Ouled Nails
New member
I am posting this message in the hope of obtaining information about any Danish source concerning Beethoven's lock of hair which was in the possession of Dr. Kay Alexander Fremming, from Gilleleje, Denmark, beginning in 1943. While this story is fascinating in itself, another party is interested in finding specific information on this doctor and, possibly, on the individual who gave him this relic. Does anybody know of a Danish study on Dr. Fremming or on this particular episode of World War II? I include, below, a short historical outline drawn from http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/beethoven/hair/hairimage/deathmaskdismin.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/beethoven/hair/hairexhibit.html&h=180&w=161&sz=5&hl=en&start=11&tbnid=2-KvM73mIa_rmM:&tbnh=101&tbnw=90&prev=/images%3Fq%3DBeethoven%2BHair%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG
It's a shot in the dark but who knows!
March 27, 1827: Cut from Beethoven's head by Ferdinand Hiller after Beethoven's death on March 26, 1827
1883: Given to Hiller's son Paul as a birthday gift on May 1, 1883
1911: Examined by a conservator in Cologne and resealed in a locket with a wooden frame, with Paul Hiller's inscription placed underneath the glass backing
?-Oct. 1943: Property of an unknown Jew, possibly a member of the Hiller family
Oct. 1943: Given to Dr. Kay Alexander Fremming, a doctor living in Gilleleje, Denmark, as payment or as a gift for his assistance to Danish Jews escaping to safety in Sweden during World War II
Dec. 1, 1994: Sold by the Fremming family at a Sotheby's auction in London to four members of the American Beethoven Society (Ira F. Brilliant, Caroline Crummey, Alfredo Guevara, and Thomas Wendel) for £3,600
Dec. 1995: Under laboratory conditions, the locket is opened and 160 of the 582 hairs are extracted for Guevara to keep. Also found inside the locket is a fragment of the original authentication document and the conservator's statement from 1911
1996 :The remaining 422 strands, along with the frame and documents from inside the locket, go to the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies. Scientific testing begins on a few strands from Guevara's share of the hair
October 17, 2000: The book Beethoven's Hair by Russell Martin is published by Broadway Books. Results of scientific testing are announced.
It's a shot in the dark but who knows!
March 27, 1827: Cut from Beethoven's head by Ferdinand Hiller after Beethoven's death on March 26, 1827
1883: Given to Hiller's son Paul as a birthday gift on May 1, 1883
1911: Examined by a conservator in Cologne and resealed in a locket with a wooden frame, with Paul Hiller's inscription placed underneath the glass backing
?-Oct. 1943: Property of an unknown Jew, possibly a member of the Hiller family
Oct. 1943: Given to Dr. Kay Alexander Fremming, a doctor living in Gilleleje, Denmark, as payment or as a gift for his assistance to Danish Jews escaping to safety in Sweden during World War II
Dec. 1, 1994: Sold by the Fremming family at a Sotheby's auction in London to four members of the American Beethoven Society (Ira F. Brilliant, Caroline Crummey, Alfredo Guevara, and Thomas Wendel) for £3,600
Dec. 1995: Under laboratory conditions, the locket is opened and 160 of the 582 hairs are extracted for Guevara to keep. Also found inside the locket is a fragment of the original authentication document and the conservator's statement from 1911
1996 :The remaining 422 strands, along with the frame and documents from inside the locket, go to the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies. Scientific testing begins on a few strands from Guevara's share of the hair
October 17, 2000: The book Beethoven's Hair by Russell Martin is published by Broadway Books. Results of scientific testing are announced.