A new history book provides an account that an American soldier along with an Icelandic interpreter searched for Adolf Hitler in Iceland shortly before the end of WWII.
Hitler was believed to be in hiding in the home of Gunnar Gunnarsson, a well known and highly respected Icelandic author, as reported by RÚV.
Gunnarsson was known for his connections to the Nazis during WWII and, on 20 March 1940, was reportedly the only Icelander to ever meet Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
The book Skáldalíf (“Life of Poets”) by Halldór Gudmundsson features the life of Gunnar Gunnarsson and compares him to another Icelandic author, Thórbergur Thórdarson.
Gudmundsson’s book says Gunnarsson’s house was searched twice by allied forces during the war. On the second occasion, 6 May 1945, an American soldier and an Icelandic interpreter knocked on his door in Skriduklaustur, east Iceland.
Gunnarsson evidently did not know why his house was being searched, but later learned from a farmer who lived close by that the American soldier had been looking for Adolf Hitler.
A week earlier a German plane had been spotted flying over the area, dropping something off near Gunnarsson’s house.
The book’s author told RÚV that the theory about Hitler being dropped off in east Iceland was “absurd,” but that it says a lot about how people saw Gunnarsson as a person.
This account in Skáldalíf is based on a written testimony given by a man who lived on the farm closest to Skriduklausur.
To read another story about Gunnar Gunnarsson, click here.
