Arndt Pekurinen

Infobox_Person
name = Arndt Pekurinen


image_size =
caption =
birth_name = Arndt Juho Pekurinen
birth_date = birth date|1905|8|29
birth_place = Juva, Finland
death_date = death date and age|1941|11|5|1905|8|29
death_place = Suomussalmi, Finland
death_cause = Executed
resting_place = Malmi cemetery, Helsinki
resting_place_coordinates = coord|60.2359|25.0273

Arndt Juho Pekurinen (August 29 1905 in Juva, Finland – November 5 1941 in Suomussalmi, Finland) was a Finnish pacifist and conscientious objector.

In 1926, Pekurinen refused repeatedly the mandatory conscription, leading to his imprisonment between 1929 and 1931. He refused to either wear uniform or take arms. While Pekurinen was deeply religious, his motives were not based on his faith. While his contempraries suggested he was Communist, he was not interested in politics. Because of his Pacifist conviction, in the atmosphere of the Militaristic thirties he was deemed as guilty of high treason, and the Lapua movement harassed him relentlessly. In 1930, an international petition on his behalf was sent to the Finnish defense minister Juho Niukkanen, which included the signatures of sixty British MPs and notables such as Albert Einstein, Henri Barbusse and H. G. Wells. On April 14, 1931, the "Lex Pekurinen", Finland's first alternative to military service, was passed. However, its provisions extended only as far as peacetime.

When the Winter War broke out in 1939, therefore, Pekurinen once again found himself imprisoned. At the onset of the Continuation War in autumn 1941, he was sent to the front, with orders to make sure he did wear the uniform, and bear and use a weapon. At the front he still refused to wear a uniform or bear arms. Following an order issued by Captain Pentti Valkonen, he was executed without trial. The first two soldiers (Sergeant Kivelä and Private Kinnunen) ordered to execute him refused; only the third, Corporal Asikainen, obeyed the order as Capt. Valkonen now directly ordered him to execute Pekurinen.

After the war, an investigation of Pekurinen's death was begun but never completed. He remained effectively forgotten for over fifty years, until the publication in 1998 of the book "Courage: The life and execution of Arndt Pekurinen" by Erno Paasilinna. The city of Helsinki has named a park, "Arndt Pekurisen puisto" ("The park of Arndt Pekurinen"), in his memory.

According to the book by Erno Paasilinna, Pekurinen's motto was inspired by Jonathan Swift: "As people are not eaten, butchering them is of no use." ("Kun ihmisiä ei syödä, on niitä turha teurastaa.")

See also

* Pacifism

References

* Silvonen, Katri (2004). Conscientious objection in Finland. Peace Review, 16 (2), 207-209.
*

Persondata
NAME=Pekurinen, Arndt
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Pekurinen, Arndt Juho
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Finnish pacifist
DATE OF BIRTH=August 29, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH=Juva, Finland
DATE OF DEATH=November 5, 1941
PLACE OF DEATH=Suomussalmi, Finland