Hans Kalm (21 April 1889 – 1 February 1981) was an

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

n soldier who served in the armies of

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and

. He was also a

homeopath Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dise ...

and naturopath who took interest in

alternative medicine Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alt ...

World War I and Finnish Civil War

Kalm was born to a farmer's family in the village of Kotsama in Kõo Parish (now

Põhja-Sakala Parish Põhja-Sakala Parish ( et, Põhja-Sakala vald) is a rural municipality in Viljandi County.http://www.pohja-sakala.ee/ (accessed 7 March 2020) Settlements ;Towns Suure-Jaani, Võhma ;Boroughs Kõpu, Olustvere ;Villages Aimla, Ängi, Arjadi ...

) in the

Kreis Fellin Kreis Fellin (''Viljandi kreis'', ''Феллинский уезд'') was one of the nine subdivisions of the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire. It was situated in the northern part of the governorate (in present-day southern Estonia). I ...

of the

Governorate of Livonia The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a Baltic governorate of the Russian Empire, now divided between Latvia and Estonia. Geography The shape of the province is a fairly rectangular in shape, with a maximum ...

. His last name is connected with the old

Finno-Ugric Finno-Ugric ( or ; ''Fenno-Ugric'') or Finno-Ugrian (''Fenno-Ugrian''), is a traditional grouping of all languages in the Uralic language family except the Samoyedic languages. Its formerly commonly accepted status as a subfamily of Uralic is ba ...

word , meaning 'death'. According to a family legend, one of Kalm's forefathers survived the

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

by hiding in a remote cemetery island and therefore changed his name. Kalm was recruited by the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

in 1914 and fought in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in the

Gulf of Riga The Gulf of Riga, Bay of Riga, or Gulf of Livonia ( lv, Rīgas līcis, et, Liivi laht) is a bay of the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Estonia. The island of Saaremaa (Estonia) partially separates it from the rest of the Baltic Sea. The main c ...

. After the 1917

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

he fled to Finland and joined the White Guards. In the 1918

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

he led a battalion mostly composed of the students of two

park ranger A ranger, park ranger, park warden, or forest ranger is a law enforcement person entrusted with protecting and preserving parklands – national, state, provincial, or local parks. Description "Parks" may be broadly defined by some systems in thi ...

colleges from

Ähtäri Ähtäri ( sv, Etseri) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the South Ostrobothnia region. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Ähtäri is located southeast of ...

and Evo.Heinämäki, Jaakko: ″Hans Kalm: vapaussoturi ja vaihtoehtolääkäri″, p. 11–13. Minerva Kustannus, 2007. . Kalm's battalion became infamous in March as they attacked a

Red Guard Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard le ...

sanatorium in the village of Harmoinen in

Kuhmoinen Kuhmoinen ( sv, Kuhmois) is a municipality of Finland, in Pirkanmaa region, but until 2021, it was part of the Central Finland region. The municipality is home to inhabitants. Neighbour municipalities are Jämsä, Kangasala, Luhanka, Orivesi, ...

municipality, killing 11 wounded soldiers and two nurses. After the Battle of Lahti, his battalion was in charge of the

Hennala camp Hennala camp was a concentration camp operating from the beginning of May 1918 to 15 September 1918 in the Hennala Garrison in Lahti, Finland. It was set up for the Reds captured by the White Army after the Finnish Civil War Battle of Lahti. Hi ...

. In a short period in May, more than 500 Red prisoners were executed, including some 200 female fighters. The youngest of the latter ones were only 14-year-old. It is most likely that Kalm himself shot the Red leader

Ali Aaltonen Aleksi "Ali" Aaltonen (2 August 1884 – May 1918) was a Finnish journalist and former lieutenant of the Russian Imperial Army, who served as the first commander-in-chief of the Finnish Red Guards from November 1917 to the end of January 1918. He w ...

