Johannes Öhquist

Johannes Öhquist in 1897. (Photograph by Daniel Nyblin .)

Johannes Wilhelm Öhquist (born December 6, 1861 in Slavyanka near Saint Petersburg , Russia ; † October 15, 1949 Wolfach , Baden, Germany ) was a Finnish civil servant, language teacher, art historian and politically active writer.

He promoted German-Finnish cultural relations, the spread of the German language and information about Finland. From 1940 he tried to spread the ideology of National Socialism in Finland. Johannes Öhquist was married to Rita Öhquist . His son Harald Öhquist , Finnish Lieutenant General, came from his first marriage .

Life

Johannes Öhquist's father, Johannes Christoffer (Risto) Öhquist, was a priest and later served as parish priest in the parish of St. Mary in Saint Petersburg , Russia. His mother, Olga Maria Avenarius, was of German descent and brought up Johannes Öhquist in her native German. In addition to German, he also learned Swedish, Russian and Finnish at school.

Öhquist enrolled at the University of Saint Petersburg in 1881 and studied law from 1881 to 1884, later in Moscow from 1884 to 1886 and then at the University of Helsinki , which he graduated from in 1887 with the law exam.

From 1888 to 1910 he was archivist in the State Chancellery of the Governor General of Finland and from 1895 to 1916 lecturer in German at the University of Helsinki. In addition, he was a German teacher in 1890 in several schools in Helsinki, including Svenska Normallyceum 1893-1894 and Nya svenska läroverket 1895-1897. Öhquist published a number of German-language textbooks and a curriculum that were used for decades.

Öhquist discussed the early 1900s in Finland with literary and art critics. He had published the book on Finnish art history in 1912, which was the first extensive presentation of the subject. Öhquist also tried his hand at being a writer and poet, but only published three novels and poems in the course of his life. In 1925 he received the title of professor.

Öhquist had extensive contacts with German and Austrian newspapers, publishers and prominent people. By 1918 he published 20 books, some of them under the pseudonyms Wilhelm Habermann, Wilho Suomalainen and Richard Schreiber. In addition, Öhquist published hundreds of articles in the Finnländische Rundschau between 1901 and 1902.

During the First World War he was a soldier and served Finnish activists from 1916 to 1918 in their Berlin office ("Finnish Office").

After Finland gained independence in 1919, Öhquist went to the Finnish embassy in Berlin, where he began as an officer. After he retired in 1927, he worked as a freelance writer. Even in his retirement he played a leading role in German-language Finnish publications.

The rise of the National Socialists and Hitler's rise to power in 1933 quickly found a supporter of the new ideology in Öhquist. In 1938, with the support of the German Propaganda Ministry, he published the book The Birth of National Socialism , which was also translated into Swedish and German. The book Das Reich des Führers appeared in the German Institute in 1941 . From 1940 Öhquist lived permanently in Wolfach (Black Forest).

Johannes Öhquist was married three times. The first marriage resulted in two children, one of whom was later Lieutenant General Harald Öhquist. Johannes Öhquist's brother was the Finnish writer Alexander Öhquist.

Success as a chess player

Johannes Öhquist was a co-founder of the Helsinki Chess Club, founded in 1886, of which he was vice-president from 1886 to 1892 and chairman from 1892 to 1897 and from 1901 to 1906, as well as an honorary member from 1911.

Publications

• The pilgrim, 1908
• Finnish art history, 1912
• Political life in Finland, 1916
• From the poetry of Finland, 1918
• Leijonalippu, 1923
• The crystal tower, 1928
• Finland, 1928
• German Finland Bibliography, 1929
• Contemporary art in Finland, 1929
• Modern fine arts in Finland, 1930
• The Third Reich, 1938
• The Reich of the Führer, 1941, Röhrscheid Verlag

literature

• Pietarista kolmanteen valtakuntaan. [St. Petersburg to the Third Reich.] Memories with additional descriptions by Johannes Öhquist. Translation into Finnish by Matti Liinamaa. 2006. ISBN 951-862-171-3 .