Väinö Kivisalo

Väinö Kivisalo (18 October 188229 March 1953) was a Finnish politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he represented Häme Province South between August 1929 and July 1948. Prior to being elected, he was imprisoned for political reasons following the Finnish Civil War. When he was 14 years old his father died following which the family were evicted from their homestead by the owner.

Kivisalo was a farmworker in Karkku and a labourer in several places including Suoniemi, Akaa, Urjala, Hattula and Vanaja. He was also active in the labour and temperance movements. He was amongst tens of thousands of leftists who were imprisoned in concentration camps for political reasons by the Whites following their victory in the Finnish Civil War. In August 1918 the State Criminal Court (Valtiorikosoikeus) in Riihimäki sentenced Kivisalo to 12 years in prison and loss of civic rights for 15 years for treason and high treason. He was released from Sukeva concentration camp on 28 December 1921.

Kivisalo was the secretary of the Häme Province North branch of the SDP from 1923 to 1925 and of the Häme Province South branch from 1925 to 1929. He was re-elected at the 1930, 1933, 1936, 1939 and 1945 parliamentary elections.

Kivisalo was a presidential elector at the 1931, 1937, 1940 and 1943 presidential elections. He was a member of the municipal council in Hämeenlinna for many years.