by Jens Larsen
(reposted from jpmuller.info)
Sunlight, fresh air and exercise are today considered as basic elements to a healthy way of living. At the turn of this century attitudes of this kind were – as we all know – not a widely spread phenomenon. Sports and exercise were, seen from a present day perspective, in a kind of innocence. In writing this article the author wants to make a rune-stone of memory to the man whose radical ideas, unique energy and personal way of setting an example, more so than any other of his contemporaries, formed the basis of the present concept of physical health. The author being a former vice-principal has written other articles for the Annual Report: in 1984 on Klippinge Church and in 1987 about the Kaetter-vicar. N.P Arboe-Ramussen.
Once he was world famous, indeed, mentioned as the most famous Dane abroad next to H C Andersen – and a couple of generations later almost totally forgotten.
When some 20 years ago I lived in Nykobing I occasionally walked along beside the harbour. There, I sometimes noticed a statue resembling a sportsman towelling himself.
One day I stopped and looked at the statue more closely. On the three sides of the base were written SUN, WATER and AIR, and on the fourth side: J. P. Muller (1866-1939). I asked several of the citizens who this J. P. Muller was, but none of them knew him. I was not much wiser having consulted several encyclopaedias.
Well destiny worked it out the way that I later became associated with the Local Falster Archives. One day I saw on one of the shelves, a cardboard box filled with papers, all concerning J. P. Muller. I delved into this material and quickly realised that I was confronted with a forgotten world famous person. An idealist, and a fiery spirit who was an enthusiast whose work changed the life habits of a whole generation, and the basic ideas and principles upon which our present health system is based and structured.
J.P. Muller devoted his life and the times of his generation to teaching people about what benefits sun, light, air, water, and exercise of the body did that would lead to a better life quality for people. He believed, “a healthy soul in a healthy body”. So J.P. Muller deserves to be shown with a new light on his life, and I will try to do this in the following pages.
Caption: Sports exercises during childhood and the needs of health were in the years to come the core element of his world famous system.
Jorgen Peter Muller was born on 7 October 1866 at Asserballe, on the island of Als, the son of the Pastor Georg Vilhelm Muller (1816-98) and Ellen Nielsine Jacobsen (1842-77) his second wife.
Georg Vilhelm Muller was appointed Pastor in 1863, but was removed in 1867 by the new administration, because he refused to swear an oath of loyalty, and would not sign his loyalty to the new regime. (Germany had invaded Schleiswig-Holstein in 1864, and part of the new rules after the invasion was that all preachers in the churches had now to give their sermons in the German language.) After being an assistant Pastor for a couple of years he was appointed on 7 January 1869, to a new position in Stadager, near North Kirkeby. Here he re-organised, and completely rebuilt the parsonage at Sundby and here Jorgen Peter came with 4 brothers and one sister.
Of Jorgen Peter’s childhood, he was a small child and a weakling. He was born with a birth weight of 3 and a half pounds and he later wrote: “I could sleep in an ordinary cigar box”. He had had all the ordinary childhood ailments one after another. At 2 and half years of age he almost died of dysentery . He was often absent from school with colds, fevers, and stomach upsets. His father was very keen on gymnastics and sports, and arranged races for the children in the big vicarage gardens That must have been what made Jorgen Peter feel better: when he was fit. Very often the weak boy would be in a chair in the conservatory, and he would gaze at a white sculpture in the middle of the lawn, a plaster cast statue by Bertel Thorvaldsen of “Jason and the Golden Fleece”. From a very early age, he looked at the statue and compared it with his own weak body. When he saw the power in the body of the statue, he swore to himself that he would one day grow up to be like Jason.
By the time he was eight years old he was a bright boy who read translations of German, and English books on gymnastics and physiology, and from that time he did daily morning exercises for seven minutes, he washed in cold water, and dried himself with a towel.
Then J.P. Muller started to attend Nykobing School . There was no public transport for the 10 kilometres from Sundby vicarage to Nykobing, He started running to school and back home each day . When he got back home he would go at once up into the attic and jump into a big tub of cold water, then towel himself off afterwards. If a friend accompanied him, he would also have to have a cold bath as well. Everyone liked the feeling they got after their cold bath.
