8. getraun Fornleifs

 

Nú verður aftur brugðið á leik og spurt um forna hluti og gulnaða.

Vissuð þið að getraunir setja í sumu fólki í gang sams konar ferli og hjá spilafíklum? Sel þetta ekki dýrara en ég keypti. Þess vegna er ég ekki með neinn vinning í þessari getraun, nema heiðurinn. Hann er ávallt sætur og eldist aldrei. Ég ætla ekki að leiða lesendur bloggsins út í neinar ógöngur.

Ykkur veikgeðja getraunafólki er hér með sýndur lítill bútur af málverki. Spurningarnar eru:

1) Á hverju heldur höndin á myndinni?

2) Hverjum tilheyrir höndin?

3) Á hvaða tíma var eigandi handarinnar uppi?

Merkir fundir í Surtshelli

Kevin Smith, bandarískur fornleifafræðingur, sem einu sinni lenti í afar ógeðfelldri ófrægingarherferð vegna áhuga síns á Íslandi, er sem betur fer enn að vinna við fornleifarannsóknir á landi okkar. Herferð þeirri, sem ég skýri betur frá síðar, var stýrt af Thomas H. McGovern prófessor í New York sem skrifaði bréf út um allar jarðir til að koma í veg fyrir að Smith græfi á Íslandi og til að gera lítið úr menntun og getu Smiths sem fræðimanns. Kevin Smith varð því um tíma eins og útilegumaður meðal allra þeirra útlendinga sem stundað hafa fornleifafræði á Íslandi.

Því er gott að sjá að Kevin, sem ég hef kynnst lítillega, er á réttum stað, í Surtshelli, sem er örugglega staður þar sem útlagar og útilegufólk hafa alið manninn. Í sumar hefur Kevin Smith ásamt fríðu fylgdarliði gamalla karla fundið nokkra merka grip í mjög þunnu gólflagi í hellinum, m.a. krosslaga hlut.

"Krossinn" in situ

Velta menn því nú mjög fyrir sér á kjaftaklöpp verkefnisins hver kyns sé. Í fjölmiðlum hefur Guðmundur Ólafsson starfsmaður Þjóðminjasafnsins velt vöngum yfir því, hvort útilegumenn eða hellisbúar hafi verið kristnir eða ekki. Ég býst nú við því að Guðmundur sé þar að velta því fyrir sér, hvort "dótið", sem hann svo gjarnan kallar fornminjar, sé frá því eftir að Kristni var lögleidd á Íslandi eða fyrir þann tíma, þ.e.a .s. fyrir 1000, eða þar um bil.

Ég leyfi mér að hafa skoðun á þessu. Krossinn sem fundist hefur í hellinum er að mínu mati met (lóð) úr blýi til að setja á reislu (vog). Slíkir blýkrossar hafa fundist í leifum eftir norræna menn á Bretlandseyjum og að sjálfsögðu í Skandinavíu.

Kross úr blýi með innlagðri koparþynnu, sem er úr blýi, hefur t.d. fundist í heiðnu kumli í Vatnsdal í Patreksfirði sem ég hef skrifað um (sjá hér).

Krossinn í Surtshelli og hinir gripirnir, sem líklega eru líka lóð frá "víkingaöld". AMS-geislakolsgreiningar sem gerðar hafa verið á dýrabeinum úr hellinum sýna dvöl manna í hellinum um 900 e.Kr. Varast ber þó að taka AMS-aldursgreiningar bókstaflega, þar sem AMS-aldursgreiningar og hefðbundnar C-14 geislakolsaldurgreiningar gerðar á sömu fornleifunum (sýnunum) geta oft gefið mjög mismunandi niðurstöður, þótt að sýnin séu úr sama trénu, dýrabeininu eða mannabeini (Sjá hér).

Mér þykir þó líklegt að þeir gripir sem fundist hafa í hellinum séu frá 10. öld og að þarna hafi Þorvaldur Þórðarson Holbarki, bróðir formóður minnar Herdísar Þórðardóttur (þau vöru tvö nítján barna Friðgerðar sem var barnabarn Kjarvals Írakonungs og Höfða-Þórðar Bjarnasonar og líklega tvíburar), týnt metum sínum. Þorvaldur fæddist samkvæmt mér langtum fróðari mönnum árið 915, eða eins og segir í Landnámu (Sturlubók):

Þorvaldur holbarki var hinn fjórði [son]; hann kom um haust eitt á Þorvarðsstaði til Smiðkels og dvaldist þar um hríð. Þá fór hann upp til hellisins Surts og færði þar drápu þá, er hann hafði ort um jötuninn í hellinum. Síðan fékk hann dóttur Smiðkels, og þeirra dóttir var Jórunn, móðir Þorbrands í Skarfsnesi.

Fornleifafræðingarnir í Surtshelli kalla Þorvald af ókunnum ástæðum Þorkel og segja hann líka "hólbarka". En segjum nú (í gamni) að þetta séu met Þorvaldar ættingja míns. Þá hefur hann verið þarna um 935-40, á bestu árum sínum í sönglistinni og drápuflutningi, enda annálaður hálfírskur tenór. Hvaðan haldið þið að söngást Skagfirðinga sé annars ættuð? 

Þetta er spennandi rannsókn hjá Kevin og Co., en þekking manna á því menningarlega umhverfi sem þeir eru að rannsaka mætti oft vera aðeins meiri en raun ber vitni.

Þýski krossinn

 

Hvernig getur ólögulegur, íslenskur móbergshnullungur orðið að helgum krossi?  Fyrst að krossi úr "engilsaxneskri kristni", og nú síðast að krossi frá" Hamborg eða Bremen"? 

Í skrám Þjóðminjasafnsins er hægt að lesa þetta um stein sem fannst á Þórarinsstöðum í Seyðisfirði: Steinkross úr móbergi. Veðraður. Upphaflega jafnarma og óreglulegur að lögun. Lögun bendir til uppruna úr engilsaxneskri kristni.

Skoðar maður svo greinargerð um uppgröft á Þórarinsstöðum frá 1998, þegar "krossinn" fannst, er þessu slengt fram:

"Steinkrossinn sem fannst við uppgröftinn er trúlega elsti tilhöggni krossinn sem fundist hefur hingað hér á landi. Hann er höggvinn í móberg og er um 45 cm hár. Krossinn hefur staði norðan við nyrðri langvegg stafkirkjunnar, á undirstöðu úr torfi og grjóti. Hann er jafnarma og nokkuð óreglulegur í lögun eins og títt hefur verið með krossa sem eru tímasettir til mótunarára kristninnar í Norður-Evrópu."

Hér vitnar höfundur skýrslunnar ekki í neitt, en hnykkir þess í stað út einhverju rugli fra hoften eins og Danir segja. Engin röksemdafærsla var fyrir því að þetta væri kross með engilsaxnesku lagi. Engin sönnun liggur fyrir því að þetta sé yfirleitt kross og að hann sé þar að auki frá Brimum eða Hamborg.

Hvernig veit Steinunn Kritjánsdóttir að þetta hafi verið "jafnarma" kross? Þessu ber henni að svara og sanna, áður en áfram verður haldið með endalaust rugl og óra.

Móbergs"krossinn" frá Þórarinsstöðum í lit og þegar hann fannst árið 1998.

