Toivo Vähä
Toivo Vähä | |
|---|---|
| Born | 12 April 1901 Iitti, Grand Duchy of Finland |
| Died | 18 June 1984 (aged 83) Petrozavodsk, Soviet Union |
| Allegiance |  Red Finland  Soviet Union |
| Years of service | 1918–1964 |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Battles/wars | Finnish Civil War Russian Civil War Sino-Soviet conflict World War II |
| Awards | Order of Lenin |
Toivo Juhonpoika Vähä (
Early life
Toivo Vähä was born to the family of Juho Vähä, an industrial worker, and Maria Lindström. He started working at the age of 14, having several jobs in Helsinki. In 1916, Vähä moved to the industrial community of Dubrovka, near the Russian capital Saint Petersburg. At the time, Finland was an autonomous part of the Russian Empire. Vähä had five brothers, who all followed him to Russia after the 1917 February Revolution. Their father had emigrated to Russia few years earlier.[2]
As the
Like hundreds of other Finnish exile Red Guard fighters, Vähä joined the Red Army and fought with the Bolsheviks in the
After his graduation in March 1923, Vähä was recruited by the
Operation Trust
In 1924, the Soviet secret police
In September 1925 the Cheka managed to lure the British agent Sidney Reilly into crossing the border. Vähä smuggled him across the Sestra River and took Reilly to the Pargolovo railway station, where he was arrested. The Finns had successfully tested the route just a few days earlier, when Vähä escorted the courier of the White general Alexander Kutepov to the Soviet side.[4] Reilly was taken to Moscow for interrogation and shot in November 1925.[5] To complete the operation, the Cheka staged Vähä's death to mislead the British. He was held at the Hotel Evropeiskaya in Leningrad, and then secretly shipped to Moscow. Cheka put out a rumour that Vähä was shot as a traitor. In Moscow he was given a new identity as Ivan Petrov. In 1925–28, Vähä studied in the Border Academy, but was sent to the Far East after an old acquaintance recognized him. Vähä then served on the Chinese border in the Argun River area, and fought in the 1929 Sino-Soviet conflict.[2][3]
The Great Purge and the World War II
Between 1934 and 1937, Vähä served in the Black Sea and the Belorussian Border Guards. He had kept his real identity secret, but as Stalin launched the campaign against ″nationalists″, Vähä's Finnish accent attracted attention. Unfortunately he had close relations with the Army Commander
In November 1939 Vähä was given a chance to join the army of the
Last years
Vähä served his last years as a KGB colonel in Kaliningrad. After 1964 Vähä lived in Zhytomyr Oblast in Ukraine and managed various state enterprises. He retired in 1967, and moved to Petrozavodsk in the Karelian ASSR.[2] Vähä wrote an autobiography which was released in 1970 and translated into Finnish in 1974. He also wrote three other memoirs, including one on Operation Trust, and several short stories that were published in the Finnish-language Karelian literature magazine Punalippu.[6][3]
Operation Trust was brought to public attention in 1964. Newspaper stories mentioned Vähä's name, calling him a Soviet hero.[3] Vähä's family finally learnt about his former life. When Vähä went underground in 1925, he had abandoned his wife and daughter. Vähä later married again and had another daughter, who was named Lilya, as was his first child.[7] During his last years Vähä publicly criticised Stalinism. He also paid attention to the mistakes of the Soviet Communist Party, which he had joined in 1920.[8]
Death
Toivo Vähä died in Petrozavodsk in 1984 at the age of 83. The bust on his grave was erected by the KGB. Still highly respected in Russia, in 2001 his last hometown, Petrozavodsk, arranged a large festival to celebrate Vähä's 100th anniversary.[7] In 1990, Soviet author Oleg Tikhonov published a documentary novel of Vähä's life.[8]
References
- ^ "Individual Biographies in the Cold War". 9th Annual Aleksanteri Conference. Cold War Interactions Reconsidered. University of Helsinki. 29 October 2009. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Salomaa, Markku (16 September 1997). "Vähä, Toivo (1901–1984)" (in Finnish). National Biographies of Finland. Archived from the original on 2017-08-29. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f "Биография Т.Вяхя (И.М.Петрова)" (in Russian). Republic of Karelia. Archived from the original on 2017-08-29. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
- ^ ISBN 978-952-30002-5-4. Archivedfrom the original on 2017-08-29. Retrieved 2017-08-29.
- ^ Bowcott, Owen (7 September 2002). "How fate, and Stalin, finally dealt the 'ace of spies' a losing hand". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2017-08-29. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
- ^ Kryukov, Alexey (2015). "Inkerin merkkimiehet: Toivo Vähä" (PDF) (in Finnish). Inkeri. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
- ^ a b Ahonen, Anneli (1 November 2014). "Vakooja Toivo Vähä nappasi James Bondin väitetyn esikuvan" (in Finnish). Helsingin Sanomat. Archived from the original on 2017-08-27. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
- ^ a b Rislakki, Jukka (13 January 1992). "Suomalainen punikki neuvostomaassa: Dokumenttiromaani kertoo punaupseeri Toivo Vähän tragedian" (in Finnish). Helsingin Sanomat. Archived from the original on 2017-08-27. Retrieved 29 August 2017.