FAST-FIN-1 Finnish Institutions Papers
The Life and Political Career of President Risto Ryti
Saana Mäkiranta, Spring 2004 (GB)
A FAST-FIN-1 Finnish Institutions Student Paper
FAST Area Studies Program
Department of Translation Studies, University of Tampere

Risto Ryti was the fifth President of Finland. As a politician he was known as a rational and determined man who had nerves of steel. Those characteristics were needed; he was in office from 1940 to 1944, during World War II. His policies during the war raised great controversy and led to accusations that he had fraternised with Nazi Germany and delayed Finland’s peace with the Soviet Union. He was eventually sentenced to prison as a result of these policies. This paper is an overview of the life and political career of Risto Ryti.

Risto Ryti’s Youth and Studies

Risto Heikki Ryti was born 3 February 1889 as the fourth child of Evert and Ida Ryti. Ryti had seven brothers and three sisters. The family had a large farm in the village of Loimankylä in Huittinen, in Southwestern Finland. They had almost a thousand acres of land and fields, and also cattle. The parents were both educated people, and Evert was both a progressive farmer and an active participant in social and civic activities (Huittinen). That is where Ryti and his brothers, who were also actively involved in political activities, got their interest and enthusiasm.

Ryti was a talented student. He went to an elementary school only a short time before his parents got him a personal tutor. This man, M.A. Knaapinen, who gave Ryti his elementary education, also ‘discovered’ Ryti’s talent and enthusiasm in his studies. After three years of personal tutoring Ryti began studies in Porin lyseo, and after taking his matriculation exam in the spring of 1906 he graduated from there on 19 April 1906 (Huittinen).

In the autumn of 1906 Ryti began studies at the Imperial University of Alexander in Helsinki, which was later renamed as the University of Helsinki. He got his first degree in Law in the autumn of 1909, and moved to Rauma, where he set up a law office. He also continued his studies at the university and in 1914 received a master’s degree in Law. Later the same year he travelled to England to study maritime law in Oxford, but soon his studies were interrupted when World War I broke out. After returning to Finland he set up a law office in Helsinki together with a close friend, Eric Serlachius, who had accompanied Ryti to England and who was also to become Ryti’s brother-in-law (Huittinen).

Ryti’s Personal Life

As a politician Risto Ryti was known to be cool-headed. He made his decisions based on facts and common sense, rather than emotion. To the public he often seemed cold, even arrogant. Nevertheless, at home he was a warm and humorous husband and father (Huittinen).

On their trip to England in 1914 Ryti and Eric Serlachius were accompanied by Eric’s younger sister Gerda Paula Serlachius. Ryti had met his future wife for the first time in the spring of 1912, but it took two years before Risto and Gerda got the opportunity to get to know each other better (Ryti-Erkinheimo 43).

Risto Ryti and Gerda Serlachius got married in Helsinki on 20 January 1916. Their first child, Karl Johan Henrik, was born in December 1916. He was followed by Niilo Erik in 1919 and Eva Paula Margareta in 1922.

The relationship of Risto and Gerda Ryti proved to be warm and close. Their backgrounds were similar, and they were both educated and internationally oriented people. Their relationship was based on mutual respect and trust. Risto Ryti got great support from his wife, especially during the Continuation War and the years of the trial in military court and imprisonment (Ryti-Erkinheimo).

Ryti as a Member of Parliament

Finland gained independence from the Russian Empire in 1917. That is one of the factors that pushed Ryti into a political career (Turtola). During the mid-1910’s Ryti was in charge of the legal and economic matters of Alfred Kordelin, who was known as the richest man in Finland, and who also became Ryti’s personal friend. The recognition and experience in economic life Ryti gained with the Kordelin estate helped him in political life (Huittinen). In January 1919 he was elected to the Finnish Parliament as the second-youngest representative. He was thirty years old at the time.

As a politician Ryti was known to have democratic and liberal attitudes; he strongly disapproved of both left-wing and right-wing radicalism. He was elected from the list of the Progressive Party. He always had a strong sense of duty towards his country, and his feeling of responsibility and honesty guided him throughout his years in politics (Huittinen).

Ryti’s talent in politics was noticed almost immediately by his fellow Members of Parliament (Turtola). The same year he was elected Ryti was made the chairman of the Parliamentary Law Committee. Two years later, in 1921, he was chosen as the Minister of Finance in the Vennola Government. When the Kallio Government took office in 1922, Prime Minister Kyösti Kallio wanted Ryti to continue as the Minister of Finance.

During those three years (1921-1924) as the leader of Finnish economic policy, Ryti had a remarkable influence on the state economy. In the beginning of the 1920’s the Finnish economy was chaotic. The value of the Finnish mark had collapsed in 1919-1920, and trade with Russia had virtually stopped because of the Bolshevik Revolution. It seemed that the Finnish economy was in a dead end. Risto Ryti, with his experience in economics and finance, was greatly involved in balancing the instable state budget (Kuusterä 27).

