Bloggfćrslur mánađarins, september 2012

Iceland's Nazi Ghosts

Gunnar and Lohse leaving Hitler

 

Earlier this year Rabbi Abraham Cooper of The Simon Wiesenthal Center criticized the annual broadcast of the Hymns of the Passion in Iceland. However, the 17th century anti-Semitic hymns are not the only spooks from the past haunting the Icelanders.  

The Nazi sympathies of one of Iceland´s leading authors of the 20th century create a stir in Iceland, long after his death. Gunnar Gunnarsson (1889-1975), a renowned author of his time, had clear cut Nazi sympathies, a fact that many Icelanders do not want to hear, see or listen to.

Gunnarsson published the bulk of his work in Denmark in Danish, where he was quite a significant author in the first half of the 20th century. Gunnarsson was actually considered several times for the Nobel Prize in literature. Gunnarsson was also a highly regarded author in Germany, and especially in Nazi-Germany where the elite took a great fancy to him. In Germany Gunnarsson was defined as the Icelandic farmer´s son, an image which tickled the aesthetics of the Nazis.

Gunnar Gunnarsson was also fascinated by the Third Reich. He was a member of the Nordische Gesellschaft, an organisation headed by Alfred Rosenberg, Heinrich Himmler as well as the butcher from Riga, Hinrich Lohse. Nordische Gesellschaft was an organisation, through which the thugs and criminals of the Nazi regime sought Scandinavian academic acceptance and cooperation. Plenty of intellectuals in Scandinavia were eager to participate in this Nazi charade, Gunnarsson being one of the most ardent supporters. He made numerous trips to Germany giving lectures and promoted conferences and shows for the Nordische Gesellschaft in Denmark as well as contributing to Der Norden, the monthly of the organisation. He received an honorary doctorate at a Nazi University in Germany and Nazi-Germany became his major source of income. In his native Iceland, Gunnarsson wrote a letter to Hitler praising the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria. The letter was published in an Icelandic daily.

The final salute of Gunnar Gunnarsson to Nazi Germany was his sudden trip from Iceland in early 1940 to Germany, where he gave lectures and read from his works in 44 different cities and towns. The visit was crowned by his personal meeting with Hitler on 20 March 1940 in the office of the Führer in Berlin. The personal photographer of Hitler, Heinrich Hoffmann, caught Gunnarsson together with Hinrich Lohse, leaving the meeting with Hitler. Lohse, who was also a farmer´s son like Gunnarsson, continued his career organizing the killing of Jews by the thousands in Latvia, while Gunnarsson returned to his Icelandic sheep-farm. After the war his Nazi sympathies were hushed down and he became one of the most ardent spokesmen of Nordic cooperation and a critic of Socialism in Iceland.

Recently the Icelandic historical/archaeological blog, Fornleifur, written by Dr. Vilhjálmur Örn Vilhjálmsson (and you are reading it by the way, in a special English version), dealt with the post war denial of Gunnarsson´s Nazi sympathies. The blog was among other things critical of a recently published biography on Gunnarsson, which claims he wasn´t a Nazi at all. A state-run institution in his name, Gunnarsstofnun, at his Bavarian style villa at Skriduklaustur in East-Iceland, doesn´t give detailed information about his co-operation with Nazi Germany.

On 16 September four photographs of Gunnarsson´s visit to Germany in 1940 were published on Fornleifur, (where Gunnarsson Nazi sympathies had been dealt with on an earlier occation) and one of them was donated to the Gunnar Gunnarsson research Center in East Iceland. The Icelandic State Broadcasting service, (RÚV), the same day published the photograph of Gunnarsson on the the steps of Hitler´s headquarters which had appeared on Fornleifur. However, after roughly two hours on the website of the state broadcasting service, the news item (here in a printscreen) and the accompanying picture vanished into thin air. No traces could be found of the this news item. Censorship had hit Iceland once again. In the 21th Century it was obviously not possible to show a photograph of an Icelander licking the boots of Nazi war criminals in the official media in Iceland.

The Icelandic broadcasting service which annually proudly broadcasts the reading of the anti-Semitic Hymns of the Passion, as the highlight of Icelandic culture, doesn´t seem to be comfortable publishing incriminating pictures of one of the main authors of Iceland fraternizing in the courts of Adolf Hitler. It is still to be seen who ordered the censorship.

There used to be something rotten in the State of Denmark, but its rapidly spreading.

Gunnar Königsberg 1940

Gunnar Gunnarson in Königsberg (Today the Russian Kaliningrad)

   Gunnar in Gera

Gunnarsson thanks the inhabitants of the the city of Gera in Thüringen. Note how well ornated the literary enthusiast of Gera are. 

Reichenber a lille

Gunnar Gunnarsson signes the Golden Book of the city of Reichenberg (Today the city of Liberec in the Czech Republic).


