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Toivo Villiam Alavirta (27 June 1890 - 23 June 1940; original surname Ahlström; name as Soviet citizen Тойво Казимирович Алавирта) was a Finnish journalist and politician. He was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1916 to 1918. He died in prison after being convicted of political crimes during the Great Purge.
Alavirta was born in Tammela. Alavirta's parents were factory worker Kasimir Ahlström and Henriika Flink. He went to public and business school, then worked from 1906 to 1912 as an accountant at the Forssa factories of Oy Finlayson Ab and until 1918 as a regional editor for Hämeen Voima in Forssa.
Alavirta joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1906 and was elected to parliament in 1917 from the southern constituency of Häme county.
In 1918, during the Finnish Civil War, he worked in the administration of the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic. When the Red side lost the war, he fled to Soviet Russia, where he was initially the office manager of the Bui settlement established for Finnish refugees. He joined both the Communist Party of Finland and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and worked as a journalist as the director of Suomalainen Kustannusosuuskunta Kirja and editor of Vapaus magazine and a party functionary in the Karelian ASSR. [1]
During the Finnish Civil War, Alavirta worked in the administration of the Reds and as a reporter for the Finnish People's Delegation's Reporter. After the war, he fled to Soviet Russia, where he was initially the office manager of the Bui settlement established for Finnish refugees. At the same time, Alavirta joined the Communist Party of Finland and was later also a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In Leningrad, Alavirta worked as the director of Suomalainen Kustannusosuuskunta Kirja and editor of Vapaus magazine. He was also the secretary of the Communist Party of Finland Central Committee and was later elected its chairman.
In 1927, Alavirta received permission from Santeri Nuorteva to move to the Republic of Karelia, where he worked as an editor for Punainen Kartjala, published in Petrozavodsk. In the same year, he became the chairman of the executive central committee of the Republic of Karelia, and in 1934 Alavirta was also elected secretary of the Uhtua district committee of the NKP. A year later, he was dismissed from the NKP by the Petroskoi City Committee's decision for "national fanaticism", after which Alavirta served as the director of the Petroskoi Party School from 1935 to 1937. Even before his arrest, he managed to work in a ski factory.
On 23 August 1937 Alavirta was arrested by the NKVD and sentenced to eight years in prison. He died on 23 June 1940 in a prison camp in Ust-Vym, in the Komi ASSR. He was posthumously rehabilitated by Soviet authorities in 1955. [2]
The Republic of Karelia, Karjala or Karelia, is a republic of Russia situated in the northwest of the country. The republic is a part of the Northwestern Federal District, and covers an area of 172,400 square kilometres, with a population of 533,121 residents. Its capital is Petrozavodsk.
The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic, also called Soviet Karelia or simply known as Karelia, was a republic of the Soviet Union. It existed from 1940 until it was made part of the Russian SFSR in 1956 as the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The latter became the Republic of Karelia, a federal subject of Russia, on 13 November 1991.
Petrozavodsk is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake Onega for some 27 kilometers (17 mi). The population of the city is 280,890 as of 2022.
Karelia is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia, Finland, and Sweden. It is currently divided between northwestern Russia and Finland.
The Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Karelian ASSR for short, sometimes referred to as Soviet Karelia or simply Karelia, was an autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, with the capital in Petrozavodsk.
Arvo "Poika" Tuominen was a Finnish communist revolutionary and later a social democratic journalist, politician and author. He was given his nickname Poika in 1920 because of his boyish look.
Edvard Otto Vilhelm Gylling was a prominent Social Democratic and later Communist politician in Finland, later leader of Soviet Karelia.
Eero Haapalainen was a Finnish politician, trade unionist and journalist, who served as the commander-in-chief of the Red Guards from January to March 1918 during the Finnish Civil War.
The flag of the Karelo-Finnish SSR was adopted by the Karelo-Finnish SSR on 3 March 1953. This flag is similar to the flag of the Soviet Union but with the blue, and green placed on the bottom. At the top of the flag at the flagpole placed golden hammer and sickle and the red star with a gold border. The green color symbolizes the forest resources, and blue represents the abundance of rivers and lakes.
Tyyne Siviä Salomaa was a Finnish seamstress and politician. She was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1916 to 1917. During the Finnish Civil War in 1918, she sided with the Reds and after the defeat of the Red side went into exile in Soviet Russia. She joined the Communist Party of Finland (SKP) and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and settled in the Karelian ASSR, where she worked as a teacher at a party school, as the director of an orphanage and in other functions. As one of the victims of the Great Purge, she was expelled from the Communist Party on 23 October 1937, arrested by the NKVD on 17 January 1938, sentenced to death and shot in Petrozavodsk on 26 February 1938. She was posthumously rehabilitated (exonerated) by Soviet authorities in 1957.
Felix (Feliks) Emil Kellosalmi was a Finnish typesetter and politician. He was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1909 to 1911 and again from 1917 to 1918, representing the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP). He sided with the Reds during the Finnish Civil War and after the defeat of the Red side he went into exile in Soviet Russia. He joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and settled in the Karelian ASSR, where he worked as a journalist, as a teacher, as a translator and in other functions. He was expelled from the Communist Party on 16 October 1935 and arrested by the NKVD on 21 October 1935. He was set free on 5 February 1936 because of his weakened state of health. The charges against him were dropped, but he was not reinstated as a party member. He died in Petrozavodsk on 28 March 1939.
Herman Hurmevaara was a Finnish Social Democratic Party of Finland Member of Parliament. He was born in Kiuruvesi, and served in the Parliament of Finland from 1917 to 1919. In the 1920s, he lived in Sweden. In 1930, he was exiled from Sweden, and with his family he moved to the Soviet Union. During the Great Purge, Hurmevaara was arrested on charges of espionage and imprisoned on December 23, 1937. He was later sentenced to death and executed by firing squad in Petrozavodsk. After the death of Joseph Stalin, he was rehabilitated in 1956.
Oskari Ikonen was a Social Democratic Party of Finland politician. He served in the Parliament of Finland from 1913 to 1916. He supported the Reds in the Finnish Civil War of 1918. In 1927, he defected to the Soviet Union. During the Great Purge, he was arrested and imprisoned in February 1938 and later executed. After the death of Joseph Stalin, he was rehabilitated in 1958.
Väinö Kallio was a Socialist Workers' Party of Finland politician. He supported the Reds in the Finnish Civil War of 1918. He served in the Parliament of Finland from 1929 to 1930.
Hanna Karhinen was a Finnish Social Democratic Party and later Communist Party politician and activist. She served in the Parliament of Finland from 1913 to 1916. During the 1918 Finnish Civil War Karhinen was a member of the Central Workers' Council of Finland and commissioner of interior in the Finnish People's Delegation. She was executed in 1938.
Hanna Kohonen was a female Social Democratic Party of Finland politician. She was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1916 to 1918. She supported the Reds in the Finnish Civil War of 1918.
The national emblem of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was adopted in 1937 by the government of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The emblem is identical to the emblem of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
Gennady Nikolayevich Kupriyanov was a Soviet politician who served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic from 1940 to 1950.
Valfrid Perttilä was a Finnish politician and trade unionist. He was a member of the Parliament of Finland 1907–1914 and 1917 representing the Social Democratic Party. During the 1918 Civil War of Finland, Perttilä was the chairman of the Central Workers' Council of Finland.
Jaakko Mäki was a Finnish coppersmith, politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he represented Vaasa Province South between August 1908 and September 1918. Mäki went to Soviet Russia during the Finnish Civil War and was executed there in January 1938 during Stalin's Great Purge.