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by Algemeiner Staff
Finland’s new cabinet — including Economy Minister Vilhelm Junnila (back row, third from left) — pictured at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki. Photo: Reuters/STT-Lehtikuva/Sipa USA
Finland’s newly-appointed minister for the economy has apologized for two speeches in which he appeared to praise the former Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, the minister, Vilhelm Junnila, said that he was sorry for remarks he labeled “stupid and childish.”
Junnila — a supporter of the ultranationalist Finns Party who was appointed as a minister on Tuesday in Finland’s new coalition government — was apologizing for making the same comment about Hitler at two separate events.
Speaking at a meeting in the city of Turku in 2019, Junnila noted with satisfaction that his local party chairman’s election number was “88” — code among neo-Nazis for the letters “HH”, signifying the greeting “Heil Hitler.”
Then, in March this year, Junnila congratulated another candidate who received the same number at a Finns campaign event, according to the Finnish broadcaster Yle.
“First of all, congratulations on an excellent election number. I know it is a winning card. This 88 refers, of course, to the two ‘H’s, but let’s not dwell on that,” the 41-year-old Junnila is said to have joked.
Writing on social media on Thursday, Junnila said: “I have done something wrong and I am sorry for my actions.”
Junnila acknowledged the video of him speaking in Turku in 2019 is still online, adding had he been invited to a similar event today he would not participate.
He said in a separate Facebook post: “I hope everyone is clear that I condemn the Holocaust, antisemitism and all antisemitic acts strongly and definitely.”
He added that he condemned them “completely.”
