Small pieces from Riihimäki

In Pirkko Arhipa's suspense novel "Death in a Picture", MP Kristiina Heinari-Tikanniemi travels with her son to the north of Helsinki by train. On the way, he observes his familiar MP colleague, who gets off at Riihimäki station.

"The MP got lost in Riihimäki. We were up against it. Two plump men in poplin jackets stood under the clock, waiting. They beat each other's hands for a long time. The member of parliament said something that others laughed at. They left on foot through the station hall. No one looked after the MP. Kristiina thought that if she was mean, she would tell about it the next time she met a man."

"Many new passengers came from Riihimäki. The wagon started to fill up. The old woman, panting heavily, trotted a lot behind the others, glanced at the place left empty by Kaijuhan, but did not stop, but laboriously went forward.

(Arhippa, Pirkko: Death in the picture: a suspense novel, 1987, pp. 56–57)

In Jörn Donner's novel Linnun varjo, David, a middle-aged official of the Ministry of Culture, encounters a woman on the train on the way from Helsinki to Riihimäki, who looks at him inquisitively.

"To break the wall of silence, David asked the woman where she was going.
To Riihimäki."

(Donner, Jörn: The shadow of the bird, 2004, p. 140)

In the conversation, it is revealed that the woman is a high school sweetheart, Sofia, whom David did not recognize at first.

"It was said loudly in three languages ​​that the train would stop right at Riihimäki, Sofia started gathering her things, bag, handbag, gloves."

"When he stepped onto the platform he looked up. He stopped. David recognized the furtive smile that had beamed at him through the long school hours and short nights.

The train started."

(Donner, Jörn: The shadow of the bird, 2004, p. 142)

Kai Ekholm, chief librarian of the National Library, who spent his childhood and teenage years in Riihimäki, has written his first novel. According to those books, the detective story "You must be judged" investigates the death of a dead girl found in the National Library. Kalju, a private detective investigating the case, travels to Riihimäki to interview a war veteran related to the case.

"Kalju drove to Riihimäki on the red and white R-train. At the station, Imela was greeted by a lumberjack. Kalju walked across the railway bridge in the direction of Patastenmäki for another kilometer. Henttonen had seemed refreshed on the phone and wanted to talk about anything. Had been employed by the railways after the war and retired from there. Wife and son working at Paloheimo, doing sawmill work. A life lived by the whistle.”

(Ekholm Kai: According to those books you must be judged, 2013, p.226)

The poet Teemu Helle, currently living in Riihimäki, writes in his poem "Riihimäki-Rock (Nine instructions for a migrant)"

"2. Beware of the Bermuda Triangle: Take your early retirement to Atom, Let your health begin. In the end, you will be behind your time on Hämeenkatu."

(Teemu Helle: Land of Happiness)

Riihimäkä poet Mirja Hämäläinen's poem Kevät kurkkii leads the Easter city to spring on the slopes of Allinna Mäki.

Spring is peeking

"Spring has come to the city again
the streets are slushy, mud is flying.
A couple deserve the Allinna slope
of course it has appeared after all.
Hey, the shark bunnies are peeing
Hello, shark spring peeps:
Is the sun dancing in the sky?"

(Hämäläinen Mirja: Excerpt from the poem Kevät kurkii, The joys of living, 2009, p. 32)

In Juha Itkonen's novel "Seitsemäntoita", a young boy from Hämeenlinna, Henrik, gets to know Riihimäki's nightlife as a minor. The city darkened by the recession of the 90s does not give an attractive image of Riihimäki.

"Of all the places in the world, they are in Riihimäki. Riihimäki is just a stain along the track, smaller and uglier than the other stains. Riihimäki is the sports field where Henrik has run his XNUMX meter record. Riihimäki is rails and electric wires and grannies freezing in the sleet at the station, maybe also a glass museum where he visited as a child with grandpa and grandma. Riihimäki, Henrik would like to ask Vesku why the hell Riihimäki, but he doesn't."

(Juha Itkonen: Seventeen, 2010, p. 40)

Jan Jalutsi's personal prison stories describe prison life, the relationships between prisoners and guards, and the change in prison care. Many stories take place in Riihimäki prison, called "Rio de Rix".

