Algot Untola (28 November 1868 – 21 May 1918) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

writer and journalist. Untola was born in

Tohmajärvi Tohmajärvi () is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in the North Karelia regions of Finland, region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . ...

, to the ''Tietäväinen'' family, and his real name was ''Algoth'', but he changed the name to ''Algot Untola''. Untola had many pen names including Irmari Rantamala, Maiju Lassila, Algoth Tietäväinen, Väinö Stenberg, J.I. Vatanen, Liisan-Antti and Jussi Porilainen. Untola's profession was teacher. He graduated in 1891 from

Sortavala Sortavala (russian: Сортавала; Finnish and krl, Sortavala; sv, Sordavala); till 1918 Serdobol (russian: Сердоболь) is a town in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located at the northern tip of Lake Ladoga near the Finnish bor ...

. Untola's most famous books were ''Harhama'' (1909) which he wrote under the name ''Irmari Rantamala'', and ''Tulitikkuja lainaamassa'' (1910) under the name ''Maiju Lassila''. Untola refused to take the state literature prize which he got from these books. Untola first supported the

Finnish Party The Finnish Party ( fi, Suomalainen Puolue) was a Fennoman conservative political party in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland and independent Finland. Born out of Finland's language strife in the 1860s, the party sought to improve the positio ...

but he didn't agree with their views and he changed his party to Social Democratic Party of Finland. During the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

in 1918 he actively supported the

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

side as a newspaper editor. He was arrested by

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

troops after the

Battle of Helsinki The Battle of Helsinki was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle, fought in 12–13 April between the German troops and Finnish Whites against the Finnish Reds in Helsinki, Finland. Together with the battles of Tampere and Vyborg, it was one of the ...

and shot dead on 21 May 1918 in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

on a transport of rebel prisoners to the Suomenlinna prison camp.

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* (Finnish) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Untola, Algot 1868 births 1918 deaths People from Tohmajärvi People from Kuopio Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Writers from North Karelia Finnish writers Finnish Party politicians Social Democratic Party of Finland politicians People of the Finnish Civil War (Red side) 20th-century pseudonymous writers Deaths by firearm in Finland