En nú hefur Steinunn Kristjánsdóttir sent þennan hnullung, sem hún fann á Þórarinsstöðum í Seyðisfirði, á sýningu í Paderborn í Westfalen (sjá hér og hér). Sýningin er um Kristni og ber heitið CREDO. Samkvæmt fréttum lætur dr. Steinunn nú fylgja þá sögu með móbergssteininum, að hann sé frá Hamburg-Bremen. Ef menn suður í Paderborn trúa því, þá ætti frekar að kalla sýninguna CREDULUS (auðtrúa).

Ekki nóg með að þetta órökstudda rugl fær að fjúka í skýrslum og doktorsritgerð Steinunnar frá Gautaborg. Steinunn vitnar í einni rannsóknarskýrslu sinni í fund brots af tilhöggnum steini sem hugsanlega er af krossi eða grafsteini, og sem fannst við rannsóknir mínar að Stöng í Þjórsárdal. Fundur sá er ekki eldri en frá 11. öld. Á þeim steini sést að hann hefur verið höggvinn vandlega til og lagaður af einhverjum sem kunni til verka. Steinunn vitnar í grein eftir mig, þar sem hvergi er sagt að brotið sé frekar úr krossi eða grafsteini. Hvergi skrifa ég, að brotið sé frá síðari hluta 10. aldar eins og Steinunn heldur fram. Hvernig leyfir Steinunn Kristjánsdóttir sér að líkja hroðahnullungi sínum, án nokkurra sannanna fyrir því að hann hafi verið mótaður af manna höndum, við vandlega tilhöggvinn stein fundinn á Stöng í Þjórsárdal? Það eru afar óvönduð vinnubrögð. Vonandi kennir hún ekki öllu því fólki sem lærir fornleifafræði í HÍ slíka aðferðafræði.

Brot úr steini sem fannst í kirkjugarðinum á Stöng í Þjórsárdal, minjum sem Minjastofnun Íslands vinnu nú leynt ljóst að því að koma í veg fyrri frekari rannsóknir á með byggingu stórhýsis í haciendastíl ofan á rústunum. Lesa má meira um steininn hér og hér. Tilgátuteikninguna neðst skal slá með mjög mörgum varnöglum. Ljósmynd og teikning Vilhjálmur Örn Vilhjálmsson.

 

Ólögulega, veðraða smákrossa, sem erfitt eða ógjörlegt er að aldursgreina, er að finna víða um Evrópu. Enginn þeirra er úr móbergi. En "krossinn" frá Þórarinsstöðum hefur ekki staðið og veðrast gegnum tíðina eins og þeir krossar. Hann er jarðfundinn. Þetta er mjög mjúkur íslenskur móbergssteinn, sem mylst úr við minnsta átak. Ég leyfir mér að efa að þetta sé yfirleitt kross. Á honum er ekkert mannaverk að sjá.

Menn hafa áður þóst finna mjög forna krossa á Íslandi, jafnvel úr harðari efni en móbergi, og er þessi saga kannski ágæt til að minna á það.

Hvernig er þá hægt að fara með ólögulegan móbergsstein til Paderborn og láta fólk trúa því að hann sé kross? Jú, ef ímyndunaraflið er sterkt og sjálfblekkingin mikil er greinilega hægt að segja allt á Íslandi og jafnvel líka í Þýskalandi (munið þið Icesave?). Þannig innistæðulaus fornleifafræði er greinilega kennd í Háskóla Íslands.

Það sem Steinunn hefur ekki fundið á Skriðuklaustri: Grænlenskar konur, Fílamaður, lásbogaör. Allt er hjóm og vitleysa og úr lausu lofti gripið. Annað, augljóst efni ræður hún heldur ekki við (sjá hér). Sama er tilfellið með hnullunginn við "stafkirkjuna" á Þórarinsstöðum. sem fannst á torfi, þar sem ekki var torfkirkja?? Ég er reyndar ekki viss um að Steinunn hafi fundið undirstöður stafkirkju á Þórarinsstöðum. Rústir voru þarna mjög raskaðar og ég tel að torf hafi upphaflega verið utan um eða í tengslum við steinhleðslu þá sem túlkuð er sem undirstaða undir stafkirkju.

Maður verður að spyrja. Hvenær hættir þessi ævintýrafornleifafræði Steinunnar Kristjánsdóttur? Þorir enginn að andmæla ruglinu? Verður ekki að hafa samband við einhvern í Paderborn og aðvara þá sem nú tilbiðja þar móbergshnullung frá Íslandi, vegna þess að íslenskur fornleifafræðingur hefur fengið þá flugu í hausinn að þetta sé þýskur kross - úr þessu fína Seyðisfjarðarmóbergi? Er enginn endi á vitleysunni?

Ach mein Lieber, þetta er að mati Fornleifs ekki þýskur kross sem þeir suður í Paderborn hafa fengið frá Íslandi, heldur óáfallinn ævintýrakross úr silfri úr Austfjarðarþokunni eða kannski bara illa farinn hundasteinn sem hundar hafa verið tjóðraði við svo þær kæmust ekki inn í guðs hús og migu á altarið. Mér hefur enn ekki tekist að finna mynd af steininum in situ (á fundarstað) eða á teikningum, en hann  mun hafa staðið "norðan við nyrðri langvegg stafkirkjunnar."

Lesið þessa grein um hringlaga kirkjugarða og óundirbyggða kenningu Steinunnar og annarra um að torfkirkjur séu arfleifð frá Bretlandseyjum meðan að stafkirkjur séu skandínavísk uppfinning.

Danish Holocaust Distortion

Danish historian Bo Lidegaard is busy advertising his new book, which will be published in no less than five languages in the fall.

The monologue of Bo Lidegaard on this YouTube video is a sales promotion for the strange historical perception adapted by some Danish historians in later years, who among other things believe that Nazi Collaboration of the Danish authorities was the main reason for the rescue of most of the Danish Jews to Sweden in 1943. This argument is usually rather lacking in reasonable documentation.

I have written this response to Bo Lidegaard:

 

The Jews who were deported from

Denmark 1940-43

A consequense of the WWII Collaboration Policy in Denmark

 

A comment by Vilhjálmur Örn Vilhjálmsson, Ph.D.

As a reader of most of Bo Lidegaard´s books during the past 10 years, wherein he has used every opportunity to praise the collaboration policy (Samarbejdspolitikken) in Denmark during WWII, I have never seen any mention of the Jewish refugees, among them children, whom the Danish authorities expelled to Nazi-Germany from 1940 to 1943.

The crimes against Jews and other stateless individuals, were among the "highlights" of the Danish collaboration policy, which Lidegaard on the contrary argues rescued Danish Jews in 1943. He is quite wrong. The Danish authorities were from 1940-43, the heydays of the collaboration, in most cases far more eager to get rid of Jews to Germany than the Nazi-autorities were to receive them. Anti-Semitism was not any less the order of the day in Denmark than it was elsewhere in Europe.

In 2005, the results of my many years of research into the fate of stateless Jews in Denmark were published. When my book, Medaljens Bagside (The Other Side of the Coin), was released, the Danish Prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, presently the General Director of NATO, presented an apology to the few surviving relatives of the expelled Jews from Denmark, most of whom were killed in camps in Germany and Poland.

Ernst Platzko, a businessman from London/Vienna, was expelled from Denmark in 1940 and killed in Sachsenhausen in 1942.

