Toivo Mikael Kivimäki

Who was Toivo Mikael Kivimäki?

Toivo Mikael Kivimäki, J.D., was head of the department of civil law at Helsinki University 1931–1956, Prime Minister of Finland 1932–1936, and Finland's ambassador to Berlin 1940–1944.

In 1946, Kivimäki together with half-a-dozen other leading politicians were put on "war-responsibility trials" that generally were considered a complete miscarriage of justice, executed under pressure from the Allied victors in World War II, and in breach of Finland's constitutional traditions. Kivimäki was sentenced to five years in prison after being found responsible for the Continuation War. After Finland signed the Paris Peace Treaties, 1947, and the Finno–Soviet Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance, 1948, the international situation was deemed somewhat stabilized, and Kivimäki was pardoned. He returned to his career in academia.

As with all politicians connected with the Continuation War, Kivimäki was for decades seen in a somewhat critical light. During the era of finlandization, many prominent Finns expressed themselves cautiously on such subjects in order not to disturb sensitive Allied victors of the war; a cautiousness that without doubt influenced Finland's post-war generation's understanding and views.