''Ajan Suunta'' (Direction of Time) was the newspaper of the Finnish

Patriotic People's Movement Patriotic People's Movement (, IKL, ) was a Finnish nationalist and anti-communist political party. IKL was the successor of the previously banned Lapua Movement. It existed from 1932 to 1944 and had an ideology similar to its predecessor, exce ...

(IKL) that ran from 1932 to 1944. IKL published thirty newspapers and magazines, but the daily newspaper ''Ajan Suunta'' was the main organ of the party. ''Ajan Suunta'' was preceded by the newspaper ''Ajan Sana'' (Word of Time) published from 1930 to 1932.Aarni Virtanen
''"Toimikaa, älkää odottako" – Vihtori Kosolan puheiden muutokset 1929–1936''
s. 45. Jyväskylä studies in humanities 271. Jyväskylän yliopisto, Jyväskylä 2015.

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The newspaper was aggressive in its style, referring to itself as a "fighting journal", "weapon in the combat against un-Finnish forces". This was especially true under Arne Somersalo, when the magazine got in trouble with censors multiple times. ''Ajan Suunta'' was also deeply hostile to Jews, published anti-Semitic caricatures and connected Judaism to everything the IKL stood against like

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

freemasonry Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

and

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

. ''Ajan Suunta'' in general praised Hitler, taking the side of the Nazi government, blaming the anti-Semitic measures and the Night of Broken Glass on the "Jewish parasites", noting the restrain shown by the Nazis. ''Ajan Suunta'' would also frequently refer to and quote the

Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated text purporting to detail a Jewish plot for global domination. Largely plagiarized from several earlier sources, it was first published in Imperial Russia in 1903, translated into multip ...

. Editor-in-chief Arne Somersalo even visited Hitler and Mussolini and gifted them Ostrobothnian knives. In addition to strong antisemitism, ''Ajan Suunta'' was also anti-Swedish and anti-Russian. As the Jews in Finland mostly spoke either Russian or Swedish, the anti-Swedishness, Russophobia and antisemitism all complemented one another, leading ''Ajan Suunta'' to rail against "Swede-kikes" and "Russkie-loving Judeo-internationale". However, ''Ajan Suunta'' was not the most extreme newspaper published in Finland, for example the newspaper's competitors '' Hakaristi'' (Swastika) and '' Työrintama'' (Labor Front) continuously agitated for a "solution" to the

Jewish Question The Jewish question was a wide-ranging debate in 19th- and 20th-century Europe that pertained to the appropriate status and treatment of Jews. The debate, which was similar to other " national questions", dealt with the civil, legal, national, ...

, ''Työrintama'' publishing "humorous" cartoons of Jews digging their own graves. During the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...

the magazine reported ecstatically on the Finnish-German cooperation and brotherhood in arms.online version
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Bannings

''Ajan Suunta ''consistently caused problems for the authorities and censors both home and abroad. As IKL was close allies with the

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

n Vaps Movement, ''Ajan Suunta'' published critical articles about

Konstantin Päts Konstantin Päts ( – 18 January 1956) was an Estonian statesman and the country's president from 1938 to 1940. Päts was one of the most influential politicians of the independent democratic Republic of Estonia, and during the two decades p ...

. For example, the following was published in 1933: "Estonia's government and center parties have sold themselves to the Marxists." As a response, ''Ajan Suunta'' was banned in Estonia for two years. On 22 December 1936, ''Ajan Suunta'' announced that 18 Estonian politicians, including ministers and leading politicians, had submitted a highly critical memorandum to Prime Minister

. Päts responded that if the memorandum was to be published, he would imprison all 18.Soome lehe uus laimuvalang. Uus Eesti, 23. December 1936, nr. 348, lk. 4. The newspaper was finally banned for good after the

Moscow Armistice The Moscow Armistice was signed between Finland on one side and the Soviet Union and United Kingdom on the other side on 19 September 1944, ending the Continuation War. The Armistice restored the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940, with a number of modi ...

in 1944, a week and a half after the party itself. Pavel Orlov, a political adviser to the

Allied Control Commission Following the termination of hostilities in World War II, the Allies were in control of the defeated Axis countries. Anticipating the defeat of Germany, Italy and Japan, they had already set up the European Advisory Commission and a proposed Far ...

, had demanded that the Finnish government shut down the magazine immediately, and the newspaper's board was contacted. The printing presses were stopped voluntarily after the government warned that otherwise there might be force measures against the entire Finnish press.

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Bannings

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