In 1927 Ryti was re-elected to the parliament for two more years against his own will. He had been on a trip abroad, and when he returned to Helsinki, he discovered that he had been put on the list of the Progressive Party (Ahlstrand 6). He was the Governor of the Bank of Finland at the time, and did not think he could also work as a Member of Parliament, which would have meant being his own superior (Huittinen). However, in order to resign from Parliament Ryti would have had to get permission through court proceedings, and he did not want the matter to be taken to court. During his term as a Member of Parliament from 1927 to 1929 he focused mainly on leading the Bank of Finland and international relations (Huittinen).

Ryti as the Governor of the Bank of Finland

In 1922 President Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg appointed Ryti, who was then the Minister of Finance, as the Governor of the Board of the Bank of Finland (Turtola). An acting Governor was also appointed, because Ryti could not take office until his term as minister ended. In January 1924 Kallio’s government resigned, and Ryti was able to withdraw from daily politics and begin his career in the Bank of Finland (Turtola). Risto Ryti is the longest-serving Governor of the Bank of Finland in the country’s history (Huittinen). He was head of the bank for 17 years, first from 1924 to 1940 and then again from 1944 to 1945 after he resigned from the Presidency.

Ryti’s biggest challenge during his years in the Bank of Finland was the years of depression from 1929 to 1933. In 1926 the Finnish economy seemed to be in a boom. The Bank of Finland tried to encourage the upward tendency by obtaining more foreign credit. The objective was to get the general rate of interest lower and consumption higher. But as a consequence the market overheated while the rate of interest remained high. Then in 1929, before the breakout of the world depression, Finland’s economy began to decline (Kuusterä 33).

The situation in Finland was at its worst in the beginning of the 1930’s. During those years the number of bankruptcies doubled, the credit losses of banks quadrupled and the number of unemployed people rose (Kuusterä 33).

Ryti’s answer to the difficult situation was rather bitter. He figured that the only way out of the recession was to increase exports. This could only be accomplished by lowering wages in order to decrease the costs of production to make Finnish exports more competitive in international markets. However, these policies first led to bankruptcies and compulsory auctions of farms. It was not in Ryti’s policy to support the arranging of relief work or the increasing of social benefits (Turtola). As Martti Turtola, Docent of Political History at the University of Helsinki, has written: "Ryti’s way of thinking was a kind of Social Darwinism: if someone did not manage to succeed, it was his own fault." 1

But with Ryti’s harsh monetary policy the country’s economy began to recover after 1933. By the end of the decade the country had reached a time of prosperity, which lasted until the beginning of World War II in 1939 (Turtola).

The Winter War and Ryti as Prime Minister

In World War II (1939-1945) Finland had to battle the Soviet Union twice. The Winter War lasted from November 1939 to March 1940. The Continuation War began in 1941, lasting until September 1944. Ryti was to lead the country during both wars, first as Prime Minister and then as President.

In August 1939 Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact, which is known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The pact had a secret supplementary protocol that divided the neighbouring countries into Soviet and German spheres of interest. Finland was among many other Eastern Europe countries in the Soviet sphere of interest. By November 1939 the Soviet Union had imposed so-called “pacts of mutual assistance” upon Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. These pacts gave the Soviets the right to establish military bases on the territories of the countries (Manninen, 2. maailmansota).

After occupying the three Baltic countries the Soviet Union demanded that Soviet forces should also be stationed on Finnish territory and that Finland should provide military bases to house these forces. In negotiations in Moscow the political elite of Finland announced that none of Finland’s military bases would be ceded. The failed negotiations led to a military attack by the Soviet Army on 30 November 1939 (Manninen, 2. maailmansota).

In the months leading up to the negotiations, as war seemed inevitable, President Kyösti Kallio wanted Risto Ryti, with his rationality and consistency, to be the war-time Prime Minister. The country needed a Prime Minister who enjoyed full confidence and was not politically committed to any party; Ryti as the Governor of the Bank of Finland had not been a member of any political party in over fifteen years. Ryti tried to turn down the offered position, because it had been a long time since he had been actively involved in state politics. But eventually his sense of duty towards his country prevailed, and he started as Prime Minister on 1 December 1939, the next day after the Soviet attack (Ahlstrand 16).

The Ryti government’s only agenda was to attain peace. Ryti as Prime Minister felt it was his responsibility to ensure that the peace was as favorable to Finland as possible. Continually during the five months of the war Ryti explored the Soviets' interest in negotiating peace, but from the beginning it was obvious that the Soviets would not recognise the Ryti Government (Ahlstrand 16). Instead, Stalin continued his efforts to bring his puppet government, the People's Government of Finland, into power. This so-called Terijoki Government was formed by Finnish communists who had escaped to the Soviet Union during the Finnish civil war in 1918 (Manninen, Talvisota).

