Ville Kiviniemi

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| name = Ville Kiviniemi

| honorific-suffix =

| image = Ville Kiviniemi.jpg

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| caption = Kiviniemi in 1918

| office1 = Member of the Parliament of Finland

| constituency1 = Lapland

| term_start1 = 1 November 1917

| term_end1 = 25 September 1918

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| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1877|03|17|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Kaukonen, Kittilä, Russian Empire

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1951|06|21|1877|03|17|df=yes}}

| death_place = Kittilä, Finland

| citizenship =

| nationality =

| party = Socialist Electoral Organisation of Workers and Smallholders

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| alma_mater =

| occupation = Farmer

| profession =

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}}

Vilhelm Kiviniemi (17 March 1877{{spnd}}21 June 1951) was a Finnish farmer, politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he represented Lapland between November 1917 and September 1918.{{cite web |title=Kansanedustajat: Ville Kiviniemi |url=https://www.eduskunta.fi/FI/kansanedustajat/Sivut/910748.aspx |publisher=Parliament of Finland |access-date=13 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190315165100/https://www.eduskunta.fi/FI/kansanedustajat/Sivut/910748.aspx |archive-date=15 March 2019 |location=Helsinki, Finland |language=fi}} He was amongst dozens of social democrat MPs who were persecuted for political reasons by the victorious Whites following end of the Finnish Civil War in 1918. Kiviniemi was sentenced to death for treason but this was later commuted to life imprisonment.{{cite magazine |title=Suomen terror ikauden ajoilta |magazine=Nykyaika |date=15 April 1922 |volume=XVI |issue=8 |page=10 |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/aikakausi/binding/1143287?page=10 |access-date=21 July 2023 |location=Fitchburg, U.S.A. |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}} He received a presidential pardon in 1922.

Early life

Kiviniemi was born on 17 March 1877 in Kaukonen near Kittilä.{{cite news |title=Pikku uutisia - Lapin edustaja |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1227250?page=3 |access-date=13 July 2023 |work=Kaiku |issue=203 |date=24 October 1917 |location=Oulu, Finland |page=3 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}} He was the great-grandson of Kittilä's first priest, Juho Nordberg.{{cite news |title=Pieniä uutisia |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1219564?page=7 |access-date=17 July 2023 |work=Pohjolan Sanomat |issue=125 |date=31 October 1917 |location=Kemi, Finland |page=7 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}} The Kiviniemi family were farmers in Kittilä. He was educated at the Kirkonkylän koulun folk school in Kittilä.

Politics and imprisonment

Kiviniemi took part in the 1905 Finnish general strike.{{cite book |last1=Aatsinki |first1=Ulla |title=Tukkiliikkeestä kommunismiin : Lapin työväenliikkeen radikalisoituminen ennen ja jälkeen 1918 |date=2008 |publisher=Tampere University Press |location=Tampere, Finland |isbn=978-951-44-7574-0 |page=104 |url=https://trepo.tuni.fi/handle/10024/66426 |access-date=13 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230209112358/https://trepo.tuni.fi/handle/10024/66426 |archive-date=9 February 2023 |language=fi |via=Trepo}} He contested the 1908 parliamentary election as a SDP candidate in Lapland.{{cite news |title=Lapin vaalipiiri |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/648463?page=2 |access-date=19 July 2023 |work=Kansan Tahto |issue=132 |date=11 June 1908 |location=Oulu, Finland |page=2 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}}{{cite news |title=Lapin waalipiirissä |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/667123?page=3 |access-date=19 July 2023 |work=Liitto |issue=76 |date=9 July 1908 |location=Oulu, Finland |page=3 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}} He also contested the 1909, 1910 and 1911 parliamentary elections.{{cite news |title=Waalien tuloksia |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/696787?page=4 |access-date=19 July 2023 |work=Sosialidemokraatti |issue=50 |date=11 May 1909 |location=Pori, Finland |page=4 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}}{{cite news |title=Viime tiedot |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/810974?page=3 |access-date=19 July 2023 |work=Vapaa Sana |issue=19 |date=16 February 1910 |location=Vaasa, Finland |page=3 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}}{{cite news |title=Lapin waalipiiristä |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1234445?page=3 |access-date=19 July 2023 |work=Kaleva |issue=6 |date=10 January 1911 |location=Oulu, Finland |page=3 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}} He was elected to the Parliament of Finland at the 1917 parliamentary election.{{cite book |title=Toiset Valtiopäivät 1917: Pöytäkirjat I - Istunnot 1-48 - Valtiopäivien alusta tammikuun 25 päivään |date=1918 |publisher=Parliament of Finland |location=Helsinki, Finland |page=5 |url=https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/eduskunta-asiakirja-original-documents-prod/suomi/1917/PTK_1917_II_1.pdf |access-date=25 February 2023 |archive-url= |archive-date= |language=fi}}

