Kaukonen,Kittilä,Russian Empire
Vilhelm Kiviniemi (17 March 1877 –21 June 1951) was a Finnish farmer,politician and member of the Parliament of Finland,the national legislature. A member of the Social Democratic Party,he represented Lapland between November 1917 and September 1918. [1] He was amongst dozens of social democrat MPs who were persecuted for political reasons by the victorious Whites following end of the Finnish Civil War in 1918. [1] Kiviniemi was sentenced to death for treason but this was later commuted to life imprisonment. [2] He received a presidential pardon in 1922.
Kiviniemi was born on 17 March 1877 in Kaukonen near Kittilä. [1] [3] He was the great-grandson of Kittilä's first priest,Juho Nordberg. [3] [4] The Kiviniemi family were farmers in Kittilä. [1] [3] He was educated at the Kirkonkylän koulun folk school in Kittilä. [3] [4]
Kiviniemi took part in the 1905 Finnish general strike. [3] [5] He contested the 1908 parliamentary election as a SDP candidate in Lapland. [6] [7] He also contested the 1909,1910 and 1911 parliamentary elections. [8] [9] [10] He was elected to the Parliament of Finland at the 1917 parliamentary election. [11]
Following the end of the Finnish Civil War,arrest warrants were issued for 50 social democrat MPs for treason. [12] [ better source needed ] 36 of these MPs had left the country but four of them,including Kiviniemi,returned to Finland and were imprisoned. [12] [ better source needed ] Prosecutors alleged that Kiviniemi had travelled from Helsinki to Kandalaksha in the Viena region of Karelia (White Karelia),via St. Petersburg and Petrozavodsk,on the orders of Red Guards leader August Wesley. [13] [14] They alleged that Wesley had given Kiviniemi Mk 20,000 to organise a Red Guard unit in Archangel and produced a receipt for the money purportedly signed by Kiviniemi. [15] [16] Kiviniemi and his supporteds claimed that Kiviniemi had only entered Russia in order to make his way home to Kittiläand that the receipt had been signed by another Ville Kiviniemi. [12] [ better source needed ] [15]
In October 1918 the State Criminal Court sentenced nine social democrat MPs (Nestori Aronen,Erkki Härmä,Kiviniemi,Jussi Kujala,Jukka Lankila,Juho Lautasalo,Paavo Leppänen,YrjöMäkelin and Eetu Salin) to death for treason. [17] [18] A petition signed by 118 members (87 socialists and 31 liberals) of the Swedish Riksdag was submitted to the Finnish Government requesting pardons for the nine MPs and others who had been sentenced to death. [19] [20] The court commuted Kiviniemi's death sentence to life imprisonment in January 1919. [21] [22] He was pardoned by President Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg in January 1922. [23] [24] He was subsequently released from Tammisaari concentration camp. [25] [26]
Kiviniemi contested the 1929 parliamentary election as a Socialist Electoral Organisation of Workers and Smallholders candidate in Lapland but came second behind Agrarian Party candidate Matti Hannula. [27] He died on 21 June 1951 in Kittilä. [1]
Lapland is the largest and northernmost region of Finland. The 21 municipalities in the region cooperate in a Regional Council. Lapland borders the region of North Ostrobothnia in the south. It also borders the Gulf of Bothnia,Norrbotten County in Sweden,Troms and Finnmark County in Norway,and Murmansk Oblast and the Republic of Karelia in Russia. Topography varies from vast mires and forests of the South to fells in the North. The Arctic Circle crosses Lapland,so polar phenomena such as the midnight sun and polar night can be viewed in Lapland.
The Battle of Tampere was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle,fought in Tampere,Finland from 15 March to 6 April between the Whites and the Reds. It is the most famous and the heaviest of all the Finnish Civil War battles. Today it is particularly remembered for its bloody aftermath as the Whites executed hundreds of capitulated Reds and took 11,000 prisoners placed in the Kalevankangas camp.
