Allan Staffans

Wärtsilä

The company got again a new owner when Wärtsilä took over Maskin o. Bro, including Crichton-Vulcan. The General Manager Wilhelm Wahlforss trusted and respected Staffans; in fact, Staffans was one of those few people who could disagree and argue openly with Wahlforss without being afraid of consequences. Wahlforss did not question his authority in Crichton-Vulcan and Staffans could continue his investment program. Staffans's right hand was the company's chief engineer Gösta Rusko, who was also his son-in-law.

War reparations After the war ended, Finland had to pay heavy war reparations to Soviet Union, which wanted the payment mainly in machinery. The largest and most demanding ships were assigned to Wärtsilä yards. Staffans was called together with Wahlforss and the Hietalahti yard manager August Jansson to negotiate about the ship types. Once again, Staffans's excellent knowledge about Russian language and Russian mentality proved helpful. The agreement about material list was signed in December 1944 by Andrei Zhdanov from the Allied Commission and the prime minister of Finland, J.K. Paasikivi.

Staffans was not involved into the war reparation industry as he fell ill and died in 1946. During his period the number of personnel at Crichton-Vulcan yard had grown from 300 up to 3 000.

Personal life In 1904 Staffans married Selma Elisabeth née Kjellin, who was from Helsinki. They got two daughters: Margit and Gunvor. Margit married later Gösta Rusko, the main engineer of Crichton-Vulcan. The younger daughter Gunvor was married to professor John Rosas.

Staffans was a vice consul for Netherlands in the 1930s.

In 1942 Staffans wrote a book called Skeppsbyggare och resenär i Östasien about his experiences in Siberia in the early 20th century.

Staffans faced two major personal losses in 1943 when first his closest colleague and son-in-law Gösta Rusko became seriously ill and perished in April. The widow and Staffans's daughter Margit Rusko died only two months later. Staffans and his wife took care of their two children after.

The family moved permanently to Turku in the early 1920s, but they also had a summer villa in Kirkkonummi. The villa had to be given to Soviet Union after the Continual War as a part of Porkkala lease area. When Soviet Union returned the area back to Finland in 1956, the widow Selma Staffans moved in, and despite her age, she participated eagerly in rebuilding the area.