Patriotic Popular Front

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Patriotic Popular Front
Leader Pekka Siitoin
Secretary-GeneralSeppo Lehtonen
Deputy LeaderTapani Pohjola [1]
Deputy SecretaryJari Hyvärinen [2]
Founded1976 [3]
Banned1977
Succeeded by National Democratic Party
NewspaperPohjantähti
Membership100
Ideology Neo-Nazism
Political position Far-right
Party flag
Flag of IKR.png

The Patriotic Popular Front (IKR) was a neo-Nazi party founded in Finland by Pekka Siitoin.

Former French Foreign Legion soldier Timo Pekkala organized firearm drills for the group. Members of the IKR were responsible for the Kursiivi printing house arson. [4]

Background

Tiedonantaja magazine claimed that Boris Popper had acted as a financier of Siitoin and acquired weapons and ammunition from the military's warehouses for the use of Siitoin's groups. [5] [4] It is also thought that the founding member of IKR, Tapio Saarni, son of a fish shipping tycoon funded the group. [6]

Siitoin maintained contacts with National Renaissance Party of James Hartung Madole that likewise blended Satanism and Nazism. IKR published National Renaissance Party material in Finnish, and Siitoin appeared in NRP's publications. [7] [8] IKR also maintained contacts with the KKK Grand Wizard David Duke and J. B. Stoner in the United States and Fédération d'action nationale et européenne in France. [9] [10] IKR also recruited Finns for the war in Rhodesia in its magazine. [11]

After IKR members had sent multiple letter bombs to political enemies and held a parade in Nazi uniforms, authorities had had enough. IKR was banned in 1977 as contrary to the Paris Peace Treaty forbidding fascist organizations. However, Siitoin immediately founded a new party called the National Democratic Party. [12] [13] [14]

The party operated its own printing house that published its magazine, Finnish translation of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and holocaust denial books. According to a member list confiscated from Siitoin, the party had about 100 members. [8]

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References

  1. Pohjola (2015), p.106
  2. Pohjola (2015), p.107
  3. "Uusnatsi vei pommin kirjapainoon ja sytytti talon palamaan Lauttasaaressa 1977: Taustalta paljastui äärioikeistolainen saatananpalvoja, joka oli aikansa omituisimpia hahmoja". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish).
  4. 1 2 Häkkinen, Perttu; Iitti, Vesa (2022). Lightbringers of the North: Secrets of the Occult Tradition of Finland. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-64411-464-3. p. p.137, 147
  5. Aleksi Mainio : Terroristien pesä. Suomi ja taistelu Venäjästä 1918–1939. Siltala 2015, luku "Pomminheittäjä saapuu Brysselistä", sivut 255-261
  6. Pohjola, Mike (toim.): Mitä Pekka Siitoin tarkoittaa? Savukeidas, 2015. ISBN 978-952-268-155-3 s. 102
  7. The Finnish New Radical Right in Comparative Perspective, Jeffrey Kaplan, Published in Kyösti Pekonen, ed., The New Radical Right in Finland in the Nineties (Helsinki: University of Helsinki Press, 1999), page 13-14.
  8. 1 2 Fasismia, terrorismia vai nallipyssynatsien leikkiä? Julkinen keskustelu Isänmaallisen Kansanrintaman toiminnasta loppuvuodesta 1977 Piipponen, Marko ; Yhteiskuntatieteiden ja kauppatieteiden tiedekunta, Historia- ja maantieteiden laitos ; Faculty of Social Sciences and Business, Department of Geographical and Historical Sciences
  9. Keronen (2020) pp.29, 41-42
  10. Pohjola (2015), pp. 119
  11. Keronen, Jiri: Pekka Siitoin teoriassa ja käytännössä. Helsinki: Kiuas Kustannus, 2020. ISBN 978-952-7197-21-9, pp.33
  12. Valtakunnanjohtaja Pekka Siitoimen Päivät Parrasvaloissa - Äärioikeistosta käyty keskustelu Helsingin Sanomissa 1970-luvulla. Viivi Koli, Tampereen Yliopisto, 2024
  13. "Okkultistinen "valtakunnanjohtaja" seurasi lukiolaisten pommi-iskuja - tällainen on Suomen äärioikeiston historia". Iltalehti . Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  14. Piipponen, M. (2023). Fasistien salaliitto vai kommunistien provosointi? – Vuoden 1977 kirjapaino Kursiivin murhapolton määrittely sanomalehdissä. Kriminologia, 3(1), 73–93. https://doi.org/10.54332/krim.125095