Thread by @armas_aallontie

Thread on Elias Simojoki (1899-1940) and clerical Fascism in Finland. 0/28

Finnish Nationalism was linked to Christianity since its inception. The standardization of Finnish language began after the Reformation and the Lutheran church taught the people to read the Bible in their own language. 1/28

In the 19th Century the status of the Finnish language improved further and a National identity began to form. Nationalists saw Christianity as the foundation of Finnish culture. Among some there was a belief that the Finnish people were chosen by God. 2/28

In the 20th century, the threat of Communism tied Christianity and Nationalism even closer. During the civil war, the White Cause drew its power from religious peasants, and the church sided with the White government. 3/28

In the 1930s, many of the leading people of the Lapua movement came from the Lutheran Awakening movement, including Vihtori Herttua and the dean of Lapua K.R. Kares.

However, one person exemplified the synthesis of Nationalism and Christianity perhaps more than anyone else...

Elias Simojoki was born into a family of Lutheran priests. Fueled by great patriotic fervor, He fought in the Finnish civil war for the Whites and later volunteered for the Aunus Expedition and East Karelian Uprising. 5/28

During the battles in Aunus, he was captured by Bolsheviks. However, he escaped his captors by jumping into a river. At that moment of “baptism”, he made a promise to himself that if he survived, he would become a priest. 6/28

After the failures in the wars of Finnish Kinship, Simojoki and two other veterans founded the Academic Karelia Society, the organization which dominated Finnish student politics during the interbellum period. 7/28

As one of its main ideologues, he brought a religious character to AKS rituals and designed its oath after the Christian Creed. 8/28

He made his life’s goal to awaken the Finnish people so that one day they could liberate their brothers in Karelia and Ingria to create a Greater Finland. This awakening would be both political and religious. 9/28

He was a chaplain in the rural municipality of Kiuruvesi. There he worked closely with the people of the countryside and became very popular. He was both a charismatic speaker and a philanthropic member of his community. 10/28

He wanted to open the eyes of the Finnish people to the suffering faced by Karelians and Ingrians living under Soviet occupation. He held church services where he spoke very evocatively about their agony, comparing the situation of Finns to the diaspora of ancient Israel. 11/28

As well as teaching Finns to love their kinsmen, he taught them to strongly hate their enemy, Russia. This “Holy hatred” was a core doctrine of AKS. 12/28

In the 1930s, Simojoki was involved in the Lapua movement and Patriotic People’s Movement. In the latter, he was elected a member of parliament. In the Parliament, he was at the center of controversy with his violent rhetoric. 13/28

Simojoki was out of his element in parliamentary politics. Instead, He found his calling with the passionate and idealistic youth. He became the leader of Sinimustat (“the Blue-blacks"), the youth organization of the Patriotic Peoples Movement. 14/28

Sinimustat aimed to raise obedient and moral youth which would be ready to sacrifice their lives for Greater Finland. They held camps where their members learned military life, leadership and public speaking. They also engaged in cultural activities such as poetry and singing.

Sinimustat aimed to create a national community, free of class or party differences and accepted members from all backgrounds. All their members were expected to join the civil guards to get military skills. In total, they had 5500 members. 16/28

Simojoki wanted to prepare the Finnish youth for coming hardships and wanted to rid them of moral decadence brought by liberalism. 17/28

Although Simojoki admired the Nazis’ success in defeating communism in Germany, as a man of faith, he could not accept their “positive Christianity” and revisions to the Bible. He told members of Sinimustat to pray for the salvation of the German people. 18/28

Their organization was influenced by the Hitlerjugend and Italian Balilla youth and they made visits to Germany. The enthusiasm of Sinimustat led to borderline illegal activities, such as fights with Fennoswedes and leftists. 19/28

In 1934, In Estonia, the radical Vaps movement was banned. One of their leaders, Artur Sirk, was imprisoned, but with help from Sinimustat, he managed to escape from prison and came to Finland. 20/28

Sirk devised a plan to overthrow the Estonian government and members of Sinimustat acquired weapons for the coming operation. However, their plan was discovered by the Estonian and Finnish authorities and Sinimustat & Simojoki came under investigation. 21/28

After their coup was foiled, Sirk escaped to Luxemburg, where he was killed in 1937 in mysterious circumstances. His body was brought to Finland, where Simojoki held his memorial service. 22/28

As a result of the coup attempt, Sinimustat was banned in 1936. They rebranded as Mustapaidat (blackshirts) and continued their activities until 1939. Simojoki remained as their leader. 23/28

When the Winter War began, Simojoki volunteered to become a field chaplain, even though he was exempt from conscription because of his age. He lived in the front lines with the men from his hometown Kiuruvesi. 24/28

He treated the wounded and preached the bible to raise soldiers' spirits. His company suffered heavy casualties and as he witnessed the deaths of many men he personally knew; he believed his end was also coming. 25/28

Having grown up in a farm, Simojoki was always fond of horses. When a wounded horse was left in the no-man's land on the ice of Lake Ladoga, Simojoki went there to euthanize the animal. When he skied back, he was killed by an enemy bullet. 26/28

Elias Simojoki was remembered as a visionary of the Academic Karelia Society, a beloved head of his congregation, a firebrand politician and a leader revered by the patriotic youth. 27/28

My sources for this thread were “Palava Pensas”- a collection of his speeches compiled by Vilho Helanen, and “Sinimusta Veljeskunta” by historian Mikko Uola. 28/28