“So there are many wards and their natures vary, but then there is a place called the Bronx. The correct name of the department is 3.2. No one can get to work from this department, and few from there would want to go anywhere as depressing to the spirit and mind as the workplace. "

"And if one thing is certain, it's the fact that no one from Rixu's staff wants to talk about or even remember the department in question and its activities anymore. At least not in a good way!”

(Jan Jalutsi: Stories from a travel cell, 2011, pp. 13–14)

In Jantso Jokelin's collection of essays "Travel guide ei-minnekän" memories from the crossroads are picked up in the essay of the same name. Jantso Jokelin belongs to the Jokelini theater family, which has long influenced Riihimäki. The essay recalls, among other things, the Riihimäki theater fire in 1976, when the entire life's work of the theater's long-time costume designer Aili Jokelin burned to the ground. Aili Jokelin was Jantso's grandmother.

Memories from the crossing station

"However, one of the most turning points in my family's history was the Riihimäki theater fire in 1976. The entire building burned to ashes, and almost nothing was saved. Three times I saw my mother cry. Most of all, I remember when the roof of the theater burst into flames, destroying the theater's hundreds of handmade costumes, my mother's life's work. Everything burned to the ground in front of his eyes," the father recalls.

(Jantso Jokelin: Matkaopas ei-minneak, 2012, p. 122)

In Jari Järvelä's novel "The Weight of Water", 18-year-old Yrjö Pihlava goes in 1919 to become the leader of a log float to Aunus Miinalanjoki. When the train stops at Riihimäki station due to a technical fault, he goes for a walk around the station. He drifts into the courtyards of the railway workers' houses lining Maantie. Yrjö meets a little boy hunting rats under the hood, whom he follows to pass the time. Following the boys, he ends up back at the station platform and notices the same boys roasting rats and selling them to passengers.

"There were problems with the locomotive from the beginning. The train jerked between stations, and in Riihimäki the conductor went around saying that the train would have to stop for an extra hour due to the renovation of the locomotive's cranks.

A crowd poured out of the carriages onto the station platform. I ran my index finger through the ringing hair and started to caress Katri"

(Järvelä, Jari: The weight of water, 2001, p. 74)

"I only got the word "Katri" on the paper, I started to dance too. Next to the station were the long, narrow houses of the railway workers. I went from the fire alley to the yard and outside to the corner of the hut and eased myself into the side of the hut."

(Järvelä, Jari: The weight of water, 2001, p. 75)

"Boys I knew had gathered a third guy, who was red-cheeked and flipping thin pieces of meat browning on the grill to a golden color. When finished, he wrapped them in soft rolls and poured a reddish sauce on top. He politely told those around him that his late grandmother Elna had taught him the recipe."

(Järvelä, Jari : The weight of water, 2001, p. 77)

In 1955, a train was moving on the Finnish railways that transported Miss Universe, Armi Kuusela and her Filipino husband Gil Hilario. For a fee, people were allowed to marvel at the super couple of their time in a train carriage. In Risto Karlsson's joyful story set in Kouvola, the train also stops at Riihimäki station.

"On Riihimäki, someone had burst out laughing while watching Gil, finished it in the middle and left the wagon giggling by himself.

The scar had turned red. One of the ladies from Riihmäkela in the carriage had whispered to him that he shouldn't care. The woman was a commoner, a construction site canteen keeper, who in her profession did not have to deal with civilized society. Armi had laughed but glanced at Gil sitting in the carriage next to the table. He had a petrified expression on his face.”

(Karlsson, Risto: Armi tulle, Armi tulle, 1999, p. 74)

Martti Laine's Kuilu novel describes the Riihimäki prison camps during the civil war.

"It was only a few weeks later that I started to regain consciousness. The first clear and forever etched observation I made was crushing – I saw my companion, Levi, insane. The sad fact gradually began to dawn on me - I was a prisoner in the Riihimäki prison camp, crammed into a large, boarded-up shed.

