Vilho Helanen

Vilho Veikko Päiviö Helanen (24 November 1899 – 8 June 1952) was a Finnish civil servant and politician.

Helanen was born in Oulu, and was a student as the University of Helsinki, where he gained an MA in 1923 and completed his doctorate in 1940. From 1924 to 1926 he edited the student paper Ylioppilaslehti and around this time joined the Academic Karelia Society. As a result, he was involved in the coup attempt of the Vaps Movement in Estonia in 1935.

Rising to be head of the civil service during World War II, Helanen was arrested in 1948 for continuing to collaborate with the Nazis after Finland switched sides. On 6 May 1950, he was found guilty of treason and sentenced to six years in prison. Helanen was pardoned on 3 March 1951. Following his release, he worked for Suomi-Filmi and also wrote a series of detective novels. He died of a heart attack in the railway station at Frankfurt am Main, West Germany.