Ville Kiviniemi Explained

Ville Kiviniemi
Office1:Member of the Parliament of Finland
Constituency1:Lapland
Term Start1:1 November 1917
Term End1:25 September 1918
Birth Date:17 March 1877
Birth Place:Kaukonen, Kittilä, Russian Empire
Death Place:Kittilä, Finland
Party:Socialist Electoral Organisation of Workers and Smallholders
Occupation:Farmer

Vilhelm Kiviniemi (17 March 187721 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.

Early life

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]

Politics and imprisonment

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] 36 of these MPs had left the country but four of them, including Kiviniemi, returned to Finland and were imprisoned.[12] 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 Kittilä and that the receipt had been signed by another Ville Kiviniemi.[12] [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, Yrjö Mäkelin 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]

Later life

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]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Kansanedustajat: Ville Kiviniemi . . 13 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190315165100/https://www.eduskunta.fi/FI/kansanedustajat/Sivut/910748.aspx . 15 March 2019 . Helsinki, Finland . fi.
  2. Suomen terror ikauden ajoilta . Nykyaika . 15 April 1922 . XVI . 8 . 10 . 21 July 2023 . Fitchburg, U.S.A. . fi . National Library of Finland.
  3. News: Pikku uutisia - Lapin edustaja . 13 July 2023 . Kaiku . 203 . 24 October 1917 . Oulu, Finland . 3 . fi . National Library of Finland.
  4. News: Pieniä uutisia . 17 July 2023 . . 125 . 31 October 1917 . Kemi, Finland . 7 . fi . National Library of Finland.
  5. Book: Aatsinki . Ulla . Tukkiliikkeestä kommunismiin : Lapin työväenliikkeen radikalisoituminen ennen ja jälkeen 1918 . 2008 . Tampere University Press . Tampere, Finland . 978-951-44-7574-0 . 104 . 13 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230209112358/https://trepo.tuni.fi/handle/10024/66426 . 9 February 2023 . fi . Trepo.
  6. News: Lapin vaalipiiri . 19 July 2023 . Kansan Tahto . 132 . 11 June 1908 . Oulu, Finland . 2 . fi . National Library of Finland.
  7. News: Lapin waalipiirissä . 19 July 2023 . Liitto . 76 . 9 July 1908 . Oulu, Finland . 3 . fi . National Library of Finland.
  8. News: Waalien tuloksia . 19 July 2023 . Sosialidemokraatti . 50 . 11 May 1909 . Pori, Finland . 4 . fi . National Library of Finland.
  9. News: Viime tiedot . 19 July 2023 . Vapaa Sana . 19 . 16 February 1910 . Vaasa, Finland . 3 . fi . National Library of Finland.
  10. News: Lapin waalipiiristä . 19 July 2023 . . 6 . 10 January 1911 . Oulu, Finland . 3 . fi . National Library of Finland.
  11. Book: Toiset Valtiopäivät 1917: Pöytäkirjat I - Istunnot 1-48 - Valtiopäivien alusta tammikuun 25 päivään . 1918 . . Helsinki, Finland . 5 . 25 February 2023 . fi.
  12. Master's. Karpén . Harri . Voittajan sana on laki : tutkimus legalismista, luonnonoikeudesta ja suvereenista vallankäytöstä, esimerkkinä Suomi vuonna 1918 . 2015 . Tampere, Finland . 47 . 17 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230529154407/https://trepo.tuni.fi/handle/10024/97755 . 29 May 2023 . fi . Trepo.
  13. News: Ed. Ville Kiviniemi . 18 July 2023 . . 225 . 5 October 1918 . Oulu, Finland . 2 . fi . National Library of Finland.
  14. News: Sosialistiedustajain maankavallusjutut . 19 July 2023 . Uusi Päivä . 166 . 3 October 1918 . Helsinki, Finland . 1 . fi . National Library of Finland.
  15. News: Ed. Wille Kiwiniemen juttu waltiorikosoikeudessa . 19 July 2023 . . 226 . 7 October 1918 . Oulu, Finland . 3 . fi . National Library of Finland.
  16. News: Lapin sosialistiedustaja Kiwiniemi syytettynä waltiopetoksesta . 19 July 2023 . . 115 . 8 October 1918 . Kemi, Finland . 3 . fi . National Library of Finland.
  17. News: Kapinallisten kansanedustajain tuomiot . 17 July 2023 . . 4170 . 13 October 1918 . Turku, Finland . 1 . fi . National Library of Finland.
  18. News: Kapinallisten kansanedustajain tuomiot . 17 July 2023 . . 121 . 15 October 1918 . Kemi, Finland . 3 . fi . National Library of Finland.
  19. News: Svenskarna oeh de dödsdömda upprorsmännen - Hänvändningen till Finlands regering . 21 July 2023 . . 64 . 26 October 1918 . Loviisa, Finland . 3 . sv . National Library of Finland.
  20. News: Sos.-dem. kansanedustajain tuomiot . 21 July 2023 . Itä-Suomen Työmies . 167 . 26 October 1918 . Viipuri, Finland . 1 . fi . National Library of Finland.
  21. News: Sosialistiedustajain tuomiot . 17 July 2023 . . 6 . 11 January 1919 . Kemi, Finland . 3 . fi . National Library of Finland.
  22. News: Kemistä ja Perä-Pohjolasta . 17 July 2023 . Perä-Pohjolainen . 4 . 14 January 1919 . Kemi, Finland . 2 . fi . National Library of Finland.
  23. News: Uljöliemmin ilmoittaa STT . 18 July 2023 . . 22 . 27 January 1922 . Tampere, Finland . 2 . fi . National Library of Finland.
  24. News: Vankilan portteja aukaistu . 17 July 2023 . Pohjan Kansa . 21 . 27 January 1922 . Oulu, Finland . 1 . fi . National Library of Finland.
  25. News: Kellarista päimänmatoon . 17 July 2023 . Työn Voima . 25 . 1 February 1922 . Jyväskylä, Finland . 1 . fi . National Library of Finland.
  26. News: Vapauteen laskettuja kapiallista . 18 July 2023 . Karjala . 22 . 31 January 1922 . Helsinki, Finland . 2 . fi . National Library of Finland.
  27. News: Maalaisliitto voitti Lapin vaalipiirissä . 17 July 2023 . Perä-Pohja . 157 . 12 July 1929 . Tornio, Finland . 1 . fi . National Library of Finland.

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