Fogh Rasmussen also presented a general apology to the Jewish People for the crimes of Nazi-collaborating Danish officials during WWII. However, in 2004 and 2005 Bo Lidegaard and like-minded scholars were busy bashing Fogh Rasmussen for his public critical stand on the collaboration of Danish Politicians and Political Parities with the Nazis during WW II. 

Danish food exports, another "highlight" of the collaboration during WWII, helped feed the Wehrmacht on the frontlines and those who engaged in the killing the Jews of Europe. The Danish Collaboration did in fact not rescue any Danish Jews. If anything, it aided the killing of Jews in Europe.

Carol Janeway, of the Alfred E. Knopf Publishers, the publishing house which holds the rights to Dr. Lidegaard´s book outside Denmark, has in the Danish daily Politiken (which Bo Lidegaard is the editor in Chief of) stated that:

"She believes that if one in France and the Netherlands had manoeuvred oneself half as well through the war as did the Danes, WW II had not been quite so bleak"

(http://politiken.dk/kultur/ECE1959244/historie-om-danske-joeder-gaar-verden-rundt/).

This actually sounds like the well known mantra of a loud-shouting group of Danish historians, who want to make the world believe that Danish political collaboration with the Nazis was something that all Danes wanted, and that the collaborating politicians were heroes who rescued Jews. We must bear in mind that Carol Janeway also promoted another revision of history: The memoirs of the Swiss citizen Bruno Grosjean, who hoaxed his childhood memories and created an alter ego, Binjamin Wilkomirski, to fool the world into believing he was a child survivor of the Vilno Ghetto and Auschwitz. Her judgement on European WWII history is far from sound. The children in the ghetto in Vilno were killed with calories from Danish bacon and with collaboration of Lithuanians who were eager to help annihilating their fellow citizens if they were Jews.

A B

A: Szymon Zajtmann, a Polish born merchant from Hamburg, expelled from Denmark in 1941. Killed by gassing in Bernburg euthanasia asylum in Bernburg. B: Dr. Stefan Glücksman, a historian from Warsaw, was expelled from Denmark in 1941 and killed in the SS-camp of Gross-Rosen.

Now, according to Lidegaard and his American publishers, we are supposed to believe that the Danes, as the only nation in Europe, found some kind of a special cure, a unique response to the Holocaust, by collaborating and being nice to the Nazi occupants.

This new whitewashing of Danish Nazi collaboration can easily be viewed in parallel to the trend we are witnessing in other parts of Europe. In the Baltic states, praising of the local politicians and perpetrators, who collaborated with the Nazis, is seen as a virtue because the murderers of Jews also represent the fight against Communism and the Soviet oppression. In the Baltic, where anti-Semitism is persistent, the distortion of history equalizes the Holocaust with the Soviet terror and the fate of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians under Soviet Rule.

The Danes were lucky compared to the Baltic States. There was only one invader and one occupant, and according to Lidegaard the ultimate luck was that resistance was limited and collaboration was great. However, Lidegaard forgets in his self righteous monologue, to tell us that Danish Nazi collaboration and exports helped the killing machine of the Third Reich to prolong the murder of millions of people in Europe. And Carol Janeway seems unable to see that if other and more important countries under siege had behaved like Denmark, the outcome might very well have been a permanent Third Reich in reality.

A Danish State Prosecutor and perpetrator, Harald Petersen, Minister of Defence after WWII, was one of many leading officials who was engaged in the collaboration policy of expelling stateless Jews from Denmark 1940-43. After the war nearly all of the white collar criminals, anti-Semites and xenophobes of the The Ministry of Justice, the State Police and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who engaged in the expulsion of Jews and other stateless persons from Denmark during WWII achieved fine careers, up to the highest offices of the state. No one asked questions about their crimes, which the modern authorities tried to hide as late as 2001.

German Political refugees being deported to Germany by the Danish authorities and Danish Police in 1941. Many of these men, who were imprisoned in the Danish Horserød internment camp north of Copenhagen lost their lives in concentration camps. Jewish prisoners in Horserød in 1941 were spared deportation and hard Danish effort to get rid of them, only because the German authorities did not wish to receive them.

Danish Police officials frolicking with German Gestapo officers at a Copenhagen hotel.

A Danish policeman (in the middle) of the Immigration Police fraternising with Nazi spies in 1936. The German on the left was sentenced to death for war crimes in Norway, while the Gestapo-officer on the right, Hans Hermannsen of Flensburg, who was an officer of the Sicherheitsdienst in Denmark during the German Occupation made Danish authorities' wishes for expulsion of unwanted individuals possible. After the war he worked for the Danish Police Intelligence Service as well as for American forces in Hamburg.

Schulim and Ruth Fanni Niedrig, a young couple which the Danish authorities expelled to Germany in 1940. In 1943 Ruth Fanni was bitten to death in Auschwitz by dogs. Schulim, who was actually born in the town of Oswiecim, managed to survive in Auschwitz, being one of few survivors from Danish expulsions of Jews from Denmark 1940-43.

 

The envelope of a romantic love letter from Schulim to Ruth Fanni, when they were imprisoned before their deportation to Germany in July 1940. Schulim added a heart and wrote "I love you". The official censorship added all the writing in red and blue pencil: "because letters with such contents will not be delivered to his wife". Ruth Fanni never received the letter.

II

Historian Bo Lidegaard presents us with a narrative of a Jewish mother, written in past-tense (which indicates that it was written after the war), and a list of things for her children to bring with them to Sweden. But we must not forget another Jewish mother in Denmark: Brandla Wassermann.

Brandla Wassermann managed to flee from Berlin with her three young children to Copenhagen in late October 1942. She was a slave labourer in a Berlin factory called Fermeta. She and her three children were helped and accompanied to Copenhagen by a Danish citizen, who did it out of the good of his heart - one of the real Danish heroes. When in Copenhagen she was helped by other ordinary Danes, but a Danish policeman, a fervent Nazi, who received her at the Central Police Station, sent her back with the consent of higher officials and a government minister. Within a month her children, Ursula (7), Jacky Siegfried (5) and Denny (2) had been gassed in Auschwitz.

Jacky Siegfried Wasserman didn´t find his safe haven in Denmark - and didn´t make it to Sweden in 1943.

Brandla Wassermann was executed by an injection of phenol into the heart in Auschwitz on 15 December 1942. The only list which we have, instead of a list of items for her children to bring with them to Sweden, is the list by the Berlin authorities, of the few belongings in Brandla Wassermann´s appartment in Keipelstrasse 41 which were expropriated to compensate for the rent she didn't pay when she was in Copenhagen.

Thanks to the Collaboration Policy, and to Bo Lidegaard for not telling us the story of Brandla Wassermann and her three children which didn´t fit his glorification of Danish Nazi Collaboration!

Not all Danes, as Lidegaard would like you to believe, collaborated with the Nazis. Brave, ordinary Danes helped rescue Jews to Sweden, while the Danish Government collaborated and participated in the destruction of Jews.  

III

The Danish daily Politiken, which Bo Lidegaard is the Editor-in-Chief of today, was publishing all through the Nazi occupation of Denmark. The daily and most of its journalists followed the safe and golden rule of Danish Nazi collaboration.

On 7 September 1941 Politiken brought a news release from Danish news agency Ritzau, which originated from the German News agency DNB (Deutsche Nachrichtenbüro), where the introduction of the legislation for the yellow star in Germany was announced. The legislation was introduced on the 1st of September 1941 and was active for certain parts in the Reich from the 19th of September 1941 - but not in occupied Denmark. Despite the irrelevance for Denmark, the Danish daily Politiken announced the introduction of the yellow star to brand Jews 10 days before the decree was active in the state of the occupants.