However, the Soviet Union had underestimated Finland’s ability to defend itself. Stalin had rushed into war against Finland inadequately prepared, because he had assumed that Finnish workers would welcome his army as liberators (Chew). In prewar training the Soviet Union had concentrated on operating in the steppes of Russia and in the terrain and climate of Central Europe (Korhonen). The Soviet Army also had many Ukrainian soldiers, who were not used to warfare in northern forests (Chew). The Finns had the advantage of knowing their own terrain and they were also prepared for the exceptionally cold climate. Thus, the Finnish forces managed to halt many Soviet attacks and caused the Soviet forces considerable losses.

Eventually, a variety of factors were to assist Ryti's efforts to obtain peace. England and France offered to send Finland reinforcements, with the motive to secure and occupy the Swedish ore mines (Tutor). At that point Stalin realized that the World War threatened to spread to Scandinavia (Manninen, Talvisota). The high number of Soviet casualties had also been a political embarrassment to the Soviet Union (Virtual). These were some of the reasons that led Stalin to sign an armistice with the Finnish peace delegation, with Ryti as the leader, on 20 March 1940. The treaty ceded about 10% of Finland's eastern territory to the Soviet Union. About 12% of the Finnish population lived in the ceded areas and they had to be relocated in other areas of Finland. There were also some economic and political obligations (Tutor). However, the war ended on terms that were as favorable as possible to Finland under the circumstances. Finland remained independent and in full control of its own territory.

Risto Ryti Elected as President

War-time President Kyösti Kallio had problems with his health almost all his term as President, and, as Prime Minister, Ryti became more and more responsible for international relations and the entire political leadership (Turtola). In August 1940 Kallio became seriously ill, and Ryti took over as acting head of state (Huittinen). On 27 November 1940 Kallio filed his resignation.

There was no national presidential election after Kallio’s resignation. The election for Kallio’s successor was held by the same Electoral College that had elected Kallio three years earlier. On 19 December 1940 Ryti was elected President by an overwhelming majority for the remainder of Kallio’s term. On the same day President Kallio died (Huittinen).

Ryti became the second war-time President in the history of Finland. In 1943 Kallio’s original presidential term ended, but in a state of war national elections to choose a new Electoral College could not be held. Once again the Electoral College of 1937 and 1940 assembled to vote, and Ryti was re-elected as President (Turtola).

The Continuation War

Risto Ryti has on many occasions been called a man of peace (Ahlstrand 46, Lallukka 7). It seems contradictory that he was the one who had to lead Finland to war. In the 1930’s he had warned civic organisations from warmongering against the Soviet Union. Still, he wasn’t enough of a pacifist to sacrifice Finland’s rather newly-gained independence (1917) without an effort to defend it. When war seemed inevitable, he did not neglect his responsibilities as the head of state (Lallukka 7).

On 22 June 1941 Germany renounced the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact and attacked the Soviet Union. Three days later, on the 25th of June, the Soviet Union bombed nineteen Finnish cities and towns. The objective was to destroy Finnish airports that were being used as German air bases (Manninen, Jatkosota). As a result the Finnish Government considered the country to be at war with the Soviet Union (Hyytiä).

During the summer and autumn the Finnish forces occupied large areas of former Finnish territory that had been ceded in 1940. But in December 1941 there was a command from Mannerheim, Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Armed Forces, not to advance further (Manninen, Jatkosota). The war turned into a stationary front that lasted for two and a half years, and ended in a massive Soviet attack on 9 June 1944.

In the Continuation War Finland fought alongside Germany, because with its small army and insufficient equipment Finland would not have survived a war against a great power on its own. The alliance was not official; no political agreements had been made (Ahlstrand 29). To Ryti personally it was disagreeable to lean on Germany, for his ideologies were nowhere near those of the national socialist system of Germany (Turtola). However, the alliance was seen as the only way to secure Finnish independence against Soviet Forces (Ahlstrand 29).

The Way to Peace

In the beginning of the summer of 1944, as Soviet troops began advancing steadily toward Germany, Hitler sent his Minister for Foreign Affairs, Joachim von Ribbentrop, to Finland. To secure the northern front Ribbentrop demanded a guarantee from the government that Finland would continue warfare against the Soviet Union. In return Germany would provide the reinforcements and weapons that Finland so desperately needed (Turtola).

After negotiating the matter Ryti agreed to write a personal letter to Hitler saying that Finland would not make a separate peace with the Soviet Union. The Council of State agreed that Ryti would be the only one to sign the letter, which later became known as the Ribbentrop Pact. Ryti knew that all it would take to invalidate that document would be for him to resign from office. The pact would not bind Ryti’s successor (Turtola).