Leevi, that gray-haired old man, former member of the Bible Study Society, sub-commander of A-Company, my comrade in arms and my friend - as a sidekick. We huddled in the corner of the board shed and greedily ate nettle soup."

(Laine, Martti (Larni, Martti): Kuilu: the story of a certain human fate, 1937, p. 127)

Riihimäkä artist Reino Laitasalo's poem "Potemkin's Steps" began as a work of mourning. Reino Laitasalo says in the foreword of the book:

"After my wife Ella-Maija died suddenly after 40 years of being together, there was a need to express the loss. Since I couldn't express it in paintings as I would have liked, I started writing poems."

Laitasalo's poems are outbursts of emotion, memories from travels, memories from childhood in Pispalala. The work is illustrated with paintings by Reino Laitasalo. The last part of the book is named after Ismon Pakari, a confectionary-café in Riihimäkä, where the artist sits with a cup of coffee.

Rain. I go to Ismo's bakery for coffee.
I sit down like always.
In front of the window, on the right side of the table
you can watch people and cars passing by.
Ismo, seventy,
a man with a walrus mustache and gray hair
visit the oven once in a while, then come back.
We try to start a conversation together,
when there are no others. It doesn't want to start.
I drink my coffee and eat my Karelian pie,
which Ismo has reluctantly warmed up.
After drinking and eating, I stop trying.
Today is not a day for debate.
I get up from my chair and wave my hand to Ismo.
I walk out the door, onto the street wet from the rain.

(Laitasalo, Reino: Potemkin's steps, 2011, p. 102)

In Maiju Lassila's folk comedy, portman Jönni Lumperi wins two thousand marks with the lottery he received from trade advisor Jöns Lundberg and starts to speculate at the expense of the wealthy. He ventures into the world of both the rich and the homeless, making million-dollar deals in Tampere with non-existent money. Jönni is even declared dead, but rises from the dead and continues his adventures. On the way home from Tampere to Helsinki, Jönni gets caught in the tube in Hämeenlinna with a group of scammers. After being freed, he delivers the tiirika to the swindlers and continues on the night train to Riihimäki himself. Inspector Nuutinen from Tampere has been trying to get Jönni behind bars for a long time, but he thinks Jönni is dead. Nuutinen has to take the train to Riihimäki to investigate the cognac theft of doctor Puttilainen.

"But now Nuutinen had to go to Riihimäki on official business. The swindlers released by Jönni had made a small mess there.

They actually broke into the doctor Puttilainen's basement with Jönni's tiara and took the twelve liters of cognac that Jönni had taken to the station while Puttilainen himself was operating on him."

(Lassila, Maiju: Risen from the dead, 1961, p. 224)

"But at the same time, Jönni was begging in Riihimäki for travel money to Helsinki. People didn't want to give it to him, and he was already down."

(Lassila, Maiju: Risen from the dead, 1961, p. 225)

"Jönni's stay and being had raised suspicions in Riihimäki. I guess he stole those cognacs. Jönni had taken his coffin and cross into the forest. We kept an eye on him and waited for Nuutinen to come."

(Lassila, Maiju: Risen from the dead, 1961, p. 226)

Ulla-Lena Lundberg's "Marzipan soldier" tells about the winter and continuation war from the perspective of Kummel's family of teachers. One of the sons in the family, Göran has to go to Riihimäki for training at the beginning of the winter war. At first, the newbies will be accommodated in the Southern Folk School. In addition to the training place, Göran also skis around Riihimäki. The book contains many descriptions of Riihimäki during the winter war.

"Riihimäki. Apprentice Göran Kummel stays with 125 others at Eteläinen kansakoulu, there are 29 men in the room. Good tiled stove, moderately warm. Tea and a sandwich in the morning, potatoes and sausage for breakfast or porridge and milk, soup and crackers for dinner."

(Lundberg, Ulla-Lena: The Marzipan Soldier, 2001, p. 59)

"In mid-February, 80 Russian planes fly over Riihimäki airspace and drop their cargo. Houses are burning all over the city, and one bomb shelter takes a complete hit. Everyone dies, including the front-line soldier on leave. That's what the boys talk about a lot: that the guy survived the front, but died when he got home."

