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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 in 1937 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, also known as just Karelia, is a republic of Russia situated in Northwest Russia. 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 was 280,890 as of 2022.
Kondopoga is a town and the administrative center of Kondopozhsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located by the northern tip of the Kondopoga Bay of Lake Onega, near the mouth of the Suna River and Kivach Nature Reserve, about 54 kilometers (34 mi) from Petrozavodsk. Population: 32,987 (2010 Census); 34,863 (2002 Census); 36,365 (1989 Census).
Karelia, the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia, Finland, and Sweden. It is currently divided between northwestern Russia and Finland.
The Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Volga German ASSR, was an autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR. Its capital city was Engels located on the Volga River. As a result of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the Volga German ASSR was abolished and Volga Germans were exiled.
Sortavala ; till 1918 Serdobol is a town in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located at the northern tip of Lake Ladoga near the Finnish border, 246 kilometres (153 mi) west of Petrozavodsk, the capital city of the Republic of Karelia. The closest city on the Finnish side of the border is Joensuu, which is located 136 kilometres (85 mi) from Sortavala. In 2021 the population of Sortavala was 19,215.
Greater Finland, an irredentist and nationalist idea, emphasized territorial expansion of Finland. The most common concept of Greater Finland saw the country as defined by natural borders encompassing the territories inhabited by Finns and Karelians, ranging from the White Sea to Lake Onega and along the Svir River and Neva River—or, more modestly, the Sestra River—to the Gulf of Finland. Some proponents also included the Torne Valley, Ingria, and Estonia.
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. Tuominen was given his nickname, "Poika", in 1920 because of his boyish look; poika means "boy" in Finnish.
Edvard Otto Vilhelm Gylling was a prominent Social Democratic and later Communist politician in Finland, later leader of Soviet Karelia.
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.
Santeri "Santtu" Nuorteva was a Finnish-born Soviet journalist and one of the first members of the Finnish Parliament, where he served as a member of the Social Democratic Party from 1907 to 1908 and 1909 to 1910. Nuorteva emigrated to the United States in 1911 and played a leading role in the sizable Finnish-language socialist movement in America. At various times, he edited the magazines Säkeniä and the newspapers Toveri and Raivaaja. He was the official spokesman in America for the Finnish Socialist Revolutionary government of 1918 and, after its overthrow, was influential in the official affairs of the government of Soviet Russia in the United States. In 1920, he was deported to Soviet Russia.
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.
Aina "Aino" Aleksandra Forsten, née Rainio, was a Finnish politician and educator. She was a member of the Parliament of Finland for the Social Democratic Party from 1916 to 1918. After the 1918 Finnish Civil War, Forsten fled to the Soviet Union where she was executed during the Great Purge in 1937.
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.
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.