Moreover, the journalist at Politiken added his private view to the news release, which didn´t originate from the original decree and which certainly doesn´t harmonize with the Danish "Countryman" ideal now being promoted by Lidegaard: "From what one has learned  in connection with this decree, it has been caused by certain experiences, which made it appear desirable to make the Jews easily recognizable for anyone in public". 

On 30 March 1940, 10 days before the Nazis occupied Denmark, the Danish government passed a law making it criminal to hide a Jewish refugee in private homes. One of the "key player" of the collaboration with the Nazis and thus one of the people behind the rescue of the Danish Jews according to Lidegaard was the initiator for that legislation. That politician was social-democrat Hans Hedtoft-Hansen who after WW II became the Prime minister in Denmark (1947). Hedtoft-Hansen argued in the Danish parliament in 1940:

"The change in § 3 for punishments for those who help to keep foreigners hidden from the police, may sound harsh, but anyone who considers the condition that we today have in this country must recognize its necessity. Where the right of asylum for political emigrants are recognized in such an extent that is the case in Denmark, there is no occasion for real political emigrants to keep hiding and not at the Danish fellow citizens to contribute to this."

Sentenced for hiding a Jew, the father of her son. Margrét Vigdís Árnadóttir and Thor Daiel Schlesinger. Photo from Medaljens Bagside.

 

Margrét Vigdís Árnadóttir, The Icelandic mother of Thor Daniel Schlesinger received a sentence based on this legal "reform". She received a sentence of 60 days in prison, which was altered to 5 year suspended sentence. Her crime was to hide the father of her son, Fritz Schlesinger, a German Jew. Fritz Schlesinger was killed in Auschwitz in 1943 after he was expelled and deported to Germany - by the Danish authorities. Thor Daniel Schlesinger died of cancer in Iceland at the age of nine, and one of Lidegaard´s heroes, Hans Hedtoft-Hansen, became the prime minister of Denmark, now praised as one of the great Danish collaborationists who according to Lidegaard made the rescue of the Jews in Denmark possible.

IV

Bo Lidegaard´s argument that the Danish Jews were jolly good "Countrymen" and equals of the Danes is a modern myth in the making. If the Jews were perceived as Countrymen, why were Danish born Jews, who had settled and married i Germany not helped, when they and their Danish families desperately sought permission to return to their families in Denmark?  In their cases one never sees the term Countryman in use. All of the Danish Jews, who in 1938-1940 couldn´t return home to their native Denmark, were all killed in the Shoah.

  

In 1939 Emilie and Richard Eichwald were living in Hamburg. They had rescued their three sons to England, whereto they sent this photograph of themselves. Emilie and her sister Selly (nee Levinsky) were both born into a family of furriers in Copenhagen. They were not "Countrymen, when they were in need. The sisters were deported to Minsk in Belarus, where their traces vanish.

 

In 1945 many Danish Jews were in fact applying for Alyiah, emigration to Israel, partly due to the negative attitude to the Jews and Israel in Denmark. One of the applicants was a young man, Bent Melchior, an 8th generation descendent of a Danish Jewish family. Bent Melchior later became the chief Rabbi of Denmark. In 1947 his father, Rabbi Marcus Melchior, tried to get the Danish authorities to allow the Jews on the Jewish Agency ship Exodus with 4500 Jewish refugees on board, who were denied passage to Palestine by the British, to go ashore in Denmark. The Danish authorities were totally negative to the request and referred to the fact that there were already 85.000 "displaced" Germans in Denmark. Instead the "passengers" of Exodus were placed for a while in two prisoner camps near Lübeck in Germany.

Bent Melchior´s application to make Aliyah in 1946. From the present author´s book Medaljens Bagside (2005).

At the same time stateless Jews, who had fled from Denmark to Sweden in 1943 were ordered by the Danish authorities to leave Denmark with a very short notice. Even a Jewish survivor who was expelled to Germany in 1942, and who made it back to Denmark in 1945, was imprisoned so he couldn´t tell his story. It wasn´t told until 2005, because the Danish authorities for many year prevented historians who researched the fates of Jewish victims in Denmark in researching all relevant aspects of WWII in Denmark. At the same time Danish neo-Nazis bogus researcher got unlimited access to archives on Danish SS-volunteers, which the neo-Nazis removed systematically in large quantities from the National Archive in Copenhagen to sell to fellow fanatics. 

After WWII the relatives of Jews who had been expelled from Denmark 1940-43 received incorrect information about their relatives´ expulsions from Denmark. Some received the information that their family members, who had been killed in Germany and Poland, had of their own free will moved to Germany during the war. 

That was the country in which the Jews were Countrymen. Who is Bo Lidegaard trying to fool? Why deosn´t he qoute my book Medaljens Bagside?

 

V

The story about the flight of the Jews from Denmark in 1943, which Dr. Lidegaard is publishing in the USA, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands is different in details from the story he has published in the Danish version of his book. In the first section of the Danish version of his book, Countrymen (Landsmænd), Lidegaard presents misinformation about the expulsions of stateless Jewish refugees from Denmark from 1940 to 1943. Lidegaard writes, and refers incorrectly to my book Medaljens Bagside [The other side of the coin] that the Germans demanded those expulsion. That is entirely wrong. 

After this statement in the Danish volume of Countrymen, one can read footnote 12, where Lidegaard starts by referring to a WWII "When, What and Who" that was published in 2002, which provides absolutely no information on the expulsions of Jews. My book on the subject was published in 2005. In Fact, none of the Jews, who were expelled from Denmark 1940-43, were expelled on the orders, demands or wishes of the German occupants. The crime was committed by Danish officials, eager to please the Nazis, as well as some of the Danish collaborationists politicians, who Lidegaard has turned into the rescuers and beneficiaries of Jews.

Worse still is when Lidegaard in the German version of his book has completely removes the mention of the Danish expulsions of refugee Jews from 1940 to 1943. Footnote 12 is also missing. In the English version he wrongly argues that the Nazi occupants demanded the expulsion of the Jews. Is the book beeing promoted for different taste in different countries? The Dutch showed value once again. Very few copies were sold in the Netherlands. The Dutch do not deserve to have a Danish historian plunge a insult right into their faces. Lidegaard argues that if the Dutch and other Europeans had copied the "Grand Danish Model" of Nazi-collaboration, no Dutch Jews would have been deported from the Netherlands.

The purpose of the many foreign language versions of his book and the deliberate selection of the sources is now becoming clearer to me. Dr. Lidegaard has published a white-wash of the Danish WWII record for the Danish Foreign Ministry, a purification of the Danish WWII record. He propagates that the entire Danish society was helping Jews. His reason to blame the German occupants for the expulsion of Jews from Denmark from 1940 to 1943 in the Danish version of his book, and the reason why he e.g. doesn´t mention in the foreign language versions that 40.000 Danish men (1% of the population) volunteered to join the Waffen-SS is evident. That and much more does not fit the Danish WWII ideal society he is trying so hard to create. Dr. Lidegaard uses available sources very selectively. He presents horrible events like the Danish expulsions of Jews and other refugees to his Danish readers in a wrong an inappropriate frame, while he totally removes that saddest event of Danish Jewish history from his English speaking spectators - who might of course discover that something regarding the authenticity of the picture Lidegaard is trying to paint is all wrong.

