Toivo Mikael Kivimäki Explained

Toivo Mikael Kivimäki
Office:	13th Prime Minister of Finland^[1]
Term Start:	14 December 1932
Term End:	7 October 1936
President:	Pehr Evind Svinhufvud
Predecessor:	Juho Sunila
Successor:	Kyösti Kallio
Office2:	Minister of Justice
Term Start2:	21 March 1931
Term End2:	14 December 1932
Primeminister2:	Juho Sunila
Predecessor2:	Karl Söderholm
Successor2:	Hugo Malmberg
Office3:	Minister of the Interior
Term Start3:	22 December 1928
Term End3:	16 August 1929
Primeminister3:	Oskari Mantere
Predecessor3:	Matti Aura
Successor3:	Arvo Linturi
Birth Date:	5 June 1886
Birth Place:	Tarvasjoki, Finland
Death Place:	Finland
Party:	National Progressive

Toivo Mikael Kivimäki (5 June 1886  - 6 May 1968), (J.D.), was a Finnish politician of the National Progressive Party who served as the head of the department of civil law at Helsinki University 1931 - 1956, Prime Minister of Finland 1932 - 1936, and Finland's Envoy to Berlin 1940 - 1944.^[2]

Early career

He was elected as member of the Parliament for terms 1922, 1924-1927 and 1929–1940. Before prime ministership, Kivimäki served as Minister of the Interior 1928-1929^[3] and Minister of Justice 1931–1932.^[4]

After WWII

In 1946, Kivimäki together with half-a-dozen other leading politicians were put on "war-responsibility trials" executed under pressure from the Allied victors in World War II. Kivimäki was sentenced to five years in prison after being found responsible for the Continuation War. After Finland signed the Paris Peace Treaties, 1947, and the Finno - Soviet Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance, 1948, the international situation was deemed somewhat stabilized, and Kivimäki was pardoned. He returned to his career in academia.

Legacy

As with all politicians connected with the Continuation War, Kivimäki was for decades seen in a somewhat critical light. During the era of finlandization, many prominent Finns expressed themselves cautiously on such subjects in order not to disturb sensitive Allied victors of the war; a cautiousness that without doubt influenced Finland's post-war generation's understanding and views.

• As Prime Minister, Kivimäki headed Finland's (until 1987) most long-lived cabinet, aiming at stabilizing the turbulent politics in Finland after the semi-fascist Mäntsälä Rebellion had been put down.
• He achieved the reversal of Finland's foreign policy into a neutralist pro-Scandinavian stance, and a Swedish rapprochement, that may well have been prepared for in the most initiated circles, but that in the contemporary tense phase of the language strife in Finland was not at all easy to explain to the public opinion.
• As an Envoy to the Third Reich, Kivimäki was in a position to observe the anti-Semitic nature of the Nazi regime and the disappearance of German Jews to concentration camps. Kivimäki succeeded in reversing Nazi Germany's anti-Finnish stance, obtaining support and favours but at the price of Finland having to form an alliance with Hitler. Finland avoided formal treaties with Nazi Germany up until the Ryti-Ribbentrop Agreement, which was signed after the fall of Viipuri in June 1944.

Several individuals and factors were critical for the Winter War and the Continuation War. Kivimäki without any doubt occupies a prominent position among pro-Axis Finnish leaders.

Cabinets

• Kivimäki Cabinet

Notes and References

1. Web site: Governments in chronological order. Finnish government (Valtioneuvosto). 27 March 2017.
2. Web site: Ministerikortisto . Valtioneuvosto .
3. Web site: Council of State - Ministers of Interior . Valtioneuvosto.fi . 27 December 2017 .
4. Web site: Council of State - Ministers of Justice . Valtioneuvosto.fi . 27 December 2017 .