Arctic Adventure

Danish explorer, journalist, and author, Peter Freuchen was born in Nykobing, Falster, Denmark, and studied at the University of Copenhagen. Freuchen made his first trip to the Arctic in 1906, joining the Knut Rasmussen expedition. Fascinated by the Arctic, he was a member of the famous Thule expeditions (1910-1925) in northwestern Greenland. He also served as governor of the Thule colony from 1913 to 1920. Off and on for more than two generations he lived, hunted, and traveled with the Inuit, understanding them better than any other man of his generation. His first wife was an Inuit, about whom he wrote in Invalu, the Eskimo Wife (1935).

Fliers en route from Fort Churchill to distant Arctic air bases can still trace their course by landmarks Freuchen first put on the map. He aided refugees from the Nazis during the late 1930s and was active in the Underground movement after Denmark was occupied and before his own escape to Sweden. In 1957 Freuchen won the Gold Medal of the International Benjamin Franklin Society for his "service to mankind in opening new frontiers."

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