Such are the working ethics of one of the leading historians of Denmark. Lidegaard begins his book with a quote from William Shakespeare´s Julius Caesar:

Friends, Romans, Countrymen lend me your ears;

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him

the evil that men do lives after them;

The good is oft interred with their bones; ... 

*

There is obviously still something very rotten in the State of Denmark.

Further reading

Medaljens Bagside published by Vandkunsten Publishers (http://www.forlagetvandkunsten.dk/93655/)  SOLD OUT; Find it in a Library.

Rescue, Expulsion, and Collaboration: Denmark´s Difficulties with its World War II Past (https://jcpa.org/article/rescue-expulsion-and-collaboration-denmarks-difficulties-with-its-world-war-ii-past/)

The stand of the Simon Wiesenthal Center

The King and the Star:

"The King and the Star" I Bastholm Jensen, Mette & Jensen, Steven B. (Ed) Denmark and the Holocaust. Institute for International Studies, Department for Holocaust and Genocide Studies 2003, 102-117.  

"Christian X og jøderne: Hovedrolleindehavere i dansk krigspropaganda". Rambam 19, 2010, 68-85. English Summary. / Kan også downloades her på Tidsskrift.dk.

See also how Danish Nazis used the yellow Star:

Boolsen, Vibeke 2010: Cimbrertyren - et kort, men brutalt kapitel af danske-jødisk historie under besættelsen. Ramban 19, 2019, 102-107.

Menntaskólaminningar

 

Árið 1979, á haustönninni sem ég lauk stúdentsprófi í MH, var ég svo heppinn að njóta leiðsagnar Sigurðar Hjartarsonar sagnfræðings og sérfræðings um sögu Rómönsku Ameríku, og reður. Í söguáfanga um reður (Reður 115), fyrirgefiðið, um sögu Suður Ameríku (Rómönsku Ameríku), bauðst nokkuð fjölbreyttum hópi 12 nema að útbúa lítið kver um Suður Ameríku. Kverið gáfum við út og seldum. Þetta var mjög skemmtilegt verkefni og Sigurðar minnist maður fyrir vikið sem eins af betri kennurum sínum á lífsleiðinni.

Halið bókina niður (það tekur tíma)

 

Þar sem kverið er orðið mjög sjaldgæft, hef ég skannað það til að leyfa fólki að sjá hvað menntskælingar í MH voru að bauka með Sigurði Hjartarsyni árið 1979. Verkfærin voru ritvélar,  skæri, lím og letrasett. Þetta var nú ósköp litað af óhörnuðum skoðunum manns á þessum tíma. En ég stend við textann sem ég skrifaði og skoðanirnar, enda var Sigurður ekki með neina tilburði til hugmyndafræðilegs áróðurs. Ef eitthvað var, þá var ég, sjálfur borgarskæruliðinn, líklega róttækari en Siggi.

Saga Rómönsku Ameríku er blóði drifin og auðvelt er að verða byltingarsinni ef maður leggur þá sögu fyrir sig.

Fyrir utan textasmíð og heimildarannsóknir, teiknaði ég tvær pólitískar teikningar í bókina, sem ég leyfi ykkur að sjá. Ég fann nýlega frumteikninguna af þeirri sem er efst. Ég skammast mín heldur ekkert fyrir þær. Þær sýna einfaldlega staðreyndir.

 

Í dag hefði ég frekar kallað þennan dans Tango Dollar

 

Draumur fornleifafræðingsins

er að finna kúk. Einn slíkur, sem enn var mjúkur en frekar rýr, fannst um daginn í Óðinsvéum. Hann mun vera um 8-900 ára gamall og því jafnvel varðveittur og Landnámabók. Saur þessi er mikil og góð heimild um danska sögu ef marka má áhuga fjölmiðla.

Excrementum Othenarum

Blaðamenn eru seigir að þefa og grafa upp skít, og einn fremsti rannsóknarblaðamaður Politiken labbaði einmitt framhjá holunni í hægðum sínum um leið og kúkurinn fannst in situ. Kúkurinn lyktaði enn. Blaðamaðurinn, sem ekki kallar allt ömmu sína þegar að kúkum kemur, spurði strax fornleifafræðingana, hvernig þeir vissu að þetta væri ekki manni. Vildu fornleifafræðingarnir ekki útiloka það, en töldu að hann væri of breiður til að hafa komið úr mennskum rassi. Þeir vita greinilega ekki hve stór sum rassgötin geta verið í blaðamannastétt. Sjá hér

Fullvissuðu fornleifafræðingarnir í Óðinsvéum blaðamanninn um að kúkurinn yrði rannsakaður betur en með lyktarskyninu einu, til að ganga úr skugga um hvað hundurinn hefði étið. Mann grunar að heilmargar aðrar upplýsingar gætu komið úr þessu stykki. Hvar hundurinn liggur grafinn fylgir ekki sögunni.

H. C. Andersen félagið í Óðinsvéum telur öruggt að hér sé fundið nýtt ævintýri meistarans. Leikmannafélag kaþólskra í Danmörku telur að þarna séu komin jarðteikn, helgir dómar heilags Knúts. Engar upplýsingar eru þó um slíkt í análum. Grænlenski róninn i Vestergade er hins vegar fullviss um að þetta sé tútílak tíkar hans sem fór á lóðarí um daginn. Hún er grafhundur, Canis archaeologorum.

Gott er að gamall saur leysist betur upp á Íslandi en í Danaveldi, því annars fylltust allar geymslur Þjóðminjasafnsins og varðveita þyrfti stykkin í gámum. Hugsið ykkur ástandið.

Faðirin at Trabant er deyður

Já, faðir Trabantsins er allur, ef trúa má færeyska netmiðlinum Portal. Werner Lang dó sl. mánudag á heimili sínu í Zwickau, 91 að aldri. Þessi tíðindi las ég þegar ég var að leita að fréttum um hvernig Krataprinsessan danska, Thorning Smith, ætlar að svíkja Færeyjar í makríldeilunni.

Þessi eðalalþýðuvagn var á tímabilinu 1957 til 1991 framleiddur í yfir 3 milljónum eintökum í Zwickau og slatti þeirra endaði ævi sína á Íslandi.

Ekki átti ég Trabant, en ók um tíma Wartburg skutbíl, kommísaraútgáfu með lituðum rúðum og sérlega góðu gerviefni í klæðningu og miklu af krómi. Móðir mér gaf mér loks þennan bíl sinn, vel notaðan. Hann þjónaði lengi vel sem bifreið fornleifarannsóknanna í Þjórsárdal og bar nafnið Brúnó, sem vísaði til litar bílsins, sem var karamellubrúnn.

Sonur minn var mjög veikur fyrir Trabant þegar við fórum nýverið á DDR-safnið í Berlín, en merkilegri þótti honum þó flokksgæðinga-Volvoinn sem þar var líka til sýnis. Nokkrum dögum síðar heyrði ég af umhverfisvænum ljósbláum Volvo Steingríms J. og sá þá að sænskt öryggi og velferð tryllir verkalýðsforingja og byltingarseggi meira en alþýðudrossíur.

Trabant er og verður hluti af sögu Íslands, þótt hér hafi Fornleifur farið hættulega nærri nútímanum.

