Jukka Tyrkkö

War correspondent Tyrkkö in uniform, 1943.

Jukka Pellervo Tyrkkö (2 April 1912, in Ylöjärvi – 16 October 1979) was a Finnish war writer.

Life

In 1933, at the age of just 21, Jukka Tyrkkö began publishing the first newspaper in Ylöjärvi, entitled Ylöjärvi (now Ylöjärven uutiset). Tyrkkö served in the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS as a war correspondent. Patriotic People's Movement and Blue-and-Blacks activist Tyrkkö sought to build a connection between jaeger movement and the SS Battalion in his writings. For example, his writings in Aamulehti and Rintamamies-, Suomi-Saksa-, Hakkapeliitta- and Ajan Suunta-newspapers was openly anti-Bolshevist and national-socialist. His reports and articles built an image of the Greater Finland and Finland's central position in Germany-led new Europe. He later recounted his experiences in his book Suomalaisia suursodassa (English: Finns in the Great War). From 1943 to 1944 he was also the secretary of the Finnish SS-Aseveljet (the SS Brothers in Arms Association), working as a propagandist.

Works

• Myllärin tytär (My daughter's daughter) (play, 1949)
• Suomalaisia suursodassa. SS-vapaaehtoisten vaiheita jääkäreiden jäljillä 1941–43 (Finns in the Great War) (1960)
• Kultakello (English: Gold watches) (novel, 1970)
• Sallan savotta 1941 (1971)
• Pajari rintamakenraalina: Aaro Olavi Pajari (1897–1949) sotilaana, esimiehenä ja ihmisenä (English: Pajari as Front Colonel: Aaro Olavi Pajari (1897-1949) as a Soldier, Head and Man )(1974)
• Lauri Törnin tarina: vapaustaistelijan vaiheita Viipurista Vietnamiin (English: Lauri Törni's Story: A Liberty Fighter from Vyborg to Vietnam) (1975)