Prime minister who declared Finland at war in 1941 and was later convicted in the war-responsibility trials
On the evening of 25 June 1941, Rangell told parliament: 'Finland has become the object of an attack by the Soviet Union, which has started acts of war against Finland.'
A Bank of Finland executive and close associate of Risto Ryti, Rangell was elevated to prime minister when Ryti became president in 1940. During his tenure Finland fought the Continuation War alongside Germany and occupied East Karelia, though foreign policy and military power rested with Mannerheim, Ryti, and Foreign Minister Witting rather than with Rangell. When Himmler visited in August 1942, Rangell famously silenced talk of Finland's Jewish minority with the words 'Wir haben keine Judenfrage.' Convicted to six years in the 1946 war-responsibility trials and pardoned in 1949, he left politics and served as an IOC member until 1967.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1912–1913Two-time Finnish triple jump champion and national record holder
- 1925–1933Legal department head and managing director, OKO cooperative bank
- 1937–1945Board member, Bank of Finland
- 1939–1940, 1943–1944Acting governor and governor, Bank of Finland
- 1941–1943Prime Minister of Finland (Continuation War)
- 1938–1967IOC member; president, Finnish Olympic Committee (1961–1963)
Related historical events
Cooperative Credit and Banking Career
Born in Hauho on 25 October 1894 and died in Helsinki on 12 March 1982, Rangell was educated as a lawyer, but his actual career began in cooperative finance. From 1925 he headed the legal department of the Central Lending Fund of the Cooperative Banks (OKO, today's OP Corporate Bank), part of the Pellervo cooperative movement, and in 1933, after Hannes Gebhard's death, he was elected managing director of that fund. In that post he devised a strategy by which farmers who had borrowed from the cooperative banks could manage their debts during the Great Depression, and he formed close ties with many political figures and commercial bank executives. In 1937 he was called from that task to the board of the Bank of Finland, and in December 1939, when Governor Risto Ryti moved to the premiership during the Winter War, Rangell rose to acting governor. He had been close to Ryti before the war, and when Ryti became president he elevated Rangell to prime minister. As a young man Rangell competed as an athlete, winning the Finnish championship in the triple jump twice, in 1912 and 1913, and at the age of 17 years and 10 months he was the youngest male athlete ever to win the title. His 1912 mark of 14.09 metres was a Finnish record at the time. He later chaired the Finnish Gymnastics and Sports Federation (SVUL) in 1934-1945 and 1951-1953, and was a member (1938-1967) and chairman (1961-1963) of the Finnish Olympic Committee. When Helsinki was confirmed as host of the 1940 Games (the XII Olympiad) in 1938, he chaired the organising committee, and that same year he was chosen as Finland's member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IOC did not revoke his membership after his conviction in the war-responsibility trial, and he retained it until 1967, when he resigned on health grounds. Before becoming prime minister, then, Rangell was active in three fields: cooperative finance, banking, and sports administration.