Sonur minn setur sig í stellingar bílstjóra Honneckers

 

Steingrímur mætir hjá ÓRG á sænskum Palmeobile - Palmoline

Mikilvæg fyrirspurn um lýðveldið

Í byrjun árs 1944, nánar tiltekið 14. janúar, skrifaði ungur íslenskur námsmaður við Columbia háskólann í New York bréf með fyrirspurn til danska sendiráðsins í Washington, sem þá gegndi hlutverki ríkisstjórnar Dana þar vestra. Námsmaðurinn íslenski, sem var í framhaldsnámi í þjóðréttarfræði, bjó á besta stað á Manhattan, nánar tiltekið í Stuyvesandt Building, 258 Riverside Drive og notaði hann bréfsefni Columbia University þegar hann sendi danska sendiráðinu bréf sitt.

Námsmaðurinn var enginn annar en Hans Georg Andersen (1919-1994) og erindi hans var að leitast eftir upplýsingum um afstöðu Dana til Íslands og Sambandsslitanna. Hann skrifaði:

I would appreciate it very much if you could inform me as to whether the Danish Government has made any statement regarding the Icelandic plans for the termination of said treaty [samninginn frá 1918] as well as the plans for the establishment of a republic in Iceland.

Þessari fyrirspurn svaraði C.A.C. Brun, sem hafði verið sendiráðsritari í Reykjavík 1936 til 1941 , þegar hann ákvað að ganga til liðs við Henrik von Kauffmanns sendiherra í Washington. Brun var "ljósmóðir" eða öllu heldur fæðingalæknir íslenska lýðveldisins, og vita það ef til vill fæstir, því íslenskir sagnfræðingar sem hafa ritað um sambandsslitin hafa alls ekki verið í réttum skjalasöfnum.

Hans G. Andersen á miðjum aldri

C.A.C. Brun á heimili sínu í Tjarnargötu árið 1939

Allar þær skoðanir og fyrirgreiðsla Bandaríkjanna, sem þeim hefur verið þökkuð fyrir, voru að öllu leyti komnar frá C.A.C. Brun. State Department, utanríkismálaráðuneyti BNA, sótti ráðin varðandi Ísland til hans. Brun skrifaði öðrum sendiráðum í hinum frjálsa heimi og setti reglurnar varðandi Ísland. Hann skildi fyllilega óskir meirihluta Íslendinga og hafði góða þekkingu á Íslendingum. Jón Krabbe, sem í ævisögu sinn tók heiðurinn af því að afstaða Kristjáns tíunda varð ekki neikvæðari en hún hljómaði árið 1944, átti engan heiður skilinn. Hann gerði ekki neitt til að tala máli Íslands. C.A.C. Brun ætti allan heiðurinn af því að blíðka konung. Brun hafði skrifað ritgerð og tilmæli um sambandsslitin sem konungi hafði borist eftir krókaleiðum.

Ég er að hefja ritun bókar um C.A.C. Brun með Kristjáni Sveinssyni sagnfræðingi og ætla að leyfa mönnum í tilefni hátíðarinnar að lesa það sem Brun ritaði Hans G. Andersen, sem síðar varð sjálfur mikilvægur diplómat fyrir Ísland og okkar fremsti sérfræðingur í þjóðrétti og landhelgis- og fisveiðiréttarmálum.

Svarið, sem Hans fékk, var lekið beint til íslenska sendiherrans í Washington, Thors Thors, góðvinar Bruns, og hann sendi skilaboðin til bróður síns á Íslandi, Ólafs Thors. Þar með vissu frelsisþenkjandi Íslendingar "óformlega" um afstöðu dönsku stjórnarinnar undir stjórn Kauffmanns sendiherra í Washington, sem sá um löglega stjórn Danska konungsveldisins meðan landið var undir hæl nasista. Afstaða manna í sendiráðinu í Washington var alls ekki eins tvístígandi og tvöföld roðinu eins og í danska sendiráðinu í Lundúnum, þar sem stjórnendur voru andvígir öllu því sem C.A.C. Brun lagði til um Íslandsmál.

Ekki líkaði öllum í Danmörku það sem fór fram, en þeir vissu lítið meira en íslenskir sagnfræðingar, hvað var að gerjast í Vesturheimi milli stjórnar BNA og C.A.C. Bruns hvað varðar sambandslitin.

Flokkurinn Venstre í Danmörku dreifði síðar (apríl 1944) í innbyrðis og leynilegri greinargerð eftir þingmanninn Vangsgaard til sinna flokksfélaga í Rigsdagen, þar sem þessa skoðun á blendingsfjölskyldunni Thors (Apríl 1944) er að finna: Naar Island har travlt nu, er det altsaa ikke Forbundsloven, der er i Vejen, men Ønsket om at indføre en Republik og afskedige Kongen, hvilket Islændinge selv erkender er en Revolution, og hvis Foregangsmand er den tidligere Udenrigsminister Olafur Thors, Søn af den brave Dansker Thor Jensen, der paa Island har gjort en eventyrlig økonomisk Karriere, og dennes islandsk fødte Hustru. Som den islandske Socialdemokrats Redaktør [ritstjóri Alþýðublaðsins] sagde til mig i 1930 ved Tusindaarsfesten, Børnene af dansk-islandske Ægteskaber er de mest danskfjendtlige. Det er ligesom vort paa disse Områder noget svage Blod ved denne Omplantning faar en ukendt Styrke, men en Styrke der desværre vender sig imod os. De islandske Socialdemokrater har forøvrigt som Landets mindst nationalistiske Parti staaet os Danske nærmest. 

Manni  finnst eins og sagan endurtaki sig stundum. Hverjir eru það sem einmitt nú vilja ólmir selja landið undir ESB og gefa upp sjálfstæði sitt?

January 19, 1944

Mr. H. G. Andersen

258 Riverside Drive

New York 25, New York                                                                                                  Confidential

 

Dear Sir:

                             In reply to your letter of January fourteenth concerning the attitude of Denmark towards the Icelandic plans for unilateral abrogation towards the treaty between Denmark and Iceland, I beg to inform you that the Danish Prime Minister on May 31, 1941, addressed a note to the Icelandic Charge d'Affaires in Copenhagen in regard to the resolutions of the Althing of May 17, 1941, in which he expressed his regret that Iceland had found it necessary at the present moment, (i.e. when Denmark was under German military occupation) to notify its views on this question of legal status involving both countries, but declared that Denmark would be prepared, as soon as conditions render it possible, to negotiate with Iceland on the basis of the provisions of the Union Act and with full consideration of the wishes of the Icelandic People.

                             When the Government of Iceland in September, 1942, notified the government in Copenhagen of a contemplated amendment to the constitution making it possible to establish a republic on short notice,  The Danish Prime Minister replied in a note of September 30, 1942, that when the agreement of 1918 was made it was anticipated that a desire for revision of the Union or even for its complete abrogation might arise in either of the two people. Provision for such a contingencies were made in the Union Act in full accord between Denmark and Iceland. The Danish Government was now as before of the opinion that it would be desireable and most dignified in every respect if the two brother nations in accordance with the good traditions of the Scandinavian countries, as in 1918 entered into negotiations in regard to the future arrangement in order to reach a result in complete mutual understanding. The Danish Government had taken it for granted after the exchange of views in 1941 that Iceland would refrain from taking any unilateral steps which would be prejudicial to the present basis for negotiations in respect to the future arrangement and considered the information now received regarding the proposed amendment to the constitution as a confirmation that it was not going to be disappointed in the its expectations of an understanding procedure on the part of Iceland.