By mid-July the Finnish Army had managed to halt the massive Soviet attack of 9 June, and stabilize the military situation on the Eastern Front. The time was right for efforts to attain peace. Accordingly, Ryti filed his resignation, using poor health as an excuse to resign. Ryti left office on 1 August 1944. Carl Gustav Mannerheim was elected President by emergency law (Turtola).

A truce agreement was signed on 19 September 1944 in Moscow. The borders set after the armistice of 1940 came into effect again. In addition Finland ceded some of its northern territory and was obliged to pay reparations worth 300 million dollars (Tiainen 181).

In the autumn of 1944 Ryti was re-elected as the Governor of the Bank of Finland. Jukka Rangell, who had followed Ryti as the head of the bank, on his own initiative wanted give way to Ryti’s expertise. Ragnell resigned from office and became a Member of the Board of the Bank of Finland (Turtola). However, in June of 1945 the Trustees of the Bank of Finland forced Ryti to resign because of political reasons related to the Ribbentrop Pact (Huittinen).

The Trial and Ryti’s Defence

When Risto Ryti signed the Ribbentrop Pact, he knew that it could lead to accusations of cooperating with Nazi Germany. For this, he also knew he could be sentenced to imprisonment or even death. In 1945, the Soviet Union pressured the Finnish Government to have a trial. Ryti was sure he would be arrested, and he began writing his defence (Turtola).

When Finland signed its truce with the Soviet Union, the Finnish Government also had to agree to cooperate with the Allies – the Soviet Union, France, Great Britain and the United States – in order to arrest war criminals and bring them to justice (Tiainen 181). In September 1944 the Finnish Parliament enacted a law concerning the punishing of war criminals. In November the Council of State decided, under Soviet pressure, to press charges against Risto Ryti and seven other politicians 2 , and ordered them to be arrested immediately (Lallukka 9).

The indictment had seven planks, all suggesting that the accused had not done everything in their powers to attain peace. According to the indictment the accused had, among other things, allowed German forces to enter Finland, caused diplomatic relations with England to break off, caused with their passiveness the negotiations with the Soviet Union to cease, and allowed Finnish forces to re-occupy the areas that had been ceded in 1940. In the last plank Ryti was accused of signing the Ribbentrop Pact (Lallukka 9).

In his defence Ryti emphasized that Finland had not started the war, but had only fought off a Soviet attack. Finland had not wanted revenge for the Winter War. He also said that although Finland had drifted into battle alongside Germany, no political agreement had been made. According to Ryti, Finland had not participated in the World War, since Finnish troops had not entered foreign territory — only former Finnish territory. The Continuation War had been a defensive war and had only concerned Finland (Lallukka 58). In his defence Ryti said:

My government collegues as well as I have acted according to our best understanding, with the saving of our native land and its people as our main concern. It is my firm belief that our line of action has been the right one and the only possible way to save the country from even further damage. 3 (Lallukka 126)

However, in a trial in the beginning of 1946 Risto Ryti was found guilty. He was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment, while the other seven politicians all received shorter sentences.

After the Verdict

During his first three years in prison Ryti’s health began to waver, especially after the other convicted politicians were released and Ryti with his longer sentence was left alone. He managed to maintain his mental balance with the loyal support of his spouse and his strong faith. In May of 1949 Ryti was pardoned because of his poor physical health (Turtola).

Ryti never returned to public life, although there were many offers and attempts to persuade him, despite his poor health (Turtola). His condition got gradually worse and he also had problems with his memory (Ryti-Erkinheimo 52). Risto Ryti died in Helsinki on 25 October 1956. He was buried on 11 November in the Hietaniemi Cemetery.

The recognition Ryti received during his last years showed that the majority of the people did not consider him a criminal (Turtola). After he was pardoned he received numerous congratulations from civic organisations and individual citizens (Huittinen). An official portrait was painted of him, and the University of Helsinki made him a doctor honoris causa (Turtola).

The disintegration of the Soviet Union has influenced the way Ryti has been seen from the 1990’s onward. There was no longer a political need to judge Ryti’s period in politics, and in the beginning of the 1990’s the public interest in Ryti as a person and in his life work increased enormously. In 1993, the Risto Ryti Association was established to honour the political heritage of Ryti (Eskola 17).

During the last 65 years Risto Ryti and his politics have had both critics and supporters, but only since the 1990's has it been possible to view his political career objectively. Ryti played a significant role in Finnish history, leading Finland through times and events that were crucially important to the future of the nation. He was a trusted leader, who was willing to sacrifice himself and his career for the freedom of his country.

Notes

Works Cited

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Last Updated 15 December 2005