Sylvi Inkeri Metsämies was born on 29 November 1916 in Viipuri, Finland.[1][2] She was the only child of Veini Metsämies, a lawyer, and Sylvi Airio, a musician.[1][3]: 297 Metsämies graduated from high school in 1933 and attended the Faculty of Law at the University of Helsinki. She married Sulo Anttila, a pulmonologist, on 8 December 1934; they had three children born between 1938 and 1944.[4][3]: 297 Inkeri Anttila received the Master of Laws degree in 1937 and passed the bar examination in 1942. The family moved to Imatra where Sulo worked at a local sanatorium, and evacuated five times during the Continuation War.[1][3]: 298