The Patriotic Popular Front (Isänmaallinen Kansanrintama, IKR) was a

neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

party founded in Finland by

Pekka Siitoin Timo Pekka Olavi Siitoin (20 May 1944 – 8 December 2003) was a Finnish Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi, Occult, occultist and a Satanism, Satanist. Early life He was born in Varkaus, Finland. According to Siitoin, he was born to a Wehrmacht, German mil ...

. Former French Foreign Legion soldier Timo Pekkala organized firearm drills for the group. Members of the IKR were responsible for the Kursiivi printing house arson.

Background

Tiedonantaja ''Tiedonantaja'' (, "Informant") is a Finnish leftist monthly newspaper published in Helsinki, Finland. It is the party organ of the new Communist Party of Finland (SKP). ''Tiedonantaja's'' current editor-in-chief is Petra Packalén who was prec ...

magazine claimed that Boris Popper had acted as a financier of Siitoin and acquired weapons and ammunition from the military's warehouses for the use of Siitoin's groups.Aleksi Mainio : Terroristien pesä. Suomi ja taistelu Venäjästä 1918–1939. Siltala 2015, luku "Pomminheittäjä saapuu Brysselistä", sivut 255-261Häkkinen, Perttu; Iitti, Vesa (2022). Lightbringers of the North: Secrets of the Occult Tradition of Finland. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-64411-464-3. p. p.137, 147 A founding member of IKR, Tapio Saarni, son of a fish shipping tycoon funded the group. Siitoin maintained contacts with likeminded National Renaissance Party of James Hartung Madole that likewise blended Satanism and Nazism and

Matt Koehl Matthias Koehl Jr. (January 22, 1935 – October 9, 2014) was an American neo-Nazi politician and religious leader who served as the second leader of the American Nazi Party from 1967 to 2014. He joined the party in 1960 following membership in ...

American Nazi Party The American Nazi Party (ANP) is an American neo-Nazi Political parties in the United States, political party founded by George Lincoln Rockwell in 1959. In Rockwell's time, it was headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It was renamed the Natio ...

that promoted Esoteric Hitlerism. IKR published National Renaissance Party material in Finnish, and Siitoin appeared in NRP's publications.Fasismia, terrorismia vai nallipyssynatsien leikkiä? Julkinen keskustelu Isänmaallisen Kansanrintaman toiminnasta loppuvuodesta 1977 Piipponen, Marko ; Yhteiskuntatieteiden ja kauppatieteiden tiedekunta, Historia- ja maantieteiden laitos ; Faculty of Social Sciences and Business, Department of Geographical and Historical Sciences IKR also maintained contacts with the KKK Grand Wizard

David Duke David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American politician, neo-Nazi, conspiracy theorist, and former grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1989 to 1992, he was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for the ...

and J. B. Stoner in the United States and

Fédération d'action nationale et européenne The ''Fédération d'action nationale et européenne'' (FANE) was a small French far-right neo-Nazi organisation founded in April 1966. It was led by Mark Fredriksen, a bank employee who became involved in activism for French Algeria after serving ...

in France. IKR also recruited Finns for the war in Rhodesia in its magazine. IKR also corresponded with the

CEDADE The Spanish Circle of Friends of Europe (; CEDADE) was a Spanish neo-Nazi group that concerned itself with co-ordinating international activity and publishing. History The group began life in 1966, under Franco's rule, ostensibly as a society for ...

that counted

Leon Degrelle Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...

among its members. IKR cooperated and with

Order of Flemish Militants The Order of Flemish Militants ( or VMO) – originally the Flemish Militants Organisation (''Vlaamse Militanten Organisatie'') – was a Flemish nationalist activist group in Belgium defending far-right interests by propaganda and political acti ...

that was led by half-Finnish

Bert Eriksson Armand Albert (Bert) Eriksson (30 June 1931 – 2 October 2005) was a leading Flemish nationalist. Biography Born in Antwerp. His father was a sailor from Finland his mother was Flemish. Eriksson became a Nazi at an early age and joined the Hit ...

and that perpetrated multiple firebomb attacks against minorities.Tommi Kotonen: Politiikan juoksuhaudat – Äärioikeistoliikkeet Suomessa kylmän sodan aikana, Atena, Jyväskylä 2018.p. 88. Siitoin also extended an invitation to

Wiking-Jugend The "Wiking-Jugend" (WJ, "Viking youth") was a German Neo-Nazi organization modeled on the Hitlerjugend. Wiking Youth emerged in 1952 from a merger of several German right-wing extremist youth groups. In 1994 it was banned by the Federal Minist ...

to visit him, and Wiking-Jugend did hold a camp in Finland in 1976 and created controversy by plastering posters calling for the release of

Rudolf Hess Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (Heß in German; 26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987) was a German politician, Nuremberg trials, convicted war criminal and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer ( ...

. After IKR members had sent multiple letter bombs to political enemies and held a parade in Nazi uniforms, authorities had had enough. IKR was banned in 1977 as contrary to the Paris Peace Treaty forbidding fascist organizations. However, Siitoin immediately founded a new party called the National Democratic Party. The party operated its own printing house that published its magazine, Finnish translation of 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 ...

and holocaust denial books. According to a member list confiscated from Siitoin, the party had about 100 core members. Peripherally involved people who were involved in the distribution of material was about 1600.Kotonen. 2018. p. 181.

References

{{Finnish far right Satanism and Nazism Neo-Nazi organizations Theistic Satanism Neo-Nazism in Finland Banned far-right parties Neo-Nazi political parties in Europe