(Lundberg, Ulla-Lena: The Marzipan Soldier, 2001, p. 66)

In Hannes Markkula's police novel "Koston piikki" the young chief constable Keijo Tapani Virtamo, who is on leave from Riihmäkela, is murdered.

"Arvo's picture had occasionally appeared in newspapers. Not necessarily always in national ones, but at least once in Keke's hometown in Riihimäki. The man participated in many kinds of business. In Riihimäki, too, he had recently bought the largest hotel in the locality without any complications. Yes, the competitor, the cooperative-based hotel chain, was upset at the time."

(Markkula, Hannes: The thorn of revenge is sharp, 1984, p. 15)

"According to Keke's friends and colleagues, it didn't fit Keke's image. Of course, he used to use swag from time to time anyway, but in the end it was very rare. Usually only in a small group after a workout at the police sauna in Riihimäki."

(Markkula, Hannes: The thorn of revenge is sharp, 1984, p. 49)

Unto-Olavi Niittykukka describes his personal experiences from his prison time in the early 1980s in Riihimäki prison in his novel Mallivanki.

"Three cups of coffee gurgled down my throat while waiting to arrive at Riihimäki. At the station I remembered the stamps. After buying the badges and finding a free taxi, I told the driver to drive to the main gate of the central prison. The taxi driver didn't ask anything. What would he have asked? Kai Riihimäki's taxis had daily rides to the prison. I was by no means a special customer. When I got there, I paid for the ride and got out of the car. There I was, standing in front of the luxurious equipment and looking at my future home. I reached the guard from the guard booth attached to the prison wall. I dug my passport out of my pocket and as I handed it over I said:

– Am I OK, or am I going back?”

(Niittykukka, Unto-Olavi: Model Prisoner, 1987, p. 14)

Juha Numminen's suspense novel about a bank robbery by the Russian mafia is also connected to Riihimäki. The bank manager from Riihimäki in the book, "the top name of the Riihimäki mafia" is being watched by the police at the corner of Hämeenkatu and Keskuskatu. The journalist wife of criminal constable Ilveslinna is simultaneously conducting an interview on mafia topics in Riihimäki, which the jealous police husband interprets as something completely different.

In Numminen's book, we travel between Helsinki and Riihimäki and follow the top figures of the Riihimäki mafia, all of whom come from Riihimäki's Räätykänmäki. The plot also features a charmer minister from Riihmäkä.

"Four hours later in Riihimäki...the light is on in Bank Director Bobi Aarnio's office, even though the doors of the yellow brick Savings Bank building on the corner of Hämeenkatu and Keskuskatu have been closed to customers a long time ago.

A fiery red Pontiac Firebird GTA shines parked on Keskuskatu, Jarkko Kuusinen seems to have a rather long bank affair.

"Can there be a more boring city than Riihimäki?" The patrol stretches his numb back. "Have you seen any beautiful women here during these hours?"

"I have seen..." Jari Ilveslinna tries not to show his growing restlessness. "one."

He doesn't tell Partio that that one beautiful woman was his wife Sari, nor that he is terribly jealous right now."

(Numminen, Juha: A Nightmare from Petersburg: a suspense novel, 1992, p. 140)

The end of the Continuation War in September 1944 with an armistice created a political situation in Finland in which there was fear of Soviet occupation. The Allied Control Commission staying at Hotel Torni demanded that the war criminals be punished. In Harri Raitti's book "Tanner towerin varjossa", the 40 suspected criminals who were placed in Riihimäki prison were sitting in a monthly shop waiting for charges, which are not heard. Kekkonen, Tanner, Varjonen and other politicians of that time also engaged in a mutual power struggle. Inspector Rinne, the main character of the book, sits among the detainees in Riihimäki prison.

"After driving three kilometers from Riihimäki station in the direction of Hämeenlinna, the white walls of the central prison came into view. A gloomy spruce forest grew all around, which was at its height in the October morning twilight. In addition to the prison guard, there were two young soldiers at the gate with machine guns by their sides. That made Rinne ask her escorts:

- Has this been turned into some kind of military prison?

