Eino Pekkala

Eino Oskari Pekkala (29 November 1887 − 30 September 1956) was a Finnish lawyer and politician. He was a member of the Parliament of Finland, representing the Socialist Electoral Organisation of Workers and Smallholders 1927–1930 and the Finnish People's Democratic League 1945–1948. In the 1920−1930s, Pekkala was twice in prison for his political activities, and he was even kidnapped by the fascist Lapua Movement in 1930. As the political situation in Finland changed after the World War II, Pekkala was the Minister of Education 1945–1946, and the Minister of Justice 1946–1948.

In his youth, Pekkala was a talented athlete. His greatest achievements were three Finnish Championship titles in decathlon.

His brother was the Prime Minister of Finland Mauno Pekkala.

Life

Early years Eino Pekkala was born in 1887 to the family of the park ranger Johan Oskari Pekkala (1864–1939) and Amanda Matilda Grönroos (1864–1925). In 1888, the family moved to Sysmä, and since 1898, Johan Pekkala worked for the Teiskola Manor in Teisko. The family had four children. They were educated in Tampere, where Pekkala graduated from the high school in 1906.

On 5 July 1930, the fascist Lapua Movement kidnapped Pekkala and Jalmari Rötkö from the meeting of the Constitutional Law Committee and took them to their headquarters at Lapua. On the following day, Pekkala and Rötkö were handed over to the authorities, after the Minister of Interior E. V. Kuokkanen gave an order to arrest all 23 STPV parliamentarians. As the anti-Communist laws were passed, Pekkala was given a 3-year sentence in November 1930 for an intent to commit a treason. In July 1933, Pekkala took part on a hunger strike in the Tammisaari forced labour camp. The strike ended as five political prisoners died of forced feeding.

After his release, Pekkala worked as a lawyer in Helsinki. During the World War II, he assisted arrested Communists and activists of the anti-war resistance. His clients included Pellervo Takatalo, Aimo Rikka and Martta Koskinen who were all given the capital punishment. Pekkala managed to change Takatalo's and Rikka's sentences for life in prison, but Koskinen was executed in September 1943.

As the war was over, the Communist organizations were legalized, and Pekkala was re-elected to the Parliament in the 1945 parliamentary election representing the Finnish People's Democratic League. In 1945–1946 he served as the Minister of Education, and 1946–1948 as the Minister of Justice. In 1946–1947, Pekkala was a member of the special court of the War-responsibility trials set by the Allies. Pekkala left the politics in 1948, and ran a law firm in Helsinki until his death in September 1956. In 1919, Pekkala was a founder of the Finnish Workers' Sports Federation, and served as its first chairman until 1927. He was also a member of the organizing committee of the 1952 Summer Olympics.

Personal life Pekkala was married to the Estonian communist Salme Murrik from 1913 to 1924. In 1928, he married the British communist Mary Moorhouse. Their daughter Salme Anne Pekkala (b. 1928) was married to the diplomat Risto Hyvärinen.