Johan Wilhelm Rangell

Jukka Rangell, 1941

Johan "Jukka" Wilhelm Rangell (born October 25, 1894 in Hauho , † March 12, 1982 in Helsinki ) was a Finnish sports official, politician and Prime Minister.

Studies and professional career

Rangell completed a degree in economics and law . He then worked as a lawyer and later as governor (1943 to 1944) and member of the supervisory board of the Bank of Finland .

International sports official

Rangell was also national champion in the triple jump in 1912 and 1913 . He was a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 1938 to 1967 . In this role he was also President of the Organizing Committee for the 1940 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, which were canceled due to the Second World War . From 1934 to 1941 and 1951 to 1953 he was also chairman of the Finnish Sports Confederation. For his services to the Finnish sport he received the trophy of the sports association.

1961 to 1963 he was also chairman of the National Olympic Committee . From 1967 until his death he was an honorary member of the IOC.

Prime Minister 1941 to 1943

Grave of Johan Wilhelm Rangell in the Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki

Rangell was a member of the National Progressive Party (KEP). On January 3, 1941, he became Prime Minister of a coalition government that consisted of ministers from the KEP, National Collection Party (KOK), Landbund (ML), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Swedish People's Party (SFP) and right-wing extremist Patriotic People's Movement (IKL) was in office until March 5, 1943.

When the Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler demanded the extradition of the Finnish Jews during a stay in Finland in the summer of 1942 , Rangell rejected them with reference to their Finnish citizenship and the existing conscription.

During his tenure, the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union began on June 22, 1941 , for which he was responsible, together with his successor as Prime Minister Edwin Linkomies and six other politicians, in a trial from November 1945 to February 21, 1946 at the insistence the Soviet leadership under Josef Stalin had to answer. Rangell was sentenced to the second highest sentence after President Risto Ryti with six years imprisonment. In 1949 he was pardoned, but did not return to politics. Rangell continued to work as a sports official.

Biographical sources and background information

• Biographical notes on the Finnish government website
• Cabinet Ministerial List 1941–1943
• Finnish History in Postage Stamps: Second World War (1939-1945)
• For peace. Article in TIME magazine on January 19, 1942
• Klaus Reichel: At Hitler's side. How Finland became Germany's ally in 1941 - and how many of its leading politicians had to answer to a war crimes tribunal in 1946. Article in "DIE ZEIT" from March 2, 2006
• Finland and Olympism. (PDF; 406 kB) Article in the Olympic Review, No. 103-104 from May / June 1976
• Obituary in the Revue Olympique No. 174 from April 1982 (PDF; 28 kB)

Web links

• Newspaper article about Johan Wilhelm Rangell in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Footnotes

1. ↑ Jochen Reinert: Helsinki and the Holocaust ( Memento of the original from November 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Published in Ossietzky 5/2004.