He didn't get an answer, but he didn't expect it either. There were five equally ignorant people in the car. Four took and one was taken. No one knew why.

At Kolko, the entrance rituals were performed again in the reception area. They were much more arrogant than the previous evening in Valpo. The security guard performing the service recorded the personal information and then asked the reason for the arrest."

(Raitis, Harri: In the shadow of Tanner Torn, 2007, p. 22)

Hilkka Ravilo's crime novel Named Eerika tells the story of a Finnish mother born in Lapland and the daughter of a German soldier growing up in post-war Finland. The discriminated Eerika ends up marrying Patastenmäki in Riihimäki through Tampere and Helsinki in the late 1960s. In the book, Eerikan's mother-in-law is murdered in a strange way in Riihimäki, and there is plenty of local color from Riihimäki.

"The taxi driver looked at me with a significant smile.
"Now I'm guessing where Upi is the most beautiful day of the year.",
"This Jaska belongs to the same volleyball team," Unto introduced.
"I'm showing the city that when girls are made into ladies, they can move around here," the taxi driver said.
I saw glass factories, schools, a weapons factory, parks, a cemetery.
"Do you live in Patastenmäki?" the taxi driver asked and Unto agreed.
From the taxi window, I saw large plots of land with old apple trees, berry bushes, and of course, in the corner of each, a blooming potato field, straight rows of carrots, beets, and sedges. The generation that experienced food shortages during the war cannot bear to see uncultivated land. The houses in the Patastenmäki district looked prosperous and well-maintained, with good paint, but there were only a few front-line men's houses there."

(Ravilo, Hilkka: Named Eerika, 2012, pp. 159–160)

In Juha Riikonen's book "Elämäni parquetit" the author travels to different dance venues throughout Southern Finland. He often also goes dancing at the popular Riutanharju dance stage in Riihimäki.

"At the end of the summer, we went to Riutanharju in Riihimäki with a friend we still know. The king of the stages Esko Rahkonen and his orchestra performed."

"The dance floor was very different then; half a dozen bicycles were leaning against the fence, there were outdoor toilets on the slope and there was no information about selling cider. I saw it when they took a pocket mat outside."

(Riikonen, Juha: Elämäni parquetit, 2008, p. 16)

"Riutanharju is still in the middle of the forest in the bosom of nature. Zoning hasn't gotten there and it's unlikely to get there later either. The parking lot is on top of a pine-covered gravel ridge, so it doesn't wave even in heavy rains. But in the heat, the hill literally rustles its dryness."

(Riikonen, Juha: Elämäni parquetit, 2008, p. 85)

"Riuta's stage has a viewing platform in the middle, a fun round tower-like pavilion where you can sit at a height of a couple of meters and watch people go by. Not only does its structure support the roof ridge, it makes the dancers go around the hall in a circle. There is a cold cellar under the pump for storing soft drinks.

The five-meter-diameter love tower also creates its own problems. On one side of the stage is the women's section, which is several rows long. On the best evenings, there is hardly any space between it and the pumple, and it becomes like a bottleneck."

(Riikonen, Juha: Elämäni parquetit, 2008. pp. 85–86)

In Petri Salin's short story, Arnold J. Mälkönen arrives at Riihimäki by train. The book is a collection of the best of the short story competition of the Kouvola detective event from 2008.

Petri Salin: The next train

"The train brakes for the last time and finally people push out onto the platform. We have arrived. We have arrived at the sweaty armpit of humanity called Riihimäki. Where else could a man named Arnold J. Mälkönen live? Inside the carriage, Arnold J. has fallen asleep and the conductor goes to shake him awake. A short but intense exchange of words ensues, ending with Arnold being roughly pushed off the train. I watch from the far side behind the post as Arnold first flies to his knees and then rolls onto his back. A leather briefcase thrown from Arnold's door hits him in the head. He is left lying on the platform and the train gusts away. "

(Crime on the railways, ed. Ritva Sorvali, Maritta Naumanen, 2008 p. 221)

Hannu Salama's realistic depiction of marriage "Days of October" describes the relationship between the writer and his politically active wife, Eija, which is marked by both alcohol and infidelity. Eija describes her escape to another man, Peka, in Riihimäki, where they stop at the legendary restaurant Keitaa on Keskuskatu.

