Tito Colliander ja Hitlerin Saksa: Poliittisen pyhiinvaeltajan profiili

Mikä sai suomalaiset kulttuurivaikuttajat ihailemaan Hitlerin Saksaa? Kirjailija Tito Colliander (1904–1989) oli osa älymystöä – kirjailijoita, taiteilijoita, tutkijoita ja journalisteja – joka ihaili kansallissosialistista Saksaa. Millaista oli kirjallinen fasismi, jota Colliander ja hänen aikalaisensa kuten Örnulf Tigerstedt ja Bertel Gripenberg edustivat? Yhteiskunta- ja sosiaalihistoriallinen tutkimus fasismista yhdistelee kirjallisuushistoriaa, poliittista historiaa, sosiologiaa ja filosofiaa. Sosiologisen tulkinnan kautta avautuu uusi näkökulma Collianderin ja hänen aikalaistensa maailmankuvaan ja toimintaan. Teos tarjoaa uutta tietoa älymystön poliittisista valinnoista. Autoritaaristen aatteiden vahvistuminen ja nationalismin nousu ovat tehneet aiheesta ajankohtaisen myös 2000-luvun alun poliittisessa kulttuurissa ja ilmapiirissä. Abstract (English) Tito Colliander and Hitler’s Germany. A Profile of a Political Pilgrim Tito Colliander (1904–1989), a Finnish-Swedish writer, became known to his readers for his fluent memoirs but also as an Orthodox religious writer and teacher. A much less known part of his career was his activity with the Nazi Germany during the 1930s and 1940s. This study will provide a historical description of Colliander’s visits in Germany in 1934, 1937 and 1942, and his writings about the new political order in Germany. He can be called a political pilgrim according to professor Paul Hollander. This study focuses specially on the sociological background of Tito Colliander, such as the severe social and financial problems of his family during the Russian Revolution in 1917 and so forth, ancestors of his family as military officers over many generations, the instability of the political society in Finland after the Civil War in 1918 and, last but not least, his close relations with the Finnish-Swedish far-right radicalism and its representatives, above of all Örnulf Tigerstedt and Bertel Gripenberg. This study will show how the sociological background of Tito Colliander can help us to understand his activity and conformism to Hitler and the Third Reich. Colliander can be connected, like Tigerstedt and Gripenberg, to the far-right radicalism and intellectual or literal fascism in Finland during the 1930s and 1940s.