Hjalmar von Bonsdorff (26 November 1869 in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

– 5 April 1945 in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

) was a Finnish admiral.von Bonsdorff, Hjalmar

Uppslagsverket Finland ''Uppslagsverket Finland'' ('Encyclopedia Finland') is a Swedish-language encyclopedia with a focus on Finland and in particular Finland-Swedish subjects. The encyclopedia is published by initiative of an association dedicated to this task, ( ...

Uola, Mikko: ''Unelma kommunistisesta Suomesta 1944–1953'', p. 203. Minerva, Helsinki 2013. Von Bonsdorff's parents were Captain Victor Emil von Bonsdorff and Louise Adelaide Munck.''Aikalaiskirja'' (1934), s. 64
Runeberg.org. Von Bonsdorff, trained as a naval officer in Saint Petersburg, served in the

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from a ...

from 1891 to 1898. After joining the Finnish Maritime Administration, he was the head of its nautical chart department from 1899 to 1904. He participated in the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

from 1904 to 1905 as a commander.''Otavan Iso tietosanakirja'', osa 1, p. 1364. Otava, 1967. After that, von Bonsdorff returned to Finland, where he was the head of the Oulu pilotage district and a lieutenant colonel in the Finnish Maritime Administration from 1908 to 1910. After the beginning of the First World War in 1914 he was called back to service and promoted to captain. Among other things, he was responsible for the coastal defense of the mouths and capes of the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

. After Finland gained its independence, von Bonsdorff was admitted to the Finnish White Army as a colonel. 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 ...

, he was the Chief of Staff of the Mikkeli White Guard and the Chief of the Savo Front. In the spring of 1918, he was appointed military governor of Åland and acting governor. He was tasked with crushing the separatist aspirations of the

Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1 ...

ers. He received the rank of major general in the same year. In 1919 von Bonsdorff was for some time the Chief of Staff of the

Finnish Navy The Finnish Navy ( fi, Merivoimat, sv, Marinen) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. The navy employs 2,300 people and about 4,300 conscripts are trained each year. Finnish Navy vessels are given the ship prefix "FNS", short for ...

and from March to July the Acting Chief of the Navy.Harjula, Mirko: ''Itämeri 1914–1921: Itämeren laivastot maailmansodassa sekä Venäjän vallankumouksissa ja sisällissodassa'', s. 189. Books on Demand, Helsinki 2010
Google Books
/ref> He resigned the same year he received the rank of rear admiral. After that, he mainly focused on running the Söderkulla mansion, which he owned in

Sipoo Sipoo (; sv, Sibbo) is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the Helsinki metropolitan area. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The administrative center of the munic ...

. During the Winter and Continuation Wars, he performed special duties from the commander-in-chief, such as awarding honors to the wounded in hospitals. Von Bonsdorff was known as an open antisemite and fanatical supporter of

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

. He was a founding member of the

Patriotic People's Movement Patriotic People's Movement ( fi, Isänmaallinen kansanliike, IKL, sv, Fosterländska folkrörelsen) was a Finnish nationalist and anti-communist political party. IKL was the successor of the previously banned Lapua Movement. It existed from 1 ...

in 1932 and was also a member of the Nazi

Finnish People's Organisation The Finnish People's Organisation (Finnish: , SKJ) (Swedish: , FFO) was a bilingual Nazi party founded by Jaeger Captain Arvi Kalsta. Supporters of the movement were also called Kalstaites after the leader. The inaugural meeting of the organization ...

and for a short time was the editor-in-chief of the Nazi newspaper "For Freedom and Justice" (''För frihet och rätt''). He was the chairman of the Nazi organization for Swedish speaking Finns, "

People's Community Society The People's Community Society (Samfundet Folkgemenskap, SF) was a Finnish-Swedish Nazi organization from 1940 to 1944, founded at Söderkulla Manor in the autumn of 1940 in Söderkulla, Sipoo, Finland. Admiral Hjalmar von Bonsdorff was elected i ...

" (''Samfundet Folkgemenskap''). At the end of the Continuation War, he fled to Sweden in September 1944 and died there the following spring. Söderkulla in Sipoo has streets named in honor of von Bonsdorff: Amiraalintie and Amiraalinkuja.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonsdorff, Hjalmar von People of the Finnish Civil War (White side) 1945 deaths 1869 births Finnish Nazis Nazi propagandists Finnish admirals Nazi politicians Nazis from outside Germany World War II refugees