Antero "Antti" Rokka is a fictional character in

Väinö Linna Väinö Linna (; 20 December 1920 – 21 April 1992) was a Finnish author. He gained literary fame with his third novel, ''Tuntematon sotilas'' ( ''The Unknown Soldier'', published in 1954), and consolidated his position with the trilogy ''Tää ...

's 1954

war novel A war novel or military fiction is a novel about war. It is a novel in which the primary action takes place on a battlefield, or in a civilian setting (or home front), where the characters are preoccupied with the preparations for, suffering the ...

'' The Unknown Soldier''. Antero Rokka is a well-known figure in the story, and he has taken on an almost archetypal role in

Finnish culture The culture of Finland combines indigenous heritage, as represented for example by the country's national languages Finnish (a Uralic language) and Swedish (a Germanic language), the sauna, with common Nordic and European cultural aspects. ...

. According to Väinö Linna's own testimony, Rokka's character is based on Linna's comrade-in-arms, . It is also said that Linna borrowed the character's name from a real-life Ingrian soldier, Antti Rokka, whom Linna would have gotten to know after the war, and that the Rokka in the book would also have the character traits of the real Rokka. Rokka is a farmer and family man from the

Karelian Isthmus The Karelian Isthmus (russian: Карельский перешеек, Karelsky peresheyek; fi, Karjalankannas; sv, Karelska näset) is the approximately stretch of land, situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern ...

, who has the military rank of

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non ...

. Rokka, who participated in the

Winter War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...

, joins the machine gun company in 1941 during the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...

, and is one of the oldest in the unit. As a fighter, he is very capable, being disrespectful to formal discipline, he ends up several times in disputes with Lieutenant Lammio. When breaking the given orders, Rokka considers himself to be above the rules, and he is even ready to threaten to kill others if they try to bring him to justice. As a soldier, Rokka is above all very

pragmatic Pragmatism is a philosophical movement. Pragmatism or pragmatic may also refer to: *Pragmaticism, Charles Sanders Peirce's post-1905 branch of philosophy *Pragmatics, a subfield of linguistics and semiotics *''Pragmatics'', an academic journal in ...

in nature: he enjoys fighting, but not killing, because he feels no hatred towards the enemy. In his opinion, there are only two options in war: kill or be killed. As far as we know, Rokka's only, but even greater, motive for his participation in the war is to get his home region, the Karelian Isthmus, which was looted from Finland as a result of the Winter War, back from the

Soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in th ...

. Rokka is not a thinker either, instead he leaves the consideration of the

morality Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of cond ...

of war to others. In the 1955 ''The Unknown Soldier'' film, directed by

Edvin Laine Edvin Laine (13 July 1905 – 18 November 1989) was a Finnish film director. Laine was born Bovellán. Laine directed a comedy '' Aaltoska orkaniseeraa'' and family film ''Sleeping Beauty'', both in 1949. '' The Unknown Soldier'', a film La ...

, Rokka was played by amateur actor Reino Tolvanen. In the 1985 version, directed by

Rauni Mollberg Rauni Mollberg (April 15, 1929 – October 11, 2007) was a cinema of Finland, Finnish film director who directed movies and TV movies. In 1963 Mollberg directed movies for YLE. He directed a version of ''The Unknown Soldier (1985 film), The ...

, Rokka was played by Paavo Liski, and in the

2017 version Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese m ...

, directed by

Aku Louhimies Aku Louhimies (2009) Aku Louhimies (born 3 July 1968) is a Finnish film director and screenwriter. He has directed feature films, documentary films, commercials and music videos. His international breakthrough was the 2016 serial drama '' Rebe ...

, Rokka was played by

Eero Aho Eero-Matti Aho (born 26 January 1968) is a Finnish actor who has appeared on stage, in films and on television. He plays Antero Rokka in film '' The Unknown Soldier'' (2017), and stars as Inspector Koskinen in the crime television series ''Lakesid ...

References

External links

Ylen Elävä arkisto: "Oikea" Rokka ja Tuntemattomat
(in Finnish) Fictional Finnish people Fictional military personnel Film characters introduced in 1955 Literary characters introduced in 1954 Male characters in literature Male characters in film {{fict-char-stub

Further reading

References

External links