"I continue talking about marriage, I describe a great future, a large tractor store in the center of R:mäki, myself as a respected business woman and a strong wife. Let's go for the middle ground. I meet P's mother. Let's sleep for a couple of hours with the lights off and leave for Keitas."

(Salama, Hannu: October days, 1971, p. 146)

In Arto Salminen's book "Lahti", a rookie in the army volunteers for a special assignment in the middle of the forest. At the same time, the rookie private entrepreneur father is trying to survive under the pressure of growing despair. The book moves around the Hyvinkää and Riihimäki region and elsewhere in southern Finland.

"I started the tour from behind Kehä komlosen, continued to Tuusula, Järvenpää, Jokela, Riihimäki. I went to Karavaan to eat and left from 54 to Oitti, Järvelä and from there to Hollola."

(Salminen, Arto: Lahti, 2004, p. 141)

"Ritva was sitting in Laiskanlinna with a book in her hand and watching TV. On the shelf behind the chair was the 21-part Tieton Värikäs Maailma, which we had bought at the end of the 70s at the Riihimäki wilderness fair. I still remember the backpacker who lured us into his caravan. It made coffee, served Marie cookies, had nice conversations, introduced book series, told about reasonable monthly installments and took orders."

(Salminen, Arto: Lahti, 2004, p. 145)

The story of Salla Simuka's youth success series begins with the book Punainen kain veri. Lumikki Andersson went to school in Riihimäki and transferred to the expressive arts high school in Tampere. This is how Snow White remembers Riihimäki's time.

"He no longer needed to be in Riihimäki. He had applied to high school for expressive arts to get out of there. It might have been difficult for the parents to accept the move to Tampere otherwise, but the desired place in a special high school was a good enough reason."

(Simukka, Salla: Red as blood, 2013, p. 27)

"Snow White Andersson. Finnish-Swedish from Riihimäki.
The one who has a balanced opinion on everything."

(Simukka, Salla: Red as blood, 2013, p. 30)

In the third part of the series, Snow White remembers Riihimäki.

"Lumiki has very few bright memories of Riihimäki. One of them was from the Riihimäki Theater, where Snow White had been watching a play when he was nine years old."

(Simukka, Salla: Musta kain ebenpuu, 2014, p. 45)

In Jarkko Sipilä's detective story "Karu keikka", a criminal named Huhta is serving his sentence in Riihimäki prison. Helsinki's criminal police are investigating the death of a police official from the Ministry of the Interior and are interrogating Huhta several times.

"The parking lot was gravel. The wall of Riihimäki prison was dull. At least there was something traditional about Sörkä's red brick, but Riksu's concrete one was just boring. Of course, that was the intention. The dilapidated yellow brick main building could be seen behind the wall. The prison was located next to the local garrison on the north side of the Tienhaara district. A fitting place, Kohonen thought."

(Sipilä, Jarkko: Karu keikka, 2003, p. 51)

"Kohonen came to the prison gate. Riihimäki prison was part of a ring of three steep houses. In addition, the most dangerous prisoners were kept in Kakola in Turku and Sörka in Helsinki. The specialty of Riihimäki prison, completed in the 1930s, was that sauna stools were made in its carpentry workshop."

(Sipilä, Jarkko: Karu keikka, 2003, p. 56)

The cover of Anja Snellman's book "Pääoma" has a picture of Riihimäki station and the text also has a small scene from Riihimäki station platform. In Capital, Anja Snellman writes the history of her family through the stages of her older sister Maru's life.

"We are standing at Riihimäki station and Ruslan is taking a picture with his small Imperial box camera.
A gang of boys whistles under the clock. Someone's hand flicks next to the ear and points at us. Pointing the finger is ugly, Ludmila has said. Picking your nose is ugly, it has also been said. But I say that speaking Russian in public places is ugly.
I'm not listened to.
We are standing at Riihimäki station and Ruslan says to Maru in clear Russian: go away from it for a moment.
It's a long moment.
We are standing at Riihimäki station, me in the picture with luggage and Maru outside the picture, alone.

