Axel Olof Freudenthal (12 December 1836 – 2 June 1911), was a Swedish-speaking Finnish

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...

and politician. He was born in

Siuntio Siuntio (; sv, Sjundeå) is a municipality of Finland located in the Uusimaa region in the province of Southern Finland. Its neighboring municipalities are Ingå to the west, Kirkkonummi, to the east, Lohja to the north-west, and Vihti to the ...

, and studied at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

where the nationalistic movement struggle between the

Fennoman The Fennoman movement or Fennomania was a Finnish nationalist movement in the 19th-century Grand Duchy of Finland, built on the work of the ''fennophile'' interests of the 18th and early-19th centuries. History After the Crimean War, Fennoman ...

s and the Svecomans was raging. He was a strong proponent of the use of Swedish in Finland, and subsequently established the theory that the Swedish-speaking population constituted a separate nationality. This theory strongly opposed any form of Finnicization, which it regarded as turning away from Western civilization, and even as a form of

Russification Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...

. In its more extreme aspects, his theory connected language, nationality and race in a way that claimed supremacy of Swedes over Finns in a way that parallelled other contemporary theories of Aryan supremacy. Freudenthal was appointed a docent in 1866 in

Old Norse language Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

and wrote his doctoral thesis on the dialect of

Närpes Närpes (; fi, Närpiö ) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in Western Finland and is part of the Ostrobothnia region. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Eco ...

in 1878. He was a Professor of Swedish language and literature between 1878–1904. He died in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. His life's work was documented by

Arvid Mörne Arvid Mörne (6 May 1876 – 15 June 1946) was a Finnish author and poet. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times. Life Mörne was born in Kuopio. He obtained a master's degree in literature and history at the University of ...

in the book ''Axel Olof Freudenthal och den finlandssvenska nationalitetstanken'' (1927). The

Swedish People's Party The Swedish People's Party of Finland ( sv, Svenska folkpartiet i Finland (SFP); fi, Suomen ruotsalainen kansanpuolue (RKP)) is a political party in Finland aiming to represent the interests of the minority Swedish-speaking population of Finlan ...

in Finland considers Freudenthal to be their spiritual father, and it issues an award named after him, the

Axel Olof Freudenthal Medal Axel may refer to: People * Axel (name), all persons with the name Places * Axel, Netherlands, a town ** Capture of Axel, a battle at Axel in 1586 Arts, entertainment, media * ''Axel'', a 1988 short film by Nigel Wingrove * ''Axel'', a Cirque d ...

. Many Silver and Bronze medals have been given to individuals since 1937, but only one Gold medal has been issued - to

Elisabeth Rehn Märta Elisabeth Rehn (; born 6 April 1935) is a Finnish former politician and diplomat. She served as the Minister of Defence of Finland during 1990 to 1995 and as an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations during 1998 to 1999. She was al ...

in 199

However, the party has not issued the medal since 2007 due to external criticism of Freudenthal's racial views. To date, no Freudenthal Medal recipient has renounced the award.

References

External links

Axel Olof Freudenthal in 375 humanists 23.03.2015, Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freudenthal, Axel Olof 1836 births 1911 deaths People from Siuntio People from Uusimaa Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Swedish-speaking Finns Finnish people of German descent Academic personnel of the University of Helsinki