Leo-Lassi Saarela mysteriously disappeared in the late 1960s. INCLUDES PLOT DISCOVERIES!
Actor Erkki Saarelan brother Leo-Lassi disappeared in Paris in 1969. After a two-month stay in the country, the only thing left of the young visual artist was a backpack and passport. They were found on the banks of the Seine.
Leo-Lassi had traveled a lot in the past. For years, he used to go abroad to work and visit museums in addition to his visual arts studies. However, the adventure years were interrupted by marriage.
– Then there were problems in the marriage. They (the couple) ended up living apart. That’s when Leo-Lassi left Vihan and the goal was Paris.
– I had gone to Theater School. He called me and wanted to meet. We met in front of the Old Cup. I said I’m getting a student loan, but I won’t get it until Monday. He (Leo-Lassi) gave me the money and on Monday I had to pay him back, Erkki Saarela says in the latest episode of the Lost Finland program.
On Sunday, he received a call from his brother about a cargo ship. Leo-Lassi had decided to travel to Brittany.
– I said what when I owed you. ‘Yes, you have time to take care of them,’ he said.
Silence
From Brittany, the brother continued to Paris, but the man no longer belonged. Leo-Lassi was 29 years old at the time.
The home crowd began to wonder when there were no contacts.
– Yes, the disappearance did. It wasn’t on my mind all the time, but from time to time.
– It brought some kind of loneliness. However, he had been an important person to me, Saarela recalls his mood in the midst of radio silence.
A report of the disappearance was made and the embassy was contacted, but nothing survived.
When the backpack was found, it occurred to those close to him whether Leo-Lassi had intentionally jumped into the Seine – or fallen there, for example, in a drunken state.
Erkki Saarela believed all the time that a brother could still be found. Matti Matikainen
Censorship struck
After two years of silence, Leo-Lassi’s wife, who was in separation, expressed the hope that the man would be pronounced dead.
– I especially opposed it. I said no at all. I’m pretty sure he’ll pop out one day, Saarela recalls.
After Leo-Lassi had been missing for three years, the family received an incredible message about Djibouti in East Africa: Leo-Lassi said he was in a legion of aliens. In a seven-page letter, the man recounted his life.
Saarela replied to his brother and asked him to write more. He was particularly interested in an alien legion, the existence of which was no longer acknowledged by France.
– After that, I got cards, but they were short and didn’t say much, they say, Saarela.
Censorship had struck.
– My letter had been translated and he got fucked, Saarela sums up.
Life in the alien legion got tough somewhere and Leo-Lassi tried to escape. However, the man was caught and tortured.
From a clean table
The reason for joining the Legion became clear later. The money was running out, there was no information about the future and suicide came to mind. While the man was still robbed in Paris and nothing was left, the alien legion began to entice.
Leo-Lassi got a new profession and a name, and thus a new identity. He had the opportunity to start life from a clean slate.
Leo-Lassi’s relatives in Finland were relieved by the knowledge that the man was alive and as if safe. It was not known what the conditions were like there and what the service really was like.
Brother at the door
Eventually, Leo-Lassi contacted the UN and said the legion was being tortured. He caught his revelations and was interrogated. As he escaped, Leo-Lassi got a bullet on his back.
In the middle of Saarela’s theater performance, the news came that a brother leaning on his crutch was asking him at the door.
– It was really great, even though there was a fight first. That don’t come now, wait a minute, I’ll make the show off first.
– But he walked in the door. It was a moment of joy, Saarela recalls the encounter.
The brother was murmured as a human being, but he still wanted to return to Finland and continue his life as a visual artist.
– He was no longer the same person, Saarela sums up.
Saarela asked her brother many times what was the reason for joining the legion.
– In the end, he said it was his way to commit suicide. But a rather slow suicide, Saarela says.
Leo-Lassi died at Midsummer in 1989. He was 50 years old when he died.
Lost Finland on Tuesdays on Discovery + and at 8 pm on TV5. See all TV programs and broadcast times in Telku’s TV guide.