(Snellman, Anja: Pääoma, 2013, pp. 101–102)

In Anni Swan's "Iris ruka", we stop at Riihimäki station and think about stopping by the famous station restaurant on the train journey to Helsinki.

"The bell rang, the train stopped at Riihimäki. The girls got up and started walking.
"Aren't you coming for tea?" asked the strange girl.
"No," answered Kaarina, "We'll be in Helsinki soon."
He decided to save his money, after all, he had Lanter's great apples and Mari's sweet pies."

(Swan, Anni: Iris rukka, 1955, p. 87)

The protagonist of Jari Tervo's "Mole", Jura Karhu, a detective of the Protection Police, the heir of an old communist family, is given the task of exposing the power of a spy from the highest level. The novel also mentions the Riihimäki garrison, where his uncle, Achilles Karhu, imprisoned for communism, was transferred in the summer of 1941.

"After a couple of months, the uncle was on a train to Riihimäki, when the bourgeois came up with the idea of ​​sending the communists to the front to fight against their beloved Soviet Union."

(Tervo, Jari: Myyrä, 2004, p. 45)

"The suddenly assembled unpatriotic and dishonest punishment department consisted of three hundred communists and four hundred other thugs, as Major Pärmi, who heads the department, roared in the yard of the Riihimäki garrison. In his frenzy, he kicked the sand in the barrack yard and raised clouds of dust."

(Tervo, Jari: Myyrä, 2004, pp. 45–46)

In Markku Turunen's vejari novel "Water is lighter" the devilish search is made from Riihimäki to Savonlinna.

"According to Dörtsi's instructions, Kyösti parked a large van in the parking lot of Riihimäki railway station, it just fit in the parking space. He himself had restored the car for horse transport. He left the key on the left front tire of the car and walked a few blocks to the local cupola. He greeted the hedgehog-haired and stocky porter and said he came from Dörts' place."

(Turunen, Markku: Water is lighter, 2001, p. 12)

Antti Tuur's "Big grain train from Siberia" tells about bringing a cargo of grain from Siberia to Finland. In February 1918, Oskari Tokoi, who led the senate, sent three trains to Omsk in Siberia to pick up the grain cargo promised by Lenin to Finland, which had drifted into famine. Jaakko Rahja, the brother of the well-known red captains Eino and Jukka Rahja, became the master of one train. The work describes a trip full of stages of almost four thousand kilometers through Russia. The relieved mood of a successful trip is described at the stop at Riihimäki station.

"We received information in Lahti that Kullervo Manner and Lindqvist would meet us at Riihimäki. There were a lot of people at Riihimäki station when the train was driven in front of the station platform. I was the first to go out to the platform and greeted Manner and Lindqvist holding hands, and the other men also got off the train to the platform. Then Lindqvist spoke, who thanked us for our feat and praised the railway workers and their professionalism and courage, without which the almost four thousand kilometer journey to Siberia would not have been possible."

(Tuuri, Antti: Suuri grain train from Siberia, 2009, p. 198–199)

In Vesa Vanhanen's suspenseful novel "Seitemän kösin", criminal police constable Pekka Konttinen arrives with his colleague in Riihimäki to interview Timo Kataja, a witness to the murder in Hämeenkoski. Vesa Vanhanen lives in Lahti, but teaches history and social studies in Riihimäki.

"They drove to Riihimäki on road 54. The drive did not offer any strange sights. Lots of fields, but few lakes.”

(Vanhanen, Vesa: Seven is right, 2013, p. 221)

"Timo Kataja lived in a small two-room apartment in the center of Riihimäki, next to the K store. Konttinen managed to park the car in the yard of the house, which can be considered a small miracle. There were only two guest seats and luckily one of them was free."