                             Since August 29, 1943, there has been no Danish Government in existence. The Danish Legations are taking care of Danish interests abroad and on their own authority as the duly authorized representatives of Denmark, but it is not likely in case the contemplated unilateral abolition of the Union is actually carried out that they will take steps which would prejudice the position of the future Danish Government established after the liberation of Denmark.

                             It will be up to the future Danish Government to decide the attitude of Denmark. Personally I feel convinced that the government, although people in Denmark might have preferred that the liquidation of the  Union had taken place through negotiation, will not be inclined to enter into a discussion of the legal aspects of the matter but that it will take a benevolent and understanding attitude in accordance with Denmark's traditional policy: the questions of this kind should be in accordance with the wish of the majority of the population. Especially in regard to Iceland no Danish Government notwithstanding the provisions of Art. 18 of the Union Act would be interested in a continuation of the Dano-Icelandic Union after 1943 unless this wish is shared by the majority of the people of Iceland.

                             What the Danish people will consider important, as far as I can judge, is that the separation between Denmark and Iceland take place without ill feeling and that old ties of friendship and culture which exist in spite of all mutual misunderstandings in the past are not broken

Yours very truly,  

C.A.C. Brun 

Counselor [sic] of Legation

Forseti íslenska Lýðveldisins hylltur 18. júní 1944

To-Ya and his Ice Family

In the fall of 1936 a young Icelandic physician, Eyþór Gunnarsson, was studying and working at the ear-clinic of the University Hospital in Munich, Germany. One afternoon, when he was enjoying himself with friends at the Oktoberfest, he came across an interesting show in a small circus tent. The act was called Eismenschen, or Ice People, and the artists claimed they originated from Iceland in the far north. They were albinos and their show was called Sun-Play (Sonnenspiele; "original isländische Volksspiele").  

Doctor Gunnarsson bought a ticket to watch the show and he was not amused to say the least. The actors, some of which were not albinos, pretending to be Icelanders, presented an sketch which was supposed to be a depiction of a Reykjavík garden in bloom. Flowers and trees of paper sprung out while the fake "Icelanders" entertained with singing and tricks from the far north. Possibly, some fish-beating was going on too.

The patriotism of doctor Gunnarsson took some severe blows at the Oktoberfest in Munich, when he witnessed albinos with bushy hair, reddish eyes and pretending to be Icelanders in a rather primitive manner. He immediately contacted the Danish consulate in Munich to file a complaint against these imposters, which he mistakenly called Eismänschen or ice midgets. He attached his complaint with the above picture of the troupe of albinos. 

The Danish Consulate immediately contacted to the German police, who investigated the act, but found no reason to intervene. The leader of the troupe argued that his parents were Icelandic. But under the notorious interrogating methods of the German Police he eventually admitted that this was not an ethnological act, that it had very little to do with Iceland and was first and foremost an artistic presentation and expression.  

The leader of the circus-troupe Eismenschen finally admitted he was Austrian by birth and had no ties to Iceland whatsoever. The complaint of the Icelandic doctor was then forwarded with a short report to the Foreign Ministry in Copenhagen, where the officiasl found the whole matter rather amusing. The ministry notified the Chargé d´Affaires in Munich that no further actions would be taken against the Ice People.

To-Ya and his Ice family and Tom Jack (Karl Breu)

The Eismenschen troupe, which was not to the liking of doctor Gunnarsson in 1936, was the remnants of a quite famous circus troupe called To-Ya und die Eismenschen, which travelled widely around Europe in the 1920 and 30ies. In Great Britain the troupe was called To-Ya and his Ice Family. The troupe was founded by an albino artist by the name of Karl Breu. Breu was born in the Moravian town of Dubnany (now the Czech Republic) in 1884 (or 1876 according to other sources). Dubnany was then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Karl Breu´s parents, who worked in the glass and crystal industry, died when Karl was young and he was brought up by his mother´s family in the town of Lenora (Germ. Eleonorenhain).

At a very early age Karl Breu was fascinated by the circus and got a job in one as a clown. But very quickly he turned to magic acts, influenced and fascinated by Harry Houdini. Houdini was Jewish (originally Erik Weisz) and Breu an albino, so there was not so much difference. Breu very quickly adapted the stage name The Ice King (Eiskönig), with reference to his looks. However, when he engaged in escape acts, untying knots and getting out of chains and straitjackets, he became known as Tom Jack.  As Tom Jack he travelled all over Europe and in London he became famous for being thrown from the Tower Bridge all chained up inside a barrel. Tom Jack (Karl Breu) nearly met his maker in the Thames that day. At the peak of his career he was famous for his great white fuzzy hair.

Tom Jack´s (Breuer´s) wife was also an albino and called herself Wally Paradise. They had two children together. Together with the children and different albinos, as well as several other artists wearing white wigs, they were the Ice King and his family.

Just before WWII Tom Jack retired and purchased a plot of land in Lenora with the intention of retiring there with his family. Their time there was brief however as following WWII, and despite serving the Allied forces as an interpreter, Tom Jack and his family were the victims of displacement. He belonged to the German minority. After the war they settled in Beinstein, Germany and carried their circus activities on for some time there. Breu died in Beinstein in 1953. He is still the most famous son of the town of Lenora in the Czech Republic and is remembered for a foundation he sponsored for orphan children.

Here are some snapshots from the career of the "Eismenschen" troupe:

***

 

This freezing Arctic act was obviously very different from the Sonnenspiele act at the Oktoberfest in Munich in 1936. Print by the Adolph Friedländer Company 1935. Jaap Best Collection, Teylers Museum.

The Ice family in the fantastic collection of Jaap Best

The printing firm of Adolph Friedländer (1851-1904) in Hamburg  specialized in the designing and printing of posters for the amusement industry and especially circuses. In 1935 this firm, which was then run by the two sons of Adolph Friedländer, printed some small posters with the acts of the To-Ya and his Ice family troupe. This was only shortly before the Nazi expropriated this firm as they gradually did all Jewish businesses. The firm always produced high quality lithographs and had many designers and artists who contributed to this interesting and colourful printing activity. Everyone who wanted to be something in the circus arena, had a poster created by the Adolph Friedländer firm in Hamburg.

A great collection of the A. Friedländer´s poster and prints can today be found and studied in the collection of the Dutch Circus-collector Jaap Best. The collection is marvellously presented on this Dutch website. Here I found the 1935 promotion posters for To Ya and his Ice family, and information that cast light on the circus troupe which doctor Gunnarsson resented so much.

No information can be found on whether the Ice Family troupe kept penguins. Most likely they were added to the poster to attract gullible audience (Friedländer 1935). The Jaap Best Collection, Teylers Museum.

The Ice Family was a obvious mixture of good folks from the North- and the South-Poles, Greenland, Iceland, and Lappland. (Friedländer 1935). The Jaap Best Collection, Teylers Museum.

Today this valuable collection is kept at the world famous Teylers-museum in the city of Haarlem. Here I also discovered two hilarious posters with the Icelandic master of the ancient Icelandic wrestling called glíma. Jóhannes Jósefsson, who later engaged in the Hotel-business in Iceland was an Icelandic Glíma-master in his younger days. in 1909 he was obviously trying to promote the ancient glíma as a self-defence art. Posters for Adolph Friedländer could nothing but help in that effort.

