House of Evidence(53)
3. The museum shall be open to the public for a minimum of four hours each day.
4. Entrance fees shall be accumulated to finance the writing and publishing of a biography of engineer Jacob Kieler.
I hope that this matter will be dealt with swiftly and satisfactorily by the city administration.
Respectfully yours, Jacob Kieler Jr.
And another one, over seven months later:
Reykjavik October 25, 1972
Sir,
I regret to say that I am not able to keep to my undertaking that the present owners of the Birkihlíd property will transfer to the City of Reykjavik the house and its contents without payment of consideration. I had overestimated my relatives’ readiness to preserve the memory of my parents. I am, however, requesting that the City of Reykjavik purchase the house with the objective of establishing a museum as discussed in my previous letters and in discussions with yourself and your officials. I feel certain that agreement as to an acceptable price can be reached.
Respectfully yours, Jacob Kieler Jr.
Behind these copies was a letter bearing the blue letterhead of the mayor of Reykjavik himself:
Reykjavik, January 8, 1973
Dear Jacob Kieler,
Your proposition as regards the property Birkihlíd and its future has now been discussed by Reykjavik city council and the city curator’s office. The conclusion reached was that there are no grounds for the City of Reykjavik either to establish a museum to commemorate engineer Jacob Kieler, nor to undertake any commitment as regards its operation.
In spite of coming to this conclusion, we wish you well in your attempts to establish the museum. Should your plans not materialize, the Árbæjarsafn Museum would be happy to accept articles from the estate for conservation.
Respectfully yours, Mayor of Reykjavik (signed)
Hrefna continued to leaf through the papers, coming across two deeds of conveyance dated December 3, 1972, referring to Jacob Junior’s purchase of Matthías’s half share of Birkihlíd, and his purchase of Kirsten’s quarter share of the property and her half share of the contents.
Hrefna pondered over what she had found. While Jacob Junior was busy buying his relatives’ shares in the house and its contents, he had still been trying to interest the city in the purchase of the house as a museum. The conveyances seemed to have been an attempt to gain time, but then the mayor’s letter had shattered his hopes. And according to the accounts, Jacob Junior lacked the means to meet the financial obligations that the conveyances imposed on him, let alone pay any of his other debts. He was clearly bankrupt. These last days of his life must have been difficult. His dream of a museum in Birkihlíd had come to nothing and he himself was insolvent.
Further on in the binder Hrefna found a magazine clipping with the headline “Icelanders Offer Kingship to German Citizen.”
Evidence has been uncovered to substantiate the rumor that in 1938 certain worthy Icelanders invited a German nobleman, Rudiger von Kuppel, to become King of Iceland. The authorities here, however, have wanted to suppress the affair, officially claiming no knowledge of it. Von Kuppel came here himself in 1967, having previously written to announce his arrival, but was received as if he was not entirely sane, and departed a hurt and disappointed man. On arriving home he wrote a paper about his experience, which ended up in an archive in Cologne, along with other papers belonging to the von Kuppel family, when he died last year.
The paper revealed that in the summer of 1938 a number of Icelandic patriots had arrived in Berlin looking for a suitable candidate to be king of a new, independent monarchy. The king had to be in the prime of life, have a son, and be of a former ruling family. Von Kuppel was, of course, extremely surprised when he was approached, but having given the matter some consideration was able to confirm to the Icelandic delegation that he would accept their offer. These plans, however, came to naught, thanks to developments in Germany with which we are all familiar.
Von Kuppel says in his paper that the Icelandic delegation numbered five, but that he could name only two of them. It is probable that they only introduced themselves orally when they met, and that von Kuppel was not able to memorize the Icelandic names. There were, however, two people in the group whose names von Kuppel found it easy to remember as they were of German origin. They were the brothers Jacob and Matthías Kieler.
During this period engineer Jacob Kieler was making his final attempts to turn his railroad company into reality, seeking help in Germany for this purpose. One may suppose, therefore, that turning Iceland into a monarchy was but a small matter for him in his quest to gain backing for the railroad business. The most likely explanation, in fact, is that he became a guide to the royalists on their trip to Berlin because he knew the city well, having studied there, and then used the opportunity to gain support for his business at the same time. Matthías Kieler actually lived in Berlin during these years, and was thus very likely to have been of assistance to the delegation.