Oulu is one of the 13 electoral districts of the Parliament of Finland,the national legislature of Finland. The district was established as Oulu Province South in 1907 when the Diet of Finland was replaced by the Parliament of Finland. It was renamed Oulu Province in 1939 and Oulu in 1997. It is conterminous with the regions of Kainuu and North Ostrobothnia. The district currently elects 18 of the 200 members of the Parliament of Finland using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system. At the 2023 parliamentary election it had 393,643 registered electors.
The Kingdom of Finland was a failed attempt to establish a monarchy in Finland in the aftermath of the Finnish Declaration of Independence from Russia in December 1917 and the Finnish Civil War from January–May 1918. The victorious Whites in the Parliament of Finland began the process of turning Finland into a kingdom and creating a monarchy. Although the country was legally a kingdom headed by a regent for over a year,the king-elect Friedrich Karl never reigned nor came to Finland following Germany's defeat in World War I. Republican victories in subsequent elections resulted in the country becoming a republic.
Lapin Kansa is a morning newspaper published in Lapland,Finland.
Pohjolan Sanomat was a broadsheet newspaper published in Kemi,Finland.
The Province of Lapland was a province of Finland from 1938 to 2009.
Taavetti Lukkarinen was a former Kemi Oy's foreman from Keminmaa,Finland,who was sentenced to death for treason after helping German prisoners of war who had fled the Kirov Railway construction site via Finnish Lapland to Sweden. He was not an actual recruiter of the Jäger Movement.
Juho Rikard Merinen was a Finnish trade unionist,politician and member of the Parliament of Finland,the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party,he represented Turku Province North between May 1907 and July 1908. He was executed by the White Guard during the Finnish Civil War.
Matti Pekanpoika Lonkainen was a Finnish smallholder,politician and member of the Parliament of Finland,the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party,he represented Kuopio Province East between June 1909 and May 1918. He died in captivity following the Finnish Civil War.
Kaarlo (Kaarle) Eeronpoika Korhonen was a Finnish farmer,politician and member of the Parliament of Finland,the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party,he represented Oulu Province South between April 1917 and September 1918. Korhonen went to Soviet Russia during the Finnish Civil War and was executed there in 1938 during Stalin's Great Purge.
Matti Turkia was a Finnish newspaper editor,politician and member of the Parliament of Finland,the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP),he represented Uusimaa Province between October 1930 and April 1945. He had previously represented Viipuri Province West from May 1907 to May 1909 and from February 1914 to April 1917. He was secretary of the SDP from 1906 to 1918.
Kalle Juhonpoika Hakala was a Finnish newspaper editor,politician and member of the Parliament of Finland,the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP),he represented Mikkeli Province between October 1934 and May 1947. He had previously represented Mikkeli Province from February 1911 to May 1918 and from May 1924 to August 1933. He was imprisoned for a year following the end of the Finnish Civil War.
Eino Alfred Tainio was a Finnish printer,politician and member of the Parliament of Finland,the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Communist Party of Finland (SKP) and the Finnish People's Democratic League (SKDL),he represented Lapland Province between April 1945 and March 1970. Prior to being elected,he was imprisoned for twelve years for political reasons.
Ellen Aleksandra Stenberg was a Finnish politician and member of the Parliament of Finland,the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Communist Party of Finland (SKP) and the Finnish People's Democratic League (SKDL),she represented Häme Province North between April 1945 and April 1966. Prior to being elected,she was imprisoned for twelve years for political reasons.
Isak Penttala was a Finnish newspaper editor,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 March 1927 and July 1951. Prior to being elected,he was imprisoned for political reasons during and following the Finnish Civil War.
Tuomas Bryggari was a Finnish trade unionist,politician and member of the Parliament of Finland,the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party,he represented Vaasa Province East between September 1922 and July 1948. Prior to being elected,he was imprisoned for political reasons following the Finnish Civil War.
VäinöKivisalo was a Finnish politician and member of the Parliament of Finland,the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party,he represented Häme Province South between August 1929 and July 1948. Prior to being elected,he was imprisoned for political reasons following the Finnish Civil War.