Peter Freuchen facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Peter Freuchen
Freuchen in 1921
Born	Lorenz Peter Elfred Freuchen (1886-02-20)20 February 1886 Nykøbing Falster, Denmark
Died	2 September 1957(1957-09-02) (aged 71) Anchorage, Alaska, US
Nationality	Danish
Known for	Arctic explorer, author, journalist, anthropologist.
Spouse(s)	Navarana (Mequpaluk) Magda Vang Lauridsen Dagmar Cohn
Children	Pipaluk Freuchen
Scientific career
Fields	Anthropologist

Peter Freuchen (born Lorenz Peter Elfred Freuchen on February 20, 1886 – died September 2, 1957) was a famous Danish explorer, writer, journalist, and anthropologist. He is best known for his amazing trips to the Arctic, especially the Thule Expeditions. He spent many years living with the Inuit people in Greenland and became a true expert on the Arctic.

Peter Freuchen with guests at Enehøje on Nakskov Fjord

Peter Freuchen with his wife Dagmar Cohn

His Life Story

Peter Freuchen was born in Nykøbing Falster, Denmark. His father was a businessman. Peter studied medicine for a while at the University of Copenhagen.

He was married three times. His first wife was Navarana Mequpaluk, an Inuk woman. They married in 1911 and had two children, a boy named Mequsaq and a girl named Pipaluk Freuchen. Sadly, Navarana passed away in 1921 during the Spanish Flu epidemic.

Later, Peter married Magda Vang Lauridsen in 1924. This marriage ended in 1944. In 1945, he married Dagmar Cohn, a Danish fashion illustrator.

Peter Freuchen's grandson, Peter Ittinuar, made history as the first Inuk person in Canada to be elected as a Member of Parliament.

From 1926 to 1940, Peter owned a Danish island called Enehøje [da]. He wrote many books and articles there. He also became very interested in socialism, which is about making society fairer for everyone, and he strongly opposed fascism, which is a type of unfair and controlling government. Today, Enehøje island is a wildlife reserve.

His Adventures and Work

In 1906, Peter Freuchen went on his first trip to Greenland as part of the Denmark expedition. Between 1910 and 1924, he went on many more expeditions, often with another famous explorer named Knud Rasmussen. They even crossed the huge Greenland ice sheet together. Peter lived for many years in Thule, Greenland, learning from the Polar Inuit people. He also traveled to South Africa and Siberia.

In 1910, Peter Freuchen and Knud Rasmussen started the Thule Trading Station in Greenland. They chose the name "Thule" because it was the most northern trading post in the world, like the "end of the world." This station became the starting point for seven big trips called the Thule Expeditions.

The First Thule Expedition in 1912 was a tough one. Peter, Knud, and two Inuit companions traveled 1,000 kilometers across the ice to see if a channel divided Peary Land from Greenland. They proved it didn't, and the journey was incredibly difficult. Peter wrote about this and other adventures in his books, Vagrant Viking (1953) and I Sailed with Rasmussen (1958). He once got stuck under an avalanche and had to use his amazing resourcefulness to free himself.

Back in Denmark, Peter and Knud gave many talks about their expeditions and the Inuit culture.

Peter's first wife, Navarana, joined him on some of his trips. When she died, he wanted to bury her in a church graveyard, but the church refused because she hadn't been baptized. So, Peter buried her himself. He often spoke out against Christian missionaries who came to the Inuit without understanding their way of life.

In the 1920s, Peter joined a political group called the Social Democrats and wrote articles for a newspaper. He also worked as an editor-in-chief for a magazine and led a movie company.

In 1932, he went back to Greenland for an expedition that was paid for by the American film company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He also worked in the film industry as a helper and writer for movies about the Arctic. One famous movie he worked on was Eskimo/Mala The Magnificent. In 1956, he won $64,000 on an American TV quiz show called The $64,000 Question by answering questions about "The Seven Seas."

In 1938, Peter started The Adventurer's Club of Denmark, which is still around today. They honored him by planting an oak tree and building an Eskimo cairn (a pile of stones) near where he left Denmark for Greenland in 1906.

During World War II, Peter Freuchen was a brave member of the Danish resistance movement against Nazi Germany. Even though he had lost a leg to frostbite in 1926, he fought against the occupation. He was known for openly saying he was Jewish whenever he saw people being unfair to Jewish people. The Germans captured him and sentenced him to death, but he managed to escape and flee to Sweden.

Peter was friends with royal families and important people in the movie and political worlds.

Later Years

Commemorative plaque on Freuchen's birthplace in Nykøbing Falster

Peter Freuchen and his wife Dagmar lived in New York City and also had a home in Noank, Connecticut.

He finished his last book, Book of the Seven Seas, just a few days before he passed away. He died from a heart attack on September 2, 1957, in Anchorage, Alaska. After his death, his ashes were scattered on Mount Dundas, a famous table-shaped mountain outside of Thule, Greenland.

Honours and Awards

• Member, Royal Danish Geographical Society
• Fellow, American Geographical Society
• 1921 - Hans Egede Medal from the Royal Danish Geographical Society

Freuchen Land in Greenland was named after him, and Navarana Fjord was named after his first wife.

Literary Prizes

• 1938 – Sophus Michaëlis' Legat
• 1954 – Herman Bangs Mindelegat
• 1955 – Kaptajn H.C. Lundgreens Legat

Selected Works

Biography

• Reid Mitenbuler, Wanderlust: An Eccentric Explorer, an Epic Journey, a Lost Age, HarperCollins, 2023.

See also

In Spanish: Peter Freuchen para niños