Prohibition and smuggling in the archipelago

From 1919 to 1932 alcohol was banned in Finland. Fast boats slipped through the islands with canisters of spirits, the police caught smugglers only by luck, and in the end seven out of ten voters wanted the ban gone.

1920s Classicism · Art Deco

The big story

Prohibition and smuggling in the archipelago

The young republic tried a bold experiment: it banned alcohol. Many people hoped the ban would end drunkenness and poverty. Instead it created a new trade. Spirits came in by sea, and the islands off Turku, with thousands of rocks and channels, were good country for smugglers.

A dry country

A long road. Parliament had passed prohibition laws several times, but the emperor refused to confirm them (stop 34). The law was finally confirmed on 29 May 1917 and came into force two years later, on 1 June 1919 Well documented.
One of the first acts. Prohibition was one of the first big reforms of independent Finland Well documented.
Some exceptions. Alcohol was still allowed for medical, scientific and technical use. A doctor’s prescription was one of the few legal ways to get it Well documented.
A crime wave. From 1922 more than 80 percent of the crimes known to the police were about alcohol: breaking the ban or being drunk. More than 40 police officers were killed on duty during the prohibition years Well documented.

Pirtu from the sea

Where it came from. The smuggled spirits, called pirtu, came at first mainly from Estonia and later from Germany and Danzig. The years of the ban are still called pirtuaika, “the pirtu time” Well documented.
More every year. Officials seized more smuggled spirits every year. In 1930 the seizures passed one million litres, and that was only what was caught Well documented.
By luck. At a meeting of officials in 1925, they admitted that catching a smuggler happened “as if by luck”. Searches focused on the coast, not the open sea, so most seizures were small single loads. Some policemen even had improper contacts with smugglers Well documented.
Cars and boats. By 1927 about 200 smugglers’ cars had been confiscated. Seized cars and boats were sold at auction, and the money was split between the police, the informer and the customs officer Well documented.
Famous names. The best-known smugglers, such as Algoth Niska and Hjalmar Mäkelä, were not from Turku. We have found no named smugglers from Turku Well documented.

The islands

Home-made spirits. In the archipelago, home-distilled spirits were common already in the early 1900s Likely.
Mixed feelings. Islanders disapproved of smuggling, admired it, looked the other way or took part out of need. Likely.
Smugglers’ tours. Today Naantali, next to Turku, sells boat tours on the theme of the smugglers’ archipelago Likely.

The end of the ban

A vote. On 29–30 December 1931 Finns voted in a referendum. Over 70 percent wanted the ban ended completely, 28 percent wanted to keep it, and about 2 percent chose a middle option that would have allowed mild drinks Well documented.
Ten o’clock. Prohibition ended on 5 April 1932. That morning at 10 o’clock the first shops of Alko, the new state alcohol company, opened their doors Well documented.

How do we know?

Court records, police statistics and newspapers tell the national story well. For the Turku archipelago we found much less: no named smugglers, boats or chases, only a tourist brochure about smuggling around Naantali. The picture of the islands on this page is therefore partly general, and marked as likely.

Tap the numbers to follow a load of spirits from the sea to a customer.

1 June 1919prohibition comes into force

80 %of crimes known to police were about alcohol, from 1922

1,000,000 lof spirits seized in 1930

70 %voted to end prohibition in 1931

How spirits reached the customer. Tap the numbers. The four boxes give the key numbers of prohibition.A schematic scene, not a map of the Turku archipelago. The way loads were moved from ships to small boats is general knowledge and marked as likely.

Why it matters

Prohibition showed that a law most people do not respect is very hard to enforce. It filled the courts, made criminals of ordinary people and gave smugglers a fortune. When it ended, Finland chose a state monopoly instead, and Alko still sells strong drinks in Finland today.

On the lighter side

Paavo Nurmi, the runner from Turku

A poor boy from Turku became one of the greatest runners of all time. Paavo Nurmi won nine Olympic gold medals, set 22 official world records and became famous around the world as “the Flying Finn”. His statue still stands in the middle of his home town.

A poor childhood

Born in Turku. Paavo Nurmi was born in Turku on 13 June 1897. His father, Johan Fredrik, was a carpenter, and his mother was Matilda Wilhelmiina Laine. The family lived in Raunistula Well documented.
One room. In 1903 the family moved to a 40-square-metre flat in central Turku, where Nurmi lived until 1932. His father died in 1910 and a sister in 1911. The family rented out the kitchen and lived in one room Well documented.
Errand boy. Paavo left school at about 12 to work as an errand boy for a bakery Well documented.
Running to swim. As a boy he ran or walked six kilometres to swim at Ruissalo and back. At 11 he ran 1,500 metres in 5 minutes 2 seconds Well documented.
Inspired. When Hannes Kolehmainen won at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912, Nurmi bought his first running shoes. He was 15. In 1914 he joined the club Turun Urheiluliitto and won his first race, over 3,000 metres Well documented.

The Flying Finn

Three Olympics. At Antwerp in 1920 Nurmi won three gold medals and one silver. At Paris in 1924 he won five gold medals, among them the 1,500 and 5,000 metres. At Amsterdam in 1928 he won one gold and two silver Well documented.
World records. He set 22 official world records at distances from 1,500 metres to 20 kilometres, and 58 if unofficial ones are counted Well documented.
A stopwatch in his hand. Nurmi was known for training hard and for running with a stopwatch, checking his pace lap by lap Likely.
Banned. In 1932 the international athletics federation barred him from the Los Angeles Olympics. German race organisers claimed he had been paid $250–500 a race, and at that time Olympic athletes had to be amateurs. The ban became final in 1934, and he stopped racing Well documented.
The flame. At the Helsinki Olympics in 1952 he carried the torch into the stadium and lit the Olympic flame. He died in Helsinki on 2 October 1973 and was given a state funeral Well documented.

Nurmi in Turku today

The statue. Wäinö Aaltonen made a bronze statue of the running Nurmi in 1925. The original is in the Ateneum art museum in Helsinki, and copies stand in Turku, Jyväskylä, outside the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki and at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne Well documented.
A cap for Vappu. The Turku statue stands at the corner of Aurakatu and Hämeenkatu. Every Vappu Eve technology students put a student cap on it (stop 36) Well documented.
His name lives on. Turku has the Paavo Nurmi Games, an athletics meeting held since 1957, the Paavo Nurmi Marathon since 1992, and the Paavo Nurmi Stadium, named after him in 1997 Well documented.

Paavo Nurmi’s life as one lap of the track. Run on from station to station and watch the medal rack fill up.The stations are evenly spaced, not to scale in time.

How do we know?

Nurmi’s races were timed, reported and filmed, so his results are well known. His childhood is told in biographies. We did not find the year when the copy of the statue was put up in Turku, or the exact house where he was born.

Why it matters

For a small new country, Nurmi’s victories were a source of great pride, and they made Finland known around the world. His story, from one crowded room in Turku to the top of the Olympic podium, is still told to young athletes. The quarrel over his amateur status also shows how sport was changing from a pastime into a profession.

Sources and further reading

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