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, Marko Tikka ja Aapo Roselius. WSOY 2016 He had studied genetics at the
University of Helsinki
The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...
under
Harry Federley
Harry Federley (22 March 1879 – 13 November 1951) was a Finnish zoologist and pioneer of genetics. He conducted hybridization experiments on moths and was later also involved in eugenics in Finland. He was the founder of the department of geneti ...
.
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 anim ...
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 (, IKL, ) was a Finnish nationalist and anti-communist political party. IKL was the successor of the previously banned Lapua Movement. It existed from 1932 to 1944 and had an ideology similar to its predecessor, exce ...
(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 during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...
, he was one of the main recruiters for his Finnish SS 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 ...
,
Yrjö Saarinen
Yrjö Reinhold Saarinen (22 October 1899, Hämeenlinna – 23 September 1977) was a Finnish engineer and politician. He was a member of the Parliament of Finland, representing the Patriotic People's Movement (IKL) from 1936 to 1944 and as an Inde ...
,
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 Ee ...
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 (Finland), Patriotic People's ...
.
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.