Augo Lynge

Augustinus "Augo" Telef Nis Lynge (born 16 October 1899 in Fiskenæsset – died 30 January 1959 in Cape Farewell, Greenland) was a Danish politician, poet, teacher and writer who was the first Greenlandic representative in the Danish parliament and died during the sinking of the MS Hans Hedtoft.^[1]

Early life

Lynge was born on 16 October 1899 in Greenland and was the son of catechist Pavia Lynge (died 1943) and his wife Bendtea née Hejlmann. He had five siblings.

School career

Lynge graduated from the Nuuk Seminarium in 1921 as a teacher and went on to complete several courses at Jelling College from 1922 to 1923. After that he completed a special course in a school in Copenhagen from 1923 to 1924 before working as a teacher in the Nuuk Seminarium. In 1930 Lynge went on to be a teacher at the Nuuk College, however that same year he entered politics and said goodbye to his teaching career.^[2]

Family

Lynge married Qetura Heilmann on 12 July 1925 and had five children by her, his marriage ended in tragedy when Qetura died in 1939 at the age of 38. He remarried on 12 August 1940 with Emilie Lund and had two children by her, they remained married until Lynge's death in 1959.^[3]

Political career

Lynge started in politics in 1930 when he was elected to the Nuuk Municipal Councils, he however went so far as becoming the Chairman of the Nuuk municipal councils in 1934. He ended his term as chairman in 1938 and also ended his term in the councils itself in 1942. In 1941 he also founded the youth association 'Nuvavta qitornai' which was founded to arouse the Greenlandic youth to greater political awareness and responsibility

Lynge was delegated to Reich's Greenland Committee in 1939 and the periods 1945–1946 and 1951–1953. After that he was elected in 1951 to the National Council and its committee of Greenland until 1953 when he made Greenlandic history. He was however already in 1950 Greenland's leading political personality because of his political thoughts which were dictated by the desire to bring the Greenlanders out of stagnation, poverty, ignorance and disease by developing society to a modern standard in all areas of Greenland.^[4]

Lynge along with Frederik Lynge were the first Greenlandic representatives in the Danish parliament of 1953, during this time he also became Chairman of the Greenland People's Educational Association, he held this position until 1955. And he remained a member of the Danish Parliament until his death. In 1952 he became a Knight of Dannebrog.

Writing career

Lynge published the journal "tarqigssut" from 1934 to 1948, mainly for the youth association 'Nuvavta qitornai' which he founded in 1941. He also wrote the futurenovel "ukiut 300 ngornerat" (Greenland the 300th anniversary of Hans Egede's arrival) in 1931 and a number of textbooks in zoology, geography and Greenland. He also made the poems Erinarsungaartarit nipit qiimasut anikkit, Nuannarisannik oqassaguma and Aalisartut qangatut ajornikuujumaarput.

Death

Lynge went on the maiden voyage of the MS Hans Hedtoft which sailed from Julianehaab, Greenland, to Copenhagen, Denmark, on 29 January 1959. However the next day, the ship collided with an iceberg about 35 miles (56 km) south of Cape Farewell. A few distress calls were send out by the ship, but rescue ships didn't reach them in time and the ship sank on 30 January 1959.

Countless ships and helicopters were sent out to search for survivors or wreckage to no avail, the search was called off on 7 February 1959 and everyone's worst fears had come true. All 95 passengers and crew had perished, any bodies or the wreck of the ship have never been found.

References