Max Jakobson

He was born in 1923 in Viipuri, Finland (now Vyborg, Russia), as son of Finnish-Jewish tailor Leo Jakobsson and his ethnic Finnish wife Helmi (née Virtanen).

 His grandfather was born in Latvia and settled in Finland when he finished his military service in Viborg. In 1941 he graduated from Helsinki. In 1942 he enlisted in the Finnish army and fought in the subsequent war against the Soviet Union in the Karelia region. After the war he began his career as a journalist and was a BBC correspondent in London from 1946-1948 and a reporter for the Finnish-language newspaper Uusi from 1948-1953.

From 1953 to 1974 he was employed by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs eventually acting as Finland's ambassador to the United Nations in 1965-1971 and Finland's Ambassador to Sweden in 1971−1974. He ran for United Nations Secretary-General in the 1971 selection. He was one of three candidates to receive the required 9 votes in the Security Council, but he was vetoed by the Soviet Union.

He was active as a commentator on Finnish politics, having written several books and numerous articles on Finnish political history and contemporary Finnish politics. He also acted as chairman of the Estonian International Commission for Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity investigating Communist and Nazi crimes in Estonia.