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House of Evidence(83)



“Were you aware that your grandmother wanted to keep the home unchanged, as it had been when your grandfather was alive?” Hrefna asked.

“That’s simply how it was. She didn’t particularly try to, she was just happy in the house as it was and there was no need to change anything. It wasn’t a compulsion like it became with Uncle Jacob later.”

“Did she keep in contact with her relatives in England?”

“Yes, she did, all her life. She visited them almost every year until the final years, when she had to be careful with her money.”

“Did your grandmother talk about Jacob Senior…your grandfather?”

“Yes, she often told me stories of what they did together, especially their travels. As I got older, she showed me the diaries, and I really enjoyed reading them.”

“Did you read all the diaries?”

“No, not the books after 1932. They were not with the others.”

“Did you ask your grandmother about them?”

“Yes, but she wouldn’t show them to me.”

“Do you know why that was?”

“She said that I wouldn’t understand some of the things in them. I just accepted that and didn’t ask anymore. I never doubted anything Granny told me. She always knew best.”

“What can you tell me about your uncle Matthías?”

“About Matthías? What do you mean?”

“What was the relationship between him and the family like?”

“There was no relationship, apart from a letter at Christmas. But Grandpa Jacob often mentioned him in the diaries and seems to have really appreciated him.”

“Have you met him recently?”

“No, I haven’t tried to get to know him. Most of my interests lie outside the family. But I was pleased that he stood up to Uncle Jacob. Mom was getting really fed up with this compulsion of his.”

“Do you know Klemenz, his manservant?”

“No. I find all that rather unpleasant. One person waiting on another for years on end doesn’t fit my worldview. I’m quite a bit more radical than this family of mine.”

“You said that you had begun to feel a bit weird in Birkihlíd when you went in there with Sigurdur. In what way?”

“I don’t know. It’s never happened before; maybe it was some kind of premonition.”



Diary XV


January 14, 1936. 11 degrees of frost. Walked on the ice across Skerjafjördur from Skildinganes over to Álftanes and back. The ice is thick enough to walk on everywhere…


February 4, 1936. A letter from Helmut Klee. He has arranged for two railroad engineers to visit me this summer to examine the route and go over my plans. I shall write to him and ask him to keep this scheme quiet. This will be a sensitive issue on account of the political situation. The best way to deal with it is for the men to pretend to be geologists who are here to study Icelandic minerals…


February 10, 1936. A secret meeting of the Monarchy Society. All four were present…


March 6, 1936. Plans are afoot for a new motor road between Reykjavik and the southern lowlands. The route lies through the Reykjanesskagi uplands, Krísuvík, and Selvogur, about 115 km in total. The only positive thing about these plans is that they are so stupid that they may enable me to boost interest in the railroad, should they come to fruition. Nobody is going to travel all this way in a motor if a 60-km railroad journey is available instead…


June 26, 1936. Today Morgunbladid published an interview with a famous Danish editor who has been staying here recently in connection with the Royal State visit. He says: “I am convinced that it will never be possible to achieve real progress in developing these regions without building a railroad from Reykjavik to the east so that this country’s main agricultural areas may enjoy truly low cost and secure transport of freight. It is a fallacy that motor roads can replace railroads. In order for farmers in the southern lowlands to be competitive with their products in foreign markets, they must have as secure and cheap transport as, for instance, Danish farmers have.” Our perceptive visitor continues in this vein at some length. I cut the article out and keep it with the other material. I am going to translate it into German and send it abroad. It is clear that it will be left to foreigners to make my fellow countrymen see sense in this matter…


July 10, 1936. The Germans came with the Brúarfoss this morning. I asked Kristján to meet them, and they will be staying at Hotel Ísland. One of them speaks excellent Danish; his family comes from Flensborg…


July 12, 1936. The German visitors were here with me today going through drawings and calculations. They are astute men and quick to understand figures. They dined with us…