Pekka Siitoin | |
|---|---|
 Siitoin in 1971 | |
| Leader of theTurku Society for the Spiritual Sciences | |
| In office 1971–1977 | |
| Succeeded by | Organization disbanded |
| In office 1981–2003 | |
| Preceded by | Position re-established |
| Leader of thePatriotic Popular Front | |
| In office 1976–1977 | |
| Leader of theNational Democratic Party | |
| In office 1978–2003 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1944-05-20)May 20, 1944 Varkaus, Finland |
| Died | 8 December 2003(2003-12-08) (aged 59) Vehmaa, Finland |
| Party | National Coalition Party(1960s) Finnish Rural Party(1972) Finnish People's Unity Party(1972–1976) Patriotic Popular Front(1976–1977) National Democratic Party(1978–2003) National Union Council(1994–2003) |
| Children | 6 |
| Education | Turku School of Economics,Theatre Academy of Finland[1] |
| Occupation |
|
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Finland |
| Branch/service | Finnish Army |
| Rank |  Corporal |
Timo Pekka Olavi Siitoin (20 May 1944 – 8 December 2003) was a Finnishneo-Nazi,Satanist, andoccultist.[2]
He was born inVarkaus,Finland. According to Siitoin, he was born to aGerman military officer andFinnish-Russian woman, but he was adopted after his birth.[3] However according to aSecurity Police report, he was born to Hulde Sifia Rissanen and Olavi Valdemar Siitoin, who were a financially well-off married couple.[4][5] Valdemar Siitoin had been a member of the NaziFinnish People's Organisation, and Siitoin claimed to have been a Nazi since he was a child.[6]
Pekka Siitoin completed his conscription service inNiinisalo in theArtillery Brigade and was discharged as acorporal.[7] He studied at theTurku School of Economics and founded his own photography and filming company. The film company Siitoin-Filmi mainly made advertising and travel films. Later, the company published occult, ufology and political literature, most of which Siitoin himself wrote under pseudonyms such asPeter Siitoin,Jonathan Shedd, Hesiodos Foinix, Peter von Weltheim, Edgar Bock and Cassius Maximanus.[8]
In his youth, he studied at the Theatre Academy of Finland and was a disciple of Finland's best knownclairvoyant,Aino Kassinen [fi], who Siitoin claims introduced him to Satanism.[9]
Siitoin had joined the Kokoomusnuoret (Youth of theNational Coalition Party) in his youth, before joining theFinnish Rural Party in the early 1970s and serving as a vice-chairman of its municipal chapter.[10] Following the breakup of the Rural Party and forming of the Finnish People's Unity Party Siitoin founded thePatriotic Popular Front (Isänmaallinen Kansanrintama, IKR), and considered himself to be Führer of the Finnish National Socialist movement.[10][11] In 1971, Siitoin founded theTurku Society for the Spiritual Sciences.[12]
Siitoin was an associate of the White Emigre satanistBoris Popper, who allegedly provided guns and explosives for his organizations, which were stolen from the Defence Forces.[13][14] The IKR also corresponded with theCEDADE that countedLeon Degrelle among its members.[15] In 1977, Siitoin was convicted of inciting thearson of the printing houseKursiivi which printed theCommunist newspaperTiedonantaja and founding an organization forbidden in the1947 Paris Peace Treaty.[16] He was sentenced to five years and seven months in prison, but only served three year and a half years. Siitoin had earlier been fined and convicted of cruelty to animals and vandalism against theTurku Synagogue. In November 1977 theFinnish Ministry of the Interior closed down four of the organizations he had founded, as neo-Fascist and forbidden by the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty. Later Siitoin was convicted for running a private militia and possessing illegal automatic firearms.[17]
Siitoin established theNational Democratic Party (KDP) in the summer of 1978, to replace the Patriotic Popular Front, which had been banned. The KDP was never on the party register, nor was it even a registered association. However, it functioned like an official association and the party was organized into local departments, which were led by local commanders in different areas.[18] After the ban of the Turku Society, Siitoin's associates who remained free used the National-Mythological Society name for their publishing house from 1977, which Siitoin later adopted for his new organization in 1981 upon his release from prison.[19][20]
Siitoin maintained contacts withNational Renaissance Party ofJames Hartung Madole that likewise blended Satanism and Nazism.[21][22] Nils Mandell, a leader in theNordic Reich Party collaborated with Siitoin and introduced him to theWorld Union of National Socialists, to which the National Democratic Party (KDP) was accepted.[23] Siitoin also maintained contacts with the KKK Grand WizardDavid Duke andJ. B. Stoner in the United States andFédération d'action nationale et européenne in France.[24][25] Siitoin was also invited to events in the Iraqi embassy by Baathist GeneralSalih Mahdi Ammash. Ammash was known for his strong antisemitism, which probably was the reason for the invites.[26] Siitoin also recruited Finns for thewar in Rhodesia in his party's magazine.[27]
KDP was also in contact with some terrorist groups like Manfred Roeder's German Action Group responsible for multiple firebomb attacks in Germany that killed Vietnamese refugees and Jan Øregård ofNorwegian Front that bombed a mosque and a communist event.[28] Siitoin's groups also cooperated withOrder of Flemish Militants that was led by half-FinnishBert Eriksson and that perpetrated multiple firebomb attacks against minorities.[29] KDP disseminated propaganda materials received from theNational Socialist Liberation Front (NSLF) as leaflets. The NSLF took credit for several bombings, arsons, and shootings. This fanatical and militant propaganda gave impression of KDP as a group idolizing violence rather than as a serious political organization it wanted to be seen as.[30][31]
KDP belonged to anumbrella organization called theNational Union Council, which was founded in 1994 and was chaired byVäinö Kuisma. The other member organizations were theAryan Germanic Brotherhood,[12] the Union of Aryan Blood and the Finnish National Front.
In 1996, Siitoin ran for the city council ofNaantali with the slogan "Elect Siitoin the Nazi to the council" and was the fifth most popular candidate, but was not elected due to theD'Hondt method as he was running on his own list.[32][33]
Siitoin died ofesophageal cancer inVehmaa, Finland.[34] He was buried in Hakapelto Cemetery in Naantali.[35] A documentary film calledSieg Heil Suomi has been made about the Neo-Nazi activities led by Siitoin and Väinö Kuisma.[36]
Quotations related toPekka Siitoin at Wikiquote
