Eske Brun

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Eske Brun (1904–1987) was born in Aalborg in the northern part of Jutland, Denmark. His father died when he was 15 and the family moved to Ordrup north of Copenhagen. He got a law-degree from University of Copenhagen in 1929. In 1932, at the age of 28, he was given a substitute job as govenor of Northern Greenland. In 1939 he got a permanent position as governor. When World War II started and the connection to Copenhagen (the capital of the Kingdom of Denmark, which Greenland was a part of) was severed, on account of the German occupation—Eske Brun and his colleague Aksel Svane, via the law concerning the ruling of Greenland of 1925, took control of the Island. They established supply-lines from USA and Canada with the help of the Danish ambassador in Washington, Henrik Kauffmann. From 1941 till the end of the war Aksel Svane was situated in USA to organize the supplies and Eske Brun was the sole governor of Greenland during the remainder of the war. The administration was centralized in Godthåb (Nuuk). After the war Eske Brun was made vicepresident of the Greenland Administration (Grønlands Styrelse) (in 1947). In January 1949 he succeeded Knud Oldendow as president. Eske Brun worked as a high official until his voluntary retirement in 1964 after disputes concerning equality between Danes and Greenlanders.