Atos Wirtanen

Atos Kasimir Wirtanen (27 January 1906 in Saltvik – 10 March 1979) was a Finnish left-wing intellectual, journalist, member of Finnish parliament (1936–1953) and cultural critic. He was a close friend of Tove Jansson and they were briefly engaged in the 1940s.

Biography
He rose to fame by parliament from the SDP list, and after that he went to multiple parties from 1946 to 1955. He was fired from two magazines he wrote articles in, twice (1941 and 1947) from the publication Arbetarbladet and once (1953) from the magazine Ny Tid. Atos was close friends with Tove and he was briefly her fiance in the 1940s. He was the main inspiration for Snufkin because of his looks, his hat and pipe, his love for travelling and his view of free life where the material assets are unnecessary. Even after their relationship ended, the two remained close friends and impacted each others’ works greatly.