War in Estonia

Kalm resigned from the White Army in July 1918 and left for Estonia, where he became the commander of the

Pohjan Pojat (; fi, Pohjan Pojat ; ) was a Finnish military brigade in 1918–1919, the second group of Finnish volunteers to enlist to take part in the Estonian War of Independence, closely following behind the regiment led by Colonel Martin Ekström. ...

regiment fighting in the

Estonian War of Independence The Estonian War of Independence ( et, Vabadussõda, literally "Freedom War"), also known as the Estonian Liberation War, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Bolshevik westwa ...

. It was a unit composed of Finnish volunteers. Pohjan Pojat was disbanded in May 1919 and Kalm returned Finland. In 1923–1933 he lived in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

studying medicine and working as a doctor in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and New York. He was granted

United States citizenship Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Cons ...

in 1930. Kalm returned to Finland again in 1934 and settled in Rauma in Western Finland. He was interested in alternative medicine like

naturopathy Naturopathy, or naturopathic medicine, is a form of alternative medicine. A wide array of pseudoscientific practices branded as "natural", "non-invasive", or promoting "self-healing" are employed by its practitioners, who are known as natur ...

orthopathy Orthopathy (from the Greek ὀρθός ''orthos'' 'right' and πάθος ''pathos'' 'suffering') or natural hygiene (NH) is a set of alternative medical beliefs and practices originating from the ''Nature Cure'' movement. Proponents claim that f ...

, and

homeopathy Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dis ...

and even ran a spa.Hans Kalm (1889–1981) – virolaissuomalainen sotilas ja vaihtoehtolääkäri
(in Finnish). Arno Forsius. Retrieved 10 July 2015.

World War II and post-war years

As Finland joined the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Kalm was briefly the commander of a POW camp in

Pieksämäki Pieksämäki () is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southern Savonia region, about north of Mikkeli, east of Jyväskylä and south of Kuopio. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The ...

. He was released in October 1941 and sent to Germany to study military health issues for the Finnish Army. During the war, Kalm was also active in the Finnish Nazi organization Finnish National Socialist Labor Organisation (KTJ).Ekberg, Henrik: ″Führerns trogna följeslagare. Den finländska nazismen 1932–1944″, p. 172–174.

Schildts Schildts Förlags Ab was a Swedish-language book publisher in Finland. The publisher published textbooks as well as fiction and non-fiction. The head office was in Helsinki and there was a branch located in Vaasa. The publisher was owned by Svens ...

, 1991. 951-50-0522-1. To avoid being arrested for his misconduct at the Pieksämäki prison camp, Kalm fled to the United States via Sweden in 1946. According to his own story, Kalm worked as a cardiac specialist in

Aiken County, South Carolina Aiken County is a county in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 Census, its population was 168,808. Its county seat and largest city is Aiken. Aiken County is a part of the Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC Metropolitan Statistica ...

and later studied surgery in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. In 1957 Kalm returned to Finland to practice homeopathic medicine. His doctor's license was finally cancelled in 1974 as Finnish authorities found out that Mid-West Medical College, where Kalm had graduated in 1933, was not approved by the

American Medical Association The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016. The AMA's state ...

. Hans Kalm spent his last years with his son's family in

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city and municipality in Finland in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland. It is located about 150 km north-east from Tampere, the third largest city in Finland; and about 270 km north from Helsinki, the capital of ...

and died in 1981.

Selected publications

*''Organotropia as a Basis of Therapy'' (1969)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalm, Hans 1889 births 1981 deaths People from Põhja-Sakala Parish People from Kreis Fellin Alternative medicine activists Estonian anti-communists Finnish anti-communists Finnish Nazis Finnish homeopaths 20th-century Estonian physicians 20th-century Finnish physicians Naturopaths Orthopaths Nazis from outside Germany Estonian emigrants to Finland Estonian emigrants to the United States Imperial Russian Army officers Russian military personnel of World War I People of the Finnish Civil War (White side) Estonian military personnel of the Estonian War of Independence Finnish military personnel of World War II People indicted for war crimes