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

Patriotic People's Movement Patriotic People's Movement ( fi, Isänmaallinen kansanliike, IKL, sv, Fosterländska folkrörelsen) was a Finnish nationalist and anti-communist political party. IKL was the successor of the previously banned Lapua Movement. It existed from 1 ...

(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.

Content

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 left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialec ...

freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

and

liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for ...

. ''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'' () or ''The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. The hoax was plagiarized from several ...

. 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, also referred to as the Jewish problem, was a wide-ranging debate in 19th- and 20th-century European society that pertained to the appropriate status and treatment of Jews. The debate, which was similar to other "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 from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrie ...

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

Bannings

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

Vaps Movement The Vaps Movement ( et, Eesti Vabadussõjalaste Keskliit, later ''Eesti Vabadussõjalaste Liit'', ''vabadussõjalased'', or colloquially ''vapsid'', a single member of this movement was called ''vaps'') was an Estonian political organization. Fo ...

, ''Ajan Suunta'' published critical articles about

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

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, and t ...

. 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 mod ...

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 and Japan, they had already set up the European Advisory Commission and a proposed Far Easter ...

, 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.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ajan Suunta 1932 establishments in Finland Antisemitism in Finland Antisemitic publications Propaganda newspapers and magazines 1944 disestablishments in Finland Defunct daily newspapers Publications established in 1932 Publications disestablished in 1944 Fascist newspapers and magazines Defunct newspapers published in Finland

Content

Bannings

References

Archives

External links