Algot Untola (28 November 1868 – 21 May 1918) was a Finnish writer and journalist. Untola was born in

Tohmajärvi Tohmajärvi () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the North Karelia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Nei ...

, to the ''Tietäväinen'' family, and his real name was ''Algoth'', but he changed the name to ''Algot Untola''. Untola had many pen names including Irmari Rantamala, Maiju Lassila, Algoth Tietäväinen, Väinö Stenberg, J.I. Vatanen, Liisan-Antti and Jussi Porilainen. Untola's profession was teaching. He graduated in 1891 from

Sortavala Sortavala (; Finnish language, Finnish and ; ), previously known as Serdobol () until 1918, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located at the northern tip of Lake Ladoga near the Finland, Finni ...

. Untola's most famous books were ''Harhama'' (1909) which he wrote under the name ''Irmari Rantamala'', and ''Tulitikkuja lainaamassa'' (1910) under the name ''Maiju Lassila''. Untola refused to take the state literature prize which he got for these books. Untola first supported the

Finnish Party The Finnish Party () was a Fennoman conservative political party in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland and independent Finland. Born out of Finland's language strife in the 1860s, the party sought to improve the position of the Finnish langu ...

but he didn't agree with their views and he changed his party to

Social Democratic Party of Finland The Social Democratic Party of Finland ( , SDP, nicknamed: ''demarit'' in Finnish; , SD) is a social democratic political party in Finland. It is the third-largest party in the Parliament of Finland with a total of 43 seats. Founded in 1899 as ...

. During the

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 ...

in 1918 he actively supported the

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

side as a newspaper editor. He was arrested by

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

troops after the

Battle of Helsinki The Battle of Helsinki was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle, fought on 12–13 April by the German Empire, German troops and White Guard (Finland), Finnish Whites against the Red Guards (Finland), Finnish Reds in Helsinki, Finland. Together wit ...

and shot dead on 21 May 1918 in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

on a transport of rebel prisoners to the

Suomenlinna prison camp Suomenlinna prison camp (, ) was a 1918 Civil War of Finland concentration camp in the Suomenlinna, Suomenlinna Fortress, Helsinki. It was established by the White Guards (Finland), White Army for the Red Guards (Finland), Red Guard fighters take ...

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* (Finnish) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Untola, Algot 1868 births 1918 deaths People from Tohmajärvi People from Kuopio Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Writers from North Karelia Finnish Party politicians Social Democratic Party of Finland politicians People of the Finnish Civil War (Red side) 20th-century pseudonymous writers Deaths by firearm in Finland Writers from the Russian Empire