- Herman Gummerus
Herman Gregorius Gummerus (born 1877 in
Russia - diedJuly 18 ,1948 inHelsinki ) was a leading Finnish historian and one of the founders of the Patriotic People's Movement (IKL).Born in
Saint Petersburg into a Swedish speaking family, Gummerus became an expert on the economy and society ofAncient Rome , and lectured at theUniversity of Helsinki from 1911 to 1920 and again from 1926 to 1947. [Philip Rees , "Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890 "] His studies on Rome were particularly concerned with rural life in the later period of the empire, a subject upon which he wrote widely. [Paul Honigsheim & Alan Sica, "The Unknown Max Weber", Transaction Publishers, 2000, p. 63]An early advocate of Finnish independence, Gummerus was imprisoned for this in 1904, spending time in
Peter and Paul Fortress . [ [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9501E5D6123AE733A2575AC1A9679D946597D6CF&oref=slogin 'Students of Finland Denounce Russian Rule'] ] He went on to edit the journal "Framtid" and before forming the anti-Russification Wetterhof Bureau (later Finnish Bureau) inGermany in 1915. [Rees, op cit] After independence had been achieved Gummerus was appointed to posts inStockholm andKiev , where he had exteneded his anti-Russian activity and where he helped set up a legation duringUkraine 's brief independence. [ [http://presidency.finland.fi/netcomm/news/showarticle1788.html Ambassador René Nyberg on Finnish-Ukrainian relations] ] He became Ambassador toRome in 1920 (a post he held until 1925)and developed an admiration for the growing fascist movement whilst inItaly . [Rees, op cit]On his return to Finland, and with the leaders of the
Lapua Movement mostly imprisoned, he joined withErkki Räikkönen , a fellow Swedish-speaker, to form IKL as a slightly more moderate continuation. Driven by an inherentconservatism , Gummerus desired an electoral alliance with the National Coalition Party but soon found that the rank and file of IKL had no interest in this. [Rees, op cit] IKL also adopted a strong position on the importance of theFinnish language , following the lead of theAcademic Karelia Society and further isolating the Swedish-speaking Gummerus. He finally left the movement in 1934 and took no further role in active politics. [Rees, op cit]Despite his linguistic identity Gummerus went on to criticize
Sweden , attacking the "Blue Book" of former Swedish foreign ministerJohannes Hellner , which claimed that Sweden had only been interested in cultivating Finland as a good neighbour in theÅland crisis . Gummerus argued that, whilst this may have been the case, Swedish attitudes towards the newly independent country where such that a state of mistrust and suspicion was engendered between the two countires. [H. Gummerus, "Sverige och Finland 1917/18", Stockholm: Holger Schildt, 1936]References
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