Risto Ryti
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Risto Heikki Ryti was a Finnish politician who served as the president of Finland from 1940 to 1944. Ryti started his career as a politician in the field of economics and as a political background fig
Portrait c. 1943–1944
Ryti's home in Helsinki 1918-35
Plaque on the above building
Having given the solemn oath on 19 December 1940, Ryti leaves the parliament alone. His predecessor, Kallio, suffered a heart attack and died the same day.
Continuation War
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The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration o
Risto Ryti
…within the framework of the League of Nations. Ryti served as prime minister during the Winter War and the Interim Peace, and as president during the Continuation War. Ryti penned the 1944 Ryti–Ribbentrop Agreement – named after himself and Joachim von Ribbentrop – a personal letter to Nazi German Führer Adolf Hitler…
Finnish soldiers at the VT-line of fortifications during the Soviet Vyborg–Petrozavodsk offensive in June 1944
Finnish flags at half-mast in Helsinki on 13 March 1940 after the Moscow Peace Treaty became public
Vasilyevsky Island in Saint Petersburg, pictured in 2017. During the Winter and Continuation Wars, Leningrad, as it was then known, was of strategic importance to both sides.
Finnish, German, and Soviet military formations at the start of the Continuation War in June and July 1941