Jóhannes Jósefsson,"The boy who can throw you any moment he likes to". The Jaap Best Collection, Teylers Museum.

Tom Jack escapes from his chains in front of the baffled police forces of all countries. A poster printed by the Adolph Friedländer company in 1910. The Jaap Best Collection, Teylers Museum.

 

This blog entry is an English version of Dr. V. Ö. Vilhálmsson´s earlier articles about the Eismenschen in Icelandic; See here and here. The information in this article can be quoted with reference to the source.

Meira um Ísfólkið

Margir muna kannski eftir Ísfólkinu, sem ég hef skrifað um hér á blogginu. Það var fjölleikahúshópur sem ferðaðist um Þýskaland og önnur lönd um miðjan 4. áratug síðustu aldar, og sögðust félagar í honum vera frá Íslandi. Þeir kölluðu sig Eismenchen von Islands hohem Norden. Síðla hausts árið 1936 móðgaði þessi hópur Eyþór Gunnarsson lækni með uppátækjum sínu. Hann fór á eina sýningu þeirra af forvitni til að sjá hvers kyns var og kvartaði síðar í viðeigandi ráðuneyti í Danmörku. Þar höfðu menn dálítið gaman af öllu saman.

Eins og margir vita, er hægt að stunda mikla fornleifafræði á netinu, án þess að fá leyfi hjá Minjastofnun, Þjóðminjasafni eða Sigmundi Davíð allsráðanda yfir öllu gömlu á Íslandi. Ég hef nýlega í algjöru leyfisleysi grafið upp ýmsar upplýsingar í Hollandi og annars staðar um þennan skringilega hóp í München.

To-Ya und die Eismenschen og Tom Jack (Karl Breu)

Sýningarhópurinn Eismenschen, sem Eyþór Gunnarsson sá í München, voru líklega leifarnar af sýningarhópnum To-Ya und die Eismenschen, som hafði lagt Evrópu að fótum sér á 2. - 4. áratug 20. aldar. Á Englandi var hópurinn þekktur undir nafninu To-Ya and his Ice Family. Flokkurinn var stofnaður af albínóa, Karl Breu að nafni, sem fæddist 10. janúar 1884 (sumir telja 1876) í borginni Dubnany í Bæheimi, sem þá tilheyrði austuríska keisaradæminu, en tilheyrir í dag Tékklandi. Foreldrar Karls, sem voru glergerðarfólk eins og margir í Bæheimi, dóu þegar hann var ungur og var hann þá tekinn í fóstur af fjölskyldu móður sinnar í bænum Lenora.

Karl Breu heillaðist ungur af sirkus og lífinu þar og réðst hann að einum slíkum sem trúður en fór fljótlega að stunda aðrar listir og stældi sjónhverfingarmeistarann Harry Houdini. Houdini var gyðingur (hét upphaflega Erik Weisz) og Breu albínói svo það kom út á eitt. Tók Breu sér listamannsnafnið Ískonungurinn (Eiskönig eða The Ice King), en notaði einnig nafnið Tom Jack í aðrar listir eins þegar hann leysti sig úr hnútum og hlekkjum líkt og Houdini. Tom Jack ferðaðist víða um Evrópu og í Lundúnum varð hann m.a. frægur er hann lét kasta sér í Thamesá frá Tower Bridge hlekkjuðum innan í tunnu. Sagan segir að þar hafi hurð skollið nærri hælum. Á hátindi frægðar sinnar var hann einnig þekktur fyrir sitt mikla, hvíta og hrokkna hár.

Tom Jack giftist albínóakonu sem kallaði sig Wally Paradise. Þau og börn þeirra tvö mynduðu flokkinn To-Ya und die Eismenschen ásamt öðrum albínóum og ýmsum öðrum sem brugðu sér í gervi hvítingja. Karl Breu lést í Beinstein í Þýskalandi árið 1953, en hans er enn minnst í Lenora í Tékklandi þar sem hann stofnaði sjóð fyrir fátæk börn.

Hér eru nokkrar myndir frá frægðarferli flokksins Eismenschen:

Neðsta myndin er af hluta hópsins sem lék listir sínar í München haustið 1936. Karl Breu er ekki á myndinni.

 

Einstök plaköt í safni Jaap Best

Fyrirtækið Adolph Friedländers (1851-1904) í Hamborg sérhæfði sig í hönnun og prentun plakata fyrir skemmtistaði og sér í lagi sirkusa. Árið 1935 prentaði fyrirtæki hans, sem þá var rekið af sonum hans tveimur, myndir fyrir sirkushóp goðsögunnar Tom Jacks, Eismenschen. Þetta var rétt áður en nasistar tóku fyrirtækið af fjölskyldunni Friedländer sem voru gyðingar. Fyritækið A. Friedländers var þekkt fyrir prentun mjög vandaðra litógrafía. Allir sem vildu vera eitthvað í þeim heimi, hvort sem það var í Þýskalandi eða utan, létu prenta vönduð litógrafíuplaköt hjá Adoph Friedländer í Hamborg

Mikið safn slíkra plakata og prentmiða er að finna í safni Jaap Best, hollensk sirkusáhugmanns  sem safnaði sirkusminjum. Það var einmitt í því safni (sjá hér) að ég fann myndirnar af To Ya og Ísfjölskyldu hans. Í dag er safnið varðveitt í Teylers-safninu í Haarlem í Hollandi. Síðast þegar ég var þar, skoðaði ég safnið en uppgötvaði þá ekki frístundaíslendingana Tom Jack og Ísfólkið. En þar fann ég þessi skemmtilegu plaköt frá 1909 með Jóhannesi Jósefssyni sem síðar var kenndur var við Hótel Borg. Árið 1909 var hann greinilega glímukóngur heimsins og barðist frækilega í fornmannabúningi og með fálkamerkið á brjóstinu við illmenni gráa fyrir járnum. Þarna sýnist mér nú jafnvel að komið sé frumsniðið fyrir hinn eina sanna Superman.

"The boy who can throw you any moment he likes to". Safn Jaap Best, Teylers Museum.

Sú saga, sem sögð hefur verið hér, er vitanlega brot af sögu fínna og viðkvæmra þjóðernistilfinninga á Íslandi.

Það kemst enginn upp með það að leika íslenska albínóa nema að vera kærðir til yfirvaldsins. Þýskir listamenn sem halda að þeir geti leyft sér að gera hvað sem er, jafnvel sprautumála minnispunkta á landið okkar hreina, ættu bara að fara að vara sig... Þeir verða að lokum felldir með sniðglímu á lofti.

Þetta var greinilega kuldalegra atriði en blómagarðurinn í Reykjavík, í atriðinu Sonnenspiele, sem hópurinn sýndi í München árið 1936. Safn Jaap Best, Teylers Museum.

 

Ekki fara sögur af því að hópurinn hafi haldið mörgæsir. Líklegar er að þær hafi verið settar á plakatið til að lokka til áhorfendur (Friedländer 1935). Safn Jaap Best, Teylers Museum.

Ísfólk var greinilega blanda af góðu fólki frá Norður og Suðurpól, Grænlandi, Íslandi og Finnmörku, allt eftir hentugleika (Friedländer 1935). Safn Jaap Best, Teylers Museum.

Tom Jack brýst úr fjötrum, lögreglu allra landa til mikillar undrunar, á plakati frá Friedländer (1910). Safn Jaap Best, Teylers Museum.