(Vanhanen, Vesa: Seven is right, 2013, p. 222)

Writer, critic and journalist Jarno Pennanen almost poetically describes his arrival at Riihimäki prison in the May snowfall. Jarno Pennanen was sentenced to prison for treason during the Continuation War. In May 1944, he was transferred from Turku County Prison to Riihimäki Central Prison. In Riihimäki, he wrote his poetry series Jeremiaan mure (1945). Large fir trees can be seen through the lattice windows of the prison, the colors of whose tops change with the weather and lighting. Sometimes in the wind "they sway as if worn out or half dead" or on a calm day "Now the spruces on the wall of Tahpanhee are blue-red. They are like Indian chiefs in their festive costumes". (p. 367)
Jarno Pennanen was married to Riihimäkä writer-poet Anja Vammelvuo.

"Riihimäki

The unexpected always happens. We got to Riihimäki so late that I ended up on the side of the "passengers" with my belongings. The arrival was unforgettable, a thick snowdrift fell on the yellowing birch leaves and green sedge. The landscape was somehow unreal, fairytale-like, charming and scary at the same time, even a little bit of freezing temperatures and that beauty would have turned into death.
A painting should have been painted about it: Finnish spring. But the natural phenomenon itself is so rare that I have never seen it painted.
Then the entrance to the yard, high walls, a large building complex, windows.
And finally the hall and cell doors from the outside just like in first class hotels.
And then I forgot for a moment to look at the room. Roughly plastered light blue walls, a greenish gray, deep door frame, an orange molding and a beige gray door. For the first time I saw something in a prison building that was meant to make people happy."

(Pennanen, Jarno: Tervetultua tervemenoa: Jarno's saga 2, 1970, pp. 349–350)

Poet Arvo Turtiainen was imprisoned in Riihimäki Central Prison from January to summer 1943. He was accused of participating in treasonous activities.

"The prison surprised me with its cleanliness and modernity. Then I remembered reading somewhere that Riihimäki is a model prison and that all outsiders, tourists, foreign specialists in the prison field, etc., who are interested in prison conditions, are brought to Riihimäki to get to know Finland's excellent prison conditions."

(Turtiainen, Arvo: Ihminen no. 503/42 : Diary of an experiment, 1966, p. 204)

"My cell is bright, airy and clean, downright hotel-like next to Katajanokka's flea cupboard and Turku's damp twilight room. The cell window is at human height, so you don't have to get up on a stool to peek out. However, the view opens only to a sanded yard surrounded by a high wall rising a few tens of meters away. But the wall is plastered white, like all the wall surfaces here, and behind it, above the crest of the wall, the spruces raise their spear tips towards the open sky. If the cell wasn't cold, I would have a great time. If I wasn't hungry, I'd try to dare to be happy at some point."

(Turtiainen, Arvo: Ihminen no. 503/42 : Diary of an experiment, 1966, pp. 204–205)

Two interesting letters dated in Riihimäki from the early years of the 1900th century are a piece of Finnish literary history. The poet L. Onerva spent a few weeks in Riihimäki at the beginning of 1907, writing to his father:

"Here in Helsinki, a person always gets disturbed in one way or another, and when performing such a task, I have to be completely alone without the slightest influence from the outside... Riihimäki is supposed to have a good apartment available and complete peace. You don't have to speak a word to people visiting Vento."

(Kortelainen, Anna: Nainen tie, 2006, p. 225)

L. Onerva wrote "Mirdjaa" while staying in Riihimäki.

Eino Leino has written a letter to Aino Kallan in Riihimäki on June 25.6.1917, XNUMX. He writes:

"I'm on summer trips, I finished "Underneath my face..." Now I'm incredibly lazy. I can't remember when I've had such a carefree summer ahead of me... Soon I'll be leaving further north, maybe as far as Kajaani"...

(Leino, Eino: Eino Leino's letters to Aino Kallas, friends and communities, 1962, pp. 21, 23)

Onerva and Leino could stay in Riihimäki's famous Olivia Axeen Railway Hotel, whose upper floors are said to have housed famous Helsinki writers finishing their books. The hotel's guest books have been lost, but it is entirely possible, as the letters show, that Onerva and Leino stayed in a comfortable hotel surrounded by parks. (Hämeenmaa 11: Penttilä, Olavi: Riihimäki – restaurant station, 1962, p. 53)