[1] He was a crew member of the Finnish boat Nina, which won the silver medal in the 10 metre class.

The Wahl family had made its fortune by various businesses, many of which were connected to the construction of the Saimaa Canal around the 1850s.

Only two outsiders, Onni Suhonen and Yrjö Suomalainen, both well known Finnish violinists, had keys and access to Harry Wahl's home safe in Vyborg.

[5] Harry Wahl died the same year 1940, and most of his wealth, real estate in the Vyborg area, had to be left behind as his family evacuated to Finland.

There, they had to sell the instruments at low prices to start new lives, and the collection was spread around the world.