The Ståhlberg kidnapping refers to an incident that occurred on October 14, 1930, at approximately 9:00 am

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, in which the former and first President of Finland, Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, and his wife, Ester Ståhlberg, were abducted from their home 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 ...

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 ...

, by members of the Lapua Movement. The kidnapping was spearheaded by an ex-

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general by the name of

Kurt Martti Wallenius Kurt Martti Wallenius (25 July 1893 in Kuopio – 3 May 1984 in Helsinki) was a Finnish Major General. Jäger Movement Wallenius was a member of the Finnish Jäger troops trained in Germany prior to Finnish independence. In 1915, Wallenius trav ...

. Threats of execution were issued when the Lapuans' demands were not met, however Wallenius and his henchmen were too incompetent to handle the kidnapping and too hesitant to carry out their murder threat. The Finnish public was both ashamed and horrified by this pointless act of lawlessness, and a general adverse reaction against the Lapuans greatly eroded their already dwindling popular support. In addition to this, the kidnapping was decisive in forcing the election of

Pehr Evind Svinhufvud Pehr Evind Svinhufvud af Qvalstad (; 15 December 1861 – 29 February 1944) was the third president of Finland from 1931 to 1937. Serving as a lawyer, judge, and politician in the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland, he played a major role in the ...

to the presidency against Ståhlberg in February 1931. After the kidnapping the Lapuans threatened to assassinate Ståhlberg.

Reaction

Ståhlberg's kidnapping was also widely covered in foreign newspapers. Swedish newspapers in particular wrote on the subject. In Sweden, the news caused even a slight foreign policy scandal. When

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wrote that such news should come from Mexico or one of the " Nigger republics" and not from a Western European cultural state, the Mexican ambassador in Stockholm protested vehemently. The Mexican ambassador reminded that Mexico is a cultural state and should not be equated with a country like Finland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stahlberg kidnapping 1930 crimes in Finland Kidnapping in Finland Political history of Finland Political violence