Hvađ sagđi Gunnar ?

Gunnar hittir Hitler 1a lille

Hvađ sagđi Gunnar ţegar hann heilsađi á Hitler, en ţađ gerđi hann svo sannarlega ţann 20. mars 1940. Sagđi hann Gnädiger Herr eđa einfaldlega Mein Führer. Ég giska á ţađ síđara, enda tel ég Gunnar Gunnarsson hafa veriđ brennandi nasista, engu síđri en Norđmanninn Knut Hamsun.

Nýlega ćsti ég mann og annan međ ţví ađ halda nasisma Gunnars fram (sjá hér og hér) og benda á stađreyndir, sem ekki hefur veriđ hampađ hingađ til. Sumir vildu ekki trúa mér. En eins og Mark Twain skrifađi: Ţađ er auđveldara ađ plata fólk, en ađ sannfćra fólk um ţađ hafi veriđ platađ.

Hér er svo myndin sem ég lofađi landsmönnum og lesendum mínum. Gunnar er hér nýkominn af fundi međ Hitler í Berlín. Aríska svartfuglinn í lífverđi Hitlers ţekkjum viđ ekki, en sá feiti til vinstri er einn af morđhundum Hitlers í Lettlandi, Hinrich Lohse, sem var gildur limur í Nordische Gesellschaft líkt og Gunnar. Gunnar fór af fundinum međ Hitler og slátrađi litlum lömbum á Hérađi, en Lohse drap gyđinga eins og flugur í Lettlandi.

Eftir öll ţessi ár kemur ţessi ljósmynd af eina Íslendingum sem talađi viđ Hitler nú fyrst fyrir sjónir Íslendinga. Var eitthvađ ađ? Frćđileg hćgđarteppa? Afneitun?

Gunnar var skáld í "góđum félagsskap", líkt og Laxness. Ţeir voru "sjálfstćđir menn", en ţrátt fyrir ţađ allháđir ofurstefnum í útlandinu og ţjónkunarsamir viđ útópíur. Ţetta er einfaldlega stađreynd sem menn verđa kyngja í stađ ţess ađ stinga höfđinu í sandinn. Gunnar var markađur af sínum samtíma. Eftir heimsstyrjöldina hentađi ţađ ekki vel ađ hafa veriđ í kaffi hjá Hitler.

Ég er ekki í vafa um, ađ allar (hugsanlegar) Nóbelsverđlaunaóskir Gunnars hafi fariđ fyrir ofan garđ og neđan, ţví svona mynd og ađrar af Gunnari og vitneskju um nasisma hans hafđi Nóbelakademían í Svíţjóđ séđ og fengiđ. Ţótt margir sćnskir menningarvitar hefđu horft gapandi af ađdáun til nasismans, vildu fćstir ţeirra muna eftir ţví ađ stríđinu loknu.

Í dag sendi ég myndina í hárri upplausn til Gunnarsstofnunar á Skriđuklaustri. Á hinu ríkisstyrkta menningar- og upplýsingasetri býst ég ekki viđ öđru en ađ menn hengi myndina upp á vegg í svörtum ramma međ öđrum senum úr lífi Gunnars Gunnarssonar. Ég spái ţví ađ innan skamms verđi ţessi mynd einnig komin á heimasíđu Gunnarsstofnun og inn í sögubćkur sem hingađ til hafa sagt okkur ađ Gunnar hafi alls ekki veriđ neinn nasisti. Einar Már Guđmundsson getur nú hćtt ađ ljúga Dani fulla um Gunnar.

Myndir birtist í tímaritinu Der Norden, Jahrgang 17, hefti 5. 1940.  Ţetta rit var til á ýmsum menningarheimilum í Reykjavík hér um áriđ. En varđ svo mjög sjaldgćft, og af öllu má dćma ađ Gunnar hafi fargađ sínu eintaki.

Textinn viđ myndina hljómađi svo:

Der Führer empfing den bekannten isländischen Dichter Gunnar Gunnarsson. Gunnar Gunnarsson, der bei seinem Empfang durch den Führer vom Leiter der Nordischen Gesellschaft, Gauleiter und Oberpräsident Lohse, und vom Präsidenten des Großsen Rates der Nordischen Gesellschaft. Oberbürgermeister Staatsrat Dr. Dreschler, Lübeck, begleitet war, hat im Laufe des Winters in 44 deutschen Städten für die Nordische Gesellschaft mit großen Erfolg Vorlesungen aus seinen Werken abgehalten. (Aufn. Heinrich Hoffmann).

