Verna Erikson (11 April 1893 – 16 October 1918) is a Finnish woman whose picture, taken when she was a weapon smuggler (shown on the right) was an icon ofWhite Finland.[1] This picture was taken in the spring of 1918, during theFinnish Civil War, when Erikson was a student at the Helsinki University of Technology.[1] It was published on the cover of the weekly magazine Suomen Kuvalehti on June 15, 1918.[1] The caption to the image declared, "One of the finest protectresses of the HelsinkiWhite Guard. Miss E., a student at the University of Technology, bearing three bandoliers and a large pistol. Altogether Miss E. is carrying some 1,350 bullets strapped to her person."[1]
Erikson was given theOrder of the Cross of Liberty in 1918, as was her schoolmate, a girl called Salme Setälä; the Cross itself had been founded that year on the initiative of GeneralCarl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim.[2][3]
Erikson died of cancer in 1918.[2] She did not have time to go to the doctor when she first began feeling pain under her arms, and by the time she went she had a very advancedsarcoma.[2] She is buried inHietaniemi Cemetery in Finland.[2]
TheFinnish Civil War ended in 1918 with the White victory over the Reds, aided by the Germans.[4]