Model Teräsvaara
After a successful journey aboard the coastal defence ship Ilmarinen, the Finnish delegation led by Prime Minister Teräsvaara arrived to Copenhagen this morning. According to our correspondent in the Danish capital, Teräsvaara will meet the Danish Prime Minister, Thorvald Stauning, at the Christiansborg Palace this afternoon to discuss matters important to the two Nordic nations...
Helsingin Sanomat, 15 August 1939.
Helsinki
The man in a dark grey suit exited the car, grabbing his bulging briefcase along. The car door was held open by one of the Presidential Palace's attendants. The same youngish man also ushered the older, plain-looking man with thinning hair into the building through the rear entrance in Mariankatu.
The man wanted as little publicity for the visit as possible. He was sure the sentiment was shared by the president.
His visit today was the culmination of three months of investigations. The man was an economist and a banker. But as of late, he had been feeling more like a private detective, following clues and leads to uncover a vast network of financial wrongdoings. A rotten tumor in the very heart of the Finnish political system.
President Kallio received Risto Ryti in his office. The old farmer tried a reassuring smile to Ryti, but seemed to recoil a bit when the other man didn't smile back in return.
”So,” Kyösti Kallio asked, ”what are your conclusions?”
Ryti shook his head.
”It's worse than I thought.”
For the next two hours, the two men went methodically through the contents of Ryti's briefcase – meticulous notes, copies of signed contracts, bank statements, affidavits, even photos. At the end of it, the president sat silent in his chair, all colour drained from his face. His countenance was downright ashen, and it worried the younger man.
Finally, Kallio muttered one word.
”Monstrous.”
Ryti could only agree.
”It has all been going on right under our noses, too”, he said, shuffling the papers in front of him absentmindedly.
Ryti could understand Kallio's feelings only too well. It was, after all, his party that the primus motor of this disaster had used as his power base to achieve it all. The rise of what some people in the so-called Teräskaarti hailed as ”Finland's last hope” was built inside the Agrarian League first. As the new movement grew, it soon also subsumed the Lapua Movement pretty much entirely, to create a focus for the nationalists and the anti-Communists in Finland. All doubters inside the Agrarians were cast aside, most recently Urho Kekkonen.
At the centre of it was the meteoric rise of one R.O. Teräsvaara. A charming, youthful, charismatic, well-spoken man, he seemed to perfectly represent the ordinary Finn tired of the Communist threat towards the young republic. Through careful politicking and ever-growing popular rallies, in a handful of years he built for himself a mighty power base. He was transformed from a rank-and-file parliamentarian into the chief Prime Ministerial candidate by 1936. In the elections that followed, Teräsvaara made the Agrarians the biggest party in the land, with 79 members in the Eduskunta, narrowly (and astonishingly) beating the Social Democrats from the top spot.
Under Teräsvaara's leadership, a ”Government of National Salvation” was formed, with the National Coalition Party and the Swedish People's Party as humbled minor partners in a popular majority coalition. The cabinet kicked off huge defence spending. Tanks, aircraft, artillery weapons. New, modern uniforms. The military brass was ecstatic. Soon, Teräsvaara's new acquisitions would be paraded down the main thoroughfares of the capital, with the people gathering in huge crowds to celebrate Finland's newfound strength.
In late 1938, the military's new, modern look was dubbed ”Model Teräsvaara” by one provincial journalist. The expression stuck.
”How is this level of financial mismanagement even possible, in Finland?”, the president asked Ryti incredulously.
”It seems Teräsvaara and his allies have used the defence and infrastructure projects to embezzle money on a massive scale. The oversight has been seriously lacking, with the Prime Minister being able to appoint the people in charge. Only a fraction of the money has gone to actual acquisitions, and all the main projects have been delayed... In some ways it looks like the schemes that Ponzi guy used to run, some years ago, in America. And that is not all...”
Ryti went through a stack of documents.
”I have here signed statements by prominent military officers to the effect that the weapons bought for the military are mostly useless. Old surplus or badly designed junk, to be frank. Models of vehicles abandoned by other buyers, for example. That is why the Prime Minister has managed such 'fetching deals'.”
”Why didn't the generals say something earlier?”
Ryti shrugged.
”They felt they were being starved of resources for too long, so they were initially just happy they were getting at least something. And Teräsvaara had his own pet officers, like that Pentikäinen character, running interference. Only in the last few months have the generals been waking up to the reality of the situation.”
The President of the Republic looked positively shaken.
”So not only is the state bankrupt, but the military is also a paper tiger?”
Ryti nodded.
”With respect, mister president, we need to start putting things right as soon as possible. The fate of the nation is at stake.”
Kallio agreed.
”I will sack the cabinet forthwith and appoint a caretaker ministry under someone we can count on.”
The old man looked meaningfully at the banker.
”We need to replace the head of the State Police as well. We can't trust Riekki, he has been blinded by Teräsvaara's dazzle, I'm afraid. With the State Police in trustworthy hands, we can start putting things right in earnest.”
The effort to clean the mess the Prime Minister had created was started that afternoon. Ryti felt better when he exited the Presidential Palace to return to his office. The ball was finally rolling into the right direction.... But would there be enough time?
In the better part of Copenhagen, a man in a long overcoat and a hat left a hotel through the back entrance. The fake beard was itchy, but it would have to do. There was not much time for him to achieve his escape.
After putting a couple of blocks behind him, Ruben Oskar Teräsvaara started to feel safe. He had a fortune stashed away in foreign bank accounts, courtesy of his leadership of Finland through the last three years. Now, he had the means to live the rest of his life in luxury, under an assumed name, where ever he wanted.
Save perhaps his old homeland.
And there was the car waiting for him, engine running, just like they had agreed.
As soon as Teräsvaara sat down on the rear seat, a bag was pulled over his head by a waiting agent.
”Nice of you to be in time, Mr Prime Minister”, he heard a quiet voice say.
”We'll be on our way to Moscow in no time.”
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