Hella Wuolijoki

Ella Marie Murrik was born in Helme, Estonia, on July 21, 1886. Moving to Helsinki to study history and folklore, she married politician Wäinö Wuolijoki, building a vast timber export business while maintaining radical socialist convictions.

Writing under the male pseudonym Juhani Tervapää, she penned the celebrated Niskavuori cycle of plays depicting strong matriarchs defending rural estates. Sheltering Bertolt Brecht in 1940, she co-authored Herr Puntila and His Man Matti. Sentenced to life imprisonment for treason in 1943 for anti-war mediation, she was freed in 1944, serving as general director of Yleisradio.