Ţetta var ekki eina myndin sem birtist ađ skáldinu í Ţýskalandi áriđ 1940. Nokkrar ađrar, ţar sem hann las upp úr bókum sínum í ársbyrjun 1940, hafa einnig birst. Hér eru ţćr:

Gunnar Königsberg 1940

Gunnar Gunnarson les upp í Königsberg (sem heitir Kaliningrad í dag)

   Gunnar in Gera

Gunnar ţakkar íbúum Gera í Thüringen fyrir góđar móttökur. Takiđ eftir ţví hve vel merktir hinir bókmenntaáhugasömu borgarar eru.

Reichenber a lille

Gunnar ritar nafn sitt í hina gylltu bók borgarinnar Reichenberg (í dag Liberec í Tékklandi)


Er kryppa Ríkharđs III fundin ?

Richard_III_earliest_surviving_portrait
 

Flestir ţekkja krypplinginn, geđsjúklinginn og óţokkann Ríkharđ III frá samnefndu leikriti Williams Shakespeares frá 1591. Viđ ţekkjum einnig mörg hvernig Laurence Olivier gerđi honum skil í kvikmyndaútgáfu leikritsins frá árinu 1955.

Ekki vilja allir Bretar sćtta sig viđ Ríkharđ III í međferđ Shakespeares og ýmissa leikara sem vildu sýna okkur hve góđir ţeir voru ađ leika óţokka. Stofnađur hefur veriđ sjóđur, The Richard the III Foundation, Inc. sem efla á rannsóknir á sögu Ríkharđs III. Međal annars til ađ rétt viđ ímynd konungsins. Ţessi sjóđur hefur félaga í Bretlandi, í Bandaríkjunum og örugglega víđar. Hver vill ekki vera góđur viđ krypplinga í dag. Ţađ sem viđ ţekkjum um Ríkharđ hefur líka veriđ skrifađ af andstćđingum hans, Tudor-ćttinni, og sá hún sér akk í ţví ađ gera hiđ versta fól úr Ríkharđi.

Nú fara fram fornleifarannsóknir í Leicester á Englandi, sem m.a. eru styrktar af sjóđ ţessum. Rannsóknirnar fara fram á bílastćđi, ţar sem hann er talinn hafa veriđ greftrađur eftir orrustuna viđ Bosworth Akra áriđ 1485. Á bílastćđinu í Leicester hafa fornleifafrćđingar grafiđ síđan í ágúst, en undir bílastćđinu stóđ áđur sú klausturkirkja sem mađur veit ađ Ríkharđur III var greftrađur í.

Viti menn, ţegar á fyrstu vikum rannsóknarinnar, sem stýrt er af fornleifafrćđingum viđ háskólann í Leicester, hafa menn fundiđ beinagrind manns međ kryppu (sjúka hryggjaliđi) og örvarodd í höfuđkúpunni. Gröfin fannstí í kór kirkjurústarinnar.

fundarstadur

Örin sýnir hvađ bein krypplingsins fundust í Leicester

Konungaáhugi Breta eru auđvitađ svo gífurlegur, ađ fyrir löngu er búiđ ađ finna afkomendur Ríkharđs III. Ţá er ađ finna í Kanada. Ţangađ flutti bresk kona fyrir mörgum árum og giftist einhverjum Ibsen. Sonur hennar Michael Ibsen, 55 ára, sem fluttist til London og er ţar húsgagnasmiđur, hefur nú veriđ beđinn um ađ gefa DNA sýni úr sjálfum sér til ađ bera saman viđ DNA-iđ úr beinagrindinni í Leicester. Ef hćgt verđur ađ sýna ađ móđurgen (mítókondríal gen) Ibsens séu ţau sömu og í beinagrindinni er hćgt ađ fćra sterkar líkur ađ ţví ađ krypplingurinn undir bílstćđinu í Leicester sé Ríkharđur III. En svo er aldrei ađ vita, kannski er Ibsen alls ekki kominn af Ríkharđi, og getur ţá beinagrindin samt sem áđur veriđ af Ríkharđi. Ţađ verđur kannski erfitt ađ sanna. Svo ţarf erfđaefniđ í beinagrindinni líka ađ henta til rannsóknanna, og ţađ er enn óvíst.

Ibsen sýni

Michael Ibsen tekur DNA sýni úr sjálfum sér fyrir framan fjölmiđlana. He looks a bit Royale with a lollipop!

Haskoli eda mediasirkus 

Fjölmiđlasirkus í Leicester, nú spyrja menn sig hvort leggja eigi beinin til hinstu hvílu í Westminster Abbey, ef ţau "reynast úr Ríkharđi"

Mađur leyfir sér ţó ađ efast, og undrast ađ fornleifafrćđingar taki ţátt í svona fjölmiđlasirkus. En stundum er fornleifafrćđin hundheppin líkt og óţokkinn.

Laurence-Olivier-Richard-001
Olivier í hlutverki Ríkharđs III

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