Heikki Ritavuori

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Heikki Ritavuori (previously known as Henrik Rydman; 23 March 1880 – 14 February 1922) was a

Defending these values took a great deal of courage in the unstable times following the Finnish Civil War, when radical groups sought their own ends by any means necessary. Ritavuori was frightened of neither the extreme left-wing nor the extreme right, but instead implemented the reforms he felt were necessary as K.J. Ståhlberg's most trusted man. He took particular care in defending the civil rights of red prisoners of war kept in prison camps, and advocated laws to pardon them.

Ritavuori was already familiar with social questions when he became Secretary of the Foundation Board of the Parliament of Finland in 1907; he was especially interested in land-owning rights and the position of peasants. As a lawyer, he liked to handle communal cases in defense of the poor. He was elected as a member of the parliament from the Turku Province southern election circle first in 1913, and then again in 1919.

The acceptance of Finland's republican form of government in June 1919 is largely because of Ritavuori's work as chairman of the Foundation Board. The dispute about the form of government between the royalists and the republicans had been holding back governmental activity for months. To stop the unhelpful "temporary situation", the republican government of Kaarlo Castrén proposed a law establishing the new form to the Parliament of Finland in June; it was written by the President of the High Court, K.J. Ståhlberg.

For the parliament to be able to accept the proposed law, it had to be classified as urgent by the meeting order. One vote more was needed for the required five-sixths majority, and so the reform of the government was about to be delayed again. It was then that Heikki Ritavuori involved himself in the matter, and only a couple of days later he gave his own proposal for a new governmental form (which he had already submitted for consideration earlier) to the parliament. The members of the parliament were amazed, but now the proposal was classified as urgent, and based on it, the parliament accepted the new form of government on 21 June 1919. Thus, Finland became a republic.

Ritavuori, having served as Minister of Internal Affairs twice, was frequently confronted by

Ritavuori's fate was sealed by the

At about 4:30 PM on 14 February 1922, a strange-looking man had attracted attention at a barbershop in Kallio by exclaiming that minister Ritavuori would be shot at 5:00 PM, after which president Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg and foreign minister Rudolf Holsti would meet the same fate.^[3]

At about 5:00 PM, minister Ritavuori had been walking to his home on Nervanderinkatu in Etu-Töölö followed by editor of newspaper Uusi Suomi Ernst Nevanlinna, who had business to attend to in the same building where Ritavuori lived. Ritavuori was just reaching for the handle of the front door when someone shouted Sisäministeri! (Finnish for "interior minister") and fired four shots at him. Minister Ritavuori fell to the ground in front of his home door.^[3]

The assassin tried to escape, but Nevanlinna was able to grab him and call the police. The assassin surrendered to the police immediately. According to schoolboy Lothar Czarnecki who was witness to the events, the assassin said "It was Ritavuori, and you probably understand why." The assassin identified himself as Ernst Tandefelt and took full responsibility for his actions.^[3] Tandefelt had fired four shots, of which three had hit minister Ritavuori. The first shot had hit Tandefelt's own leg as he had accidentally fired the gun while it was still in his pocket. This gunshot wound slowed down Tandefelt's escape allowing Nevanlinna to catch him.^[3]

Ernst Tandefelt, who had fired the murder weapon, was a mentally underdeveloped

• Niku, Risto: Ministeri Ritavuoren murha. Helsinki:
  ISBN 951-37-4146-X
  .
• Hänninen, Timo: Myytti poliittisesta murhasta. 1995. Master's Thesis, University of Helsinki Faculty of Governmental Sciences.
• Silenti, Tuomo: Ritavuoren murha. 1995. Master's Thesis, University of Helsinki Faculty of History.

References

External links

Media related to Heikki Ritavuori at Wikimedia Commons