Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg


Ståhlberg, Kaarlo Juho

 

Born Jan. 28,1865, in Suomus-salmi; died Sept. 22,1952, in Helsinki. Finnish political and state figure.

A lawyer by training, Ståhlberg was a professor of administrative law at the University of Helsinki from 1908 to 1918. He was a leader of the Young Finns’ liberal wing, which formed the National Progressive Party in December 1918. Stáhlberg was secretary of the Senate from 1898 to 1903 and a member of the Senate from 1905 to 1907. He served as a deputy in Parliament for many years and became its chairman in 1914.

In 1918 and 1919, Stáhlberg was president of the Supreme Administrative Court and supervised the drawing up of the republican constitution that was adopted in 1919. He was president of Finland from 1919 to 1925. Stáhlberg contributed to the conclusion of a peace treaty with the RSFSR in October 1920. In October 1930, on the day of the tenth anniversary of the treaty, he was kidnapped by members of the fascist Lapua movement, who planned to stage a provocation by leaving him on Soviet territory. He was, however, soon released. Stáhlberg was a member of a commission on the drafting of laws from 1926 to 1946.