's Movement Patriotic People's Party People's Community Society Rising Finland Stormers
Post-1945 groups	Atomwaffen Division Finland Blue-and-Black Movement Blue and White Front Finns Party Finnish People First Finnish People's Blue-Whites For Independence Freedom Alliance Kohti Vapautta! Nordic Resistance Movement Patriotic People's Movement Power Belongs to the People Suomen Sisu Soldiers of Odin Truth Party (Finland)
Pre-1945 people	Reino Ala-Kulju Vilho Annala Torsten Aminoff Hjalmar von Bonsdorff Severin Dobrovolsky Kai Donner Johan Christian Fabritius Petter Forsström C. A. J. Gadolin Herman Gummerus Yrjö von Grönhagen Reidar Hedman Vilho Helanen Gunnar von Hertzen Carl-Gustaf Herlitz Antti Isotalo Y. W. Jalander Karl Jansson Kustaa Jussila Kaarlo Kares Hans Kalm Arvi Kalsta Toivo Karanko Aarne Kauhanen Yrjö Kivenoja Juhani Konkka Vihtori Kosola Jussi Leino Gunnar Lindqvist Arvi Malmivaara Jussi Muilu Iisakki Nikkola Vietti Nykänen Thorvald Oljemark Johannes Öhquist Martti Pihkala Otto Piisinen Boris Popper Niilo Rauvala Erkki Räikkönen Hilja Riipinen John Rosberg Yrjö Ruutu Yrjö Saarinen Antti Salamaa Bruno Salmiala Kaarlo Salovaara Jaakko Seise Elias Simojoki Teo Snellman Arne Somersalo Paavo Susitaival Eino Tuomivaara Örnulf Tigerstedt Ensio Uoti Mauno Vannas Kurt Martti Wallenius
Post-1945 people	James Hirvisaari Esa Henrik Holappa [ fi ] Juha Kärkkäinen [ fi ] Jouni Lanamäki [ fi ] Seppo Lehto Junes Lokka [ fi ] Olavi Mäenpää Pekka Siitoin Ano Turtiainen
Pre-1945 events	Assassination of Heikki Ritavuori Murder of Onni Happonen Murder of Erik Mättö [ fi ] Murder of Yrjö Holm [ fi ] Mäntsälä rebellion Peasant March Ståhlberg kidnapping Vaasa riot
Post-1945 events	Kursiivi printing house arson 1986 Oulu airplane hijacking attempt [ fi ] Jyväskylä library stabbing Helsinki Central Railway Station assault [ fi ] Assassination attempt of Pekka Kataja [ fi ] Kankaanpää terrorism arrests
Other	Ajan Suunta Finnish volunteers in the Waffen-SS Kansallissosialisti Magneettimedia MV-media Siniristi Pro-German resistance movement in Finland (Thoralf Kyrre, Lauri Törni, Arvid Ojasti)