Aina "Aino" Aleksandra Forsten, née Rainio (2 April 1885 – 27 November 1937), was a Finnish

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

. She was a member of the

Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral and Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that ...

for the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

from 1916 to 1918. After the 1918

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of the country between Whites (Finland), White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland) during the country's transition fr ...

, Forsten fled to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

where she was executed during the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

in 1937.

Life

Early years

Forsten was born in a poor peasant family in the

Southwest Finland Southwest Finland (, ; ) is a Regions of Finland, region ('','' ) of Finland. It borders the regions of Satakunta, Pirkanmaa, Tavastia Proper, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Uusimaa, and Åland. The regional capital and most populous city is Tu ...

municipality of

Maaria Maaria (''S:t Marie'' in Swedish) is a former municipality of Finland in what is now the northern part of the city of Turku. The area has been inhabited since the Iron Age, and it became an important village in the 15th century with the constru ...

. After primary school, she lived in

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

and joined the Social Democratic Party in 1904. Two years later Forsten moved to

Pori Pori (; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Satakunta. It is located on the west coast of the country, on the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Pori is approximately , while the Pori sub-region, sub-region has a population of a ...

, where her brother Jussi Rainio was a newspaperman for the local labour press. Forsten first worked as a saleswoman, but was soon hired as an agitator for the Social Democrats. She became one of the leading socialists in the Pori area, and was best known of her work for the labour women and their families. In 1909 Forsten married the mail carrier Kaarlo Verner Forsten (1885–1956), who was also a member of the Social Democratic Party.

The Civil War and life in the Soviet Union

Forsten was elected to the Parliament of Finland in the 1917 election from the electoral district of

Satakunta Satakunta (in both Finnish language, Finnish and Swedish language, Swedish, ; historically ''Satacundia'') is a Regions of Finland, region ( / ) of Finland, part of the former Western Finland Province. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland ...

. During the 1918 Civil War, Forsten was a member of the

Central Workers' Council of Finland Central Workers' Council of Finland (, ) was the legislature of the Red side of the 1918 Civil War of Finland. It was appointed by the Workers' Council of People's Representatives to serve as a parliamentary body and supervise the Finnish People ...

. Her husband stayed in Pori as one of the local

Red Guard The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

leaders. After the war, the

Whites White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view. De ...

started executing the Red leaders and the Forsten family decided to flee to

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

.Lintunen, Tiina: ″Punaisten naisten tiet: Valtiorikosoikeuteen vuonna 1918 joutuneiden Porin seudun naisten toiminta sota-aikana, tuomiot ja myöhemmät elämänvaiheet″, p. 213–214. University of Turku, 2015. . In July 1918, they settled in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, where Forsten worked as an accountant for the

Communist Party of Finland The Communist Party of Finland (, SKP; ) was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944. The SKP was banned by the state from its founding and did not participate in any elec ...

. The party was established by the Red refugees in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in August 1918. In 1920 Aino and Verner Forsten moved to Soviet Karelia. Aino Forsten worked as an adult educator in Petrozavodsk and

Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' () is a 19th-century compilation of epic poetry, compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling a story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and retaliatory ...

and later as the head of the Petrozavodsk Finnish school for girls in 1930–1936. Verner Forsten was the Vice-Minister of Economy of the

Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic The Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Karelian ASSR for short, sometimes referred to as Soviet Karelia, East Karelia or simply Karelia, was an autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR within the Soviet Union, with its capital in Petr ...

and the chairman of the Kalevala County Council.

Death

Aino and Verner Forsten were arrested during the

in July 1937, accused of counter-revolutionary nationalist action. Verner Forsten was sentenced to 8 years of forced labour, but Aino Forsten received a death sentence in November 1937 and was immediately executed. Her husband survived the

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

n labour camps and was released from

Krasnojarsk Krasnoyarsk is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yenisey, Yenisey River, and is the second-largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk, with a p ...

in 1946. Aino and Verner Forsten were rehabilitated after

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

's death in 1955.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forsten, Aino 1885 births 1937 deaths People from Turku People from Turku and Pori Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Social Democratic Party of Finland politicians Communist Party of Finland politicians Members of the Parliament of Finland (1916–1917) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1917–1919) 20th-century Finnish educators People of the Finnish Civil War (Red side) Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic people Great Purge victims from Finland Executed communists Executed Finnish women Finnish socialist feminists Soviet rehabilitations