Following the end of the Finnish Civil War, arrest warrants were issued for 50 social democrat MPs for treason.{{cite thesis|degree=Master's|last1=Karpén |first1=Harri |title=Voittajan sana on laki : tutkimus legalismista, luonnonoikeudesta ja suvereenista vallankäytöstä, esimerkkinä Suomi vuonna 1918 |date=2015 |location=Tampere, Finland |isbn= |page=47 |url=https://trepo.tuni.fi/handle/10024/97755 |access-date=17 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529154407/https://trepo.tuni.fi/handle/10024/97755 |archive-date=29 May 2023 |language=fi |via=Trepo}}{{better source needed|date=July 2023|reason=master's thesis}} 36 of these MPs had left the country but four of them, including Kiviniemi, returned to Finland and were imprisoned.{{better source needed|date=July 2023|reason=master's thesis}} Prosecutors alleged that Kiviniemi had travelled from Helsinki to Kandalaksha in the Viena region of Karelia (White Karelia), via St. Petersburg and Petrozavodsk, on the orders of Red Guards leader August Wesley.{{cite news |title=Ed. Ville Kiviniemi |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1236667?page=2 |access-date=18 July 2023 |work=Kaleva |issue=225 |date=5 October 1918 |location=Oulu, Finland |page=2 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}}{{cite news |title=Sosialistiedustajain maankavallusjutut |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1296251?page=1 |access-date=19 July 2023 |work=Uusi Päivä |issue=166 |date=3 October 1918 |location=Helsinki, Finland |page=1 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}} They alleged that Wesley had given Kiviniemi Mk 20,000 to organise a Red Guard unit in Archangel and produced a receipt for the money purportedly signed by Kiviniemi.{{cite news |title=Ed. Wille Kiwiniemen juttu waltiorikosoikeudessa |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1236661?page=3 |access-date=19 July 2023 |work=Kaleva |issue=226 |date=7 October 1918 |location=Oulu, Finland |page=3 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}}{{cite news |title=Lapin sosialistiedustaja Kiwiniemi syytettynä waltiopetoksesta |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1219687?page=3 |access-date=19 July 2023 |work=Pohjolan Sanomat |issue=115 |date=8 October 1918 |location=Kemi, Finland |page=3 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}} Kiviniemi and his supporteds claimed that Kiviniemi had only entered Russia in order to make his way home to Kittilä and that the receipt had been signed by another Ville Kiviniemi.{{better source needed|date=July 2023|reason=master's thesis}}

In October 1918 the State Criminal Court sentenced nine social democrat MPs (Nestori Aronen, Erkki Härmä, Kiviniemi, Jussi Kujala, Jukka Lankila, Juho Lautasalo, Paavo Leppänen, Yrjö Mäkelin and Eetu Salin) to death for treason.{{cite news |title=Kapinallisten kansanedustajain tuomiot |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1185880?page=1 |access-date=17 July 2023 |work=Turun Sanomat |issue=4170 |date=13 October 1918 |location=Turku, Finland |page=1 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}}{{cite news |title=Kapinallisten kansanedustajain tuomiot |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1219693?page=3 |access-date=17 July 2023 |work=Pohjolan Sanomat |issue=121 |date=15 October 1918 |location=Kemi, Finland |page=3 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}} A petition signed by 118 members (87 socialists and 31 liberals) of the Swedish Riksdag was submitted to the Finnish Government requesting pardons for the nine MPs and others who had been sentenced to death.{{cite news |title=Svenskarna oeh de dödsdömda upprorsmännen - Hänvändningen till Finlands regering |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1275469?page=3 |access-date=21 July 2023 |work=Östra Nyland |issue=64 |date=26 October 1918 |location=Loviisa, Finland |page=3 |language=sv |via=National Library of Finland}}{{cite news |title=Sos.-dem. kansanedustajain tuomiot |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1202282?page=1 |access-date=21 July 2023 |work=Itä-Suomen Työmies |issue=167 |date=26 October 1918 |location=Viipuri, Finland |page=1 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}} The court commuted Kiviniemi's death sentence to life imprisonment in January 1919.{{cite news |title=Sosialistiedustajain tuomiot |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1219859?page=3 |access-date=17 July 2023 |work=Pohjolan Sanomat |issue=6 |date=11 January 1919 |location=Kemi, Finland |page=3 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}}{{cite news |title=Kemistä ja Perä-Pohjolasta |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1278049?page=2 |access-date=17 July 2023 |work=Perä-Pohjolainen |issue=4 |date=14 January 1919 |location=Kemi, Finland |page=2 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}} He was pardoned by President Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg in January 1922.{{cite news |title=Uljöliemmin ilmoittaa STT |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1375937?page=2 |access-date=18 July 2023 |work=Aamulehti |issue=22 |date=27 January 1922 |location=Tampere, Finland |page=2 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}}{{cite news |title=Vankilan portteja aukaistu |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1449828?page=1 |access-date=17 July 2023 |work=Pohjan Kansa |issue=21 |date=27 January 1922 |location=Oulu, Finland |page=1 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}} He was subsequently released from Tammisaari concentration camp.{{cite news |title=Kellarista päimänmatoon |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1491108?page=1 |access-date=17 July 2023 |work=Työn Voima |issue=25 |date=1 February 1922 |location=Jyväskylä, Finland |page=1 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}}{{cite news |title=Vapauteen laskettuja kapiallista |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1409053?page=2 |access-date=18 July 2023 |work=Karjala |issue=22 |date=31 January 1922 |location=Helsinki, Finland |page=2 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}}

Later life

Kiviniemi contested the 1929 parliamentary election as a Socialist Electoral Organisation of Workers and Smallholders candidate in Lapland but came second behind Agrarian Party candidate Matti Hannula.{{cite news |title=Maalaisliitto voitti Lapin vaalipiirissä |url=https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1757430?page=1 |access-date=17 July 2023 |work=Perä-Pohja |issue=157 |date=12 July 1929 |location=Tornio, Finland |page=1 |language=fi |via=National Library of Finland}} He died on 21 June 1951 in Kittilä.