**Harry Johannes Järv** (1921 - 2009) was an
[anarcho-syndicalist](Anarcho-Syndicalism "wikilink") translator,
librarian, writer and veteran of [World War
II](World_War_II "wikilink").

## Life

### Personal Life

He was born to a farming family in Western
[Finland](Republic_of_Finland "wikilink"), after graduating high school
he worked on boats. He enlisted with the Finnish Army in 1939 as war
with the [USSR](Union_of_Soviet_Socialist_Republics "wikilink") (now
[Russia](Russian_Federation "wikilink")) broke out, he led covert recon,
sabotage and attack missions behind enemy lines. He was wounded by a
landmine and spent the next year in a hospital in
[Stockholm](Kingdom_of_Sweden "wikilink") and had his leg amputated. He
was awarded three freedom crosses and two freedom medals, and was
nominated to be a knight by four generals, which he rejected. He soon
become a scholar and writer at a [university](university "wikilink"),
writing over 50 books and editing magazines. He was an avid fan of
[Franz Kafka](Franz_Kafka "wikilink") and collected over 14,000
books.\[1\]\[2\]

### Radicalisation

He became radicalised by reading [Peter
Kropotkin's](Peter_Kropotkin "wikilink") books as a teenager and the
ideas of [Niilo Wälläri](Niilo_Wälläri "wikilink") while working at
sea.\[3\]

### Political Activities

During World War II, he ran his unit as a [democratic
militia](Democratic_Militia "wikilink"), causing conflict with the chain
of command due to his ideas of elected commanders and equality between
troops. He also joined the anarcho-syndicalist union [Central
Organisation of the Workers in
Sweden](Central_Organisation_of_the_Workers_in_Sweden "wikilink") in
1952.\[4\]

### Death

He died at age 88 in 2009.\[5\]

## References

<references />

1.  [Wikipedia](Wikipedia "wikilink") -
    <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_J%C3%A4rv>
2.  [Wikipedia](Wikipedia "wikilink") (Swedish) -
    <https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_J%C3%A4rv>
3.
4.
5.