Lennart Reidar Armas Hedman (17 June 1896 Vanaja – 26 October 1961 in
Tullinge
Tullinge is a suburb of Greater Stockholm, Sweden. It is located in the eastern part of Botkyrka Municipality, on the border to the Flemingsberg part of Huddinge Municipality. It had approximately 20,000 inhabitants in 2011.''Suomalaiset fasistit. Mustan sarastuksen airuet'', kirj.
Oula Silvennoinen
Oula is a village and the administrative centre (''chef-lieu'') of the commune of Songo-Doubacoré in the Cercle of Koutiala in the Sikasso Region of southern Mali.. The village is 26 km northeast of Koutiala
Koutiala ( Bambara: ߞߎߕߌ ...
, Marko Tikka ja Aapo Roselius. WSOY 2016 He had studied genetics 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 ...
under Harry Federley.
Reidar Hedman was the director of the Perttula Education Institute for the Feeble-Minded, the first Finnish-language developmental disability institution founded by his father Edvin Hedman, in 1927–1944.Martti Strangin GeneaNet-sukutietopankki : Edvin Hedman /ref> Hedman specialized in eugenics and
racial hygiene
The term racial hygiene was used to describe an approach to eugenics in the early 20th century, which found its most extensive implementation in Nazi Germany (Nazi eugenics). It was marked by efforts to avoid miscegenation, analogous to an animal ...
and supported a comprehensive forced sterilization program for the mentally handicapped. Hedman believed that human intelligence was the basis of all spiritual life and could not be elevated through education, for example.Rainer Hedman, Yhteiskunta ja vajaaälyiset, Sielunterveysseuran aikakauslehti, N:o 1–2, 1933; Vajaaälyisyys sosiaalisena kysymyksenä, Huoltaja N:o 10, 1931, s.
Politics
Hedman was one of the founders of the
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).
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 ...
, he was one of the main recruiters for his
Finnish SS battalion
From 1941 to 1943, 1,408 Finns volunteered for service on the Eastern Front of World War II in the ''Waffen-SS'', in units of the SS Division Wiking. Most of these volunteers served as motorized infantry in the Finnish Volunteer Battalion ...
. He represented the Nazi wing of the IKL, which criticized the passivity of the IKL leadership during the war and called for it to give way to the more radical forces. According to Hedman, the IKL should radicalize into an openly Nazi party., s. 443–444
Hedman's supporters in the IKL politicians included Aarne Kauhtio, Editor-in-Chief of
Hämeen Sanomat
''Hämeen Sanomat'' is a morning broadsheet newspaper published in Hämeenlinna, Finland.
History and profile
''Hämeen Sanomat'' was established in 1879. The headquarters of the paper is in Hämeenlinna. The owner of the paper which is publishe ...
Kustaa Jussila
Kustaa Aadolf Jussila (8 October 1879, in Orivesi – 9 February 1964) was a Finnish politician. He was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1936 to 1939, representing the Patriotic People's Movement (IKL). He was the elder brother of E ...
and
Hilja Riipinen
Hilja Elisabet Riipinen (30 October 1883 – 18 January 1966, née Miklin, later Metsäpolku) was a Finnish politician involved with the nationalist and anti-communist Lapua Movement and Patriotic People's Movement (IKL). She was a member of ...
.
After the Moscow armistice of 1944, Hedman moved to Germany, where he lectured on eugenics to Finnish SS men who remained in Germany.Åke Söderlund: ''”AATTEEN, SEIKKAILUJEN VAI MAANPETTURUUDEN TIELLÄ? '', s. 59. Teoksessa ''Sotatapahtumia, internointeja ja siirto sodanjälkeisiin oloihin: Kansallisarkiston artikkelikirja'' (toim. Lars Westerlund). Kansallisarkisto, Helsinki 2010 Teoksen verkkoversio /ref>
Hedman died in Sweden in 1961.