After he had grown up, he took a room in the town, for himself, and when the Nykobing Rowing Club started up, he signed up as their first rower, and kept up an interest in rowing ever after, and particularly in the local club.
In 1884, J.P. Muller graduated from the Nykobing College. That year only three students graduated. Among his closest friends was someone who was later to become a lawyer Frederik Graae (died 1938) the founder of Marielyst, and P. B. Freuchen (the grandfather of Peter B. Freuchen an arctic explorer). The latter was the only man J.P. Muller could not beat in a wrestling-fight. Frederik Graae wrote in his book of memoirs “Memories From The Southern Islands” of his first encounter with Jorgen Peter Muller:
“On Monday mornings the principal of the Christian school would start the day with a morning psalm. One Monday morning in the late 1870’s everybody was waiting to begin prayers, the big white door of the school opened and in walked a blond heavy built boy with a fresh open face and big eyes. He rubbed his hands together, because he was shy and his face had an expression of confusion, and increasing puzzlement and bewilderment on it. One of the teachers showed him where to go and sit. That was J. P. Muller.
He was a pleasant and bright boy with a mixture of intelligence and naivete. Everything was new to him, and as he progressed he absorbed more and more. In his naïve way he did not hide his confusion and was eager to have new experiences. We lived in the same house and saw a lot of each other, though we were not in the same class. One day I opened the door of his room and was welcomed with a groan. I was puzzled. Even though it was very cold J.P. was there naked in the small wash basin doing his bathing in the icy water. We loved cold water, but certainly only in summer. In winter we hated being around cold water. No wonder I thought he was out of his mind, and for his part, he did not feel comfortable being caught without clothes.
Caption: The sportsman J. P. Muller who has long ago conquered the weaknesses of his childhood, and has now reached 21years of age.
Having graduated in 1884, J.P. Muller went to live in Copenhagen where he joined the Copenhagen Rowing Club and with his brothers formed “The Muller Team”. In 1888-89 he was a lieutenant in the Engineering Corps of the Danish Army and spent the following two years in Argentina with the Railways there. Then from 1993-1901 he was an employee for the newspaper COPENHAGEN and a student of theology. He studied theology including Hebrew and Latin. However he then considered changing his studies to Medicine.
As a member of Copenhagen Rowing Club he took part in setting up the initial Danish Athletic Games. He himself was one of the best in power-walking, and the javelin throwing. On 9 June 1893 at the Rosenborg Castle, in the inaugural Athletics competition the celebrated J. P. Muller was first in Walking and Javelin throwing. In the sports competition associated with the World-Exhibition in Copenhagen he won Hammer Throwing and the Pentathlon. He was awarded a laurel wreath.
In 1892, in a new publication called “Sport”, he organised and had people compete in an event of a Five Danish Mile Run (about 37.5 km.) from Roskildevej to Copenhagen, and won it himself. He also wrote articles on running and walking, and arranged several other walking competitions. In the same year, on 18 September he arranged another run over 2 Danish miles, about 15 kilometres. In October 1892 J.P. Muller set 7 records in Running, Walking, Discus, Hammer-throwing, and Shot-Putting… In 1893 he was the champion of Decathlon and in 1896 was a champion over the distance of an English mile (about 1.6km).
In 1901 J.P. Muller was appointed an inspector at the Vejle Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Jutland. It was founded in 1900 by Professor Saugmann, who was the first principal during the four years J. P. Muller was there.
The famous Muller Team of the Copenhagen Rowing Club. J.P. Muller is second from left.
In this sanitarium experiments were conducted with the use of lights and sunbathing as recommended by doctors from Copenhagen. The doctor had been a weakling as a boy, and had a lifelong disease of BUGVATTERSOT There was no cure, and no penicillin. He, like J.P. Muller went through what J.P. had been through, and realised that the body would benefit by being exposed to light. He rented a summerhouse, in a small village near Helsinore called Espergaerde. There he asked for part of the garden to be made into an enclosure where people could sunbathe naked. The house belonged to a carpenter who told everyone that there was a naked crazy Copenhagener living there.
The doctor died aged 44 years from the disease in 1904. As the first Dane to win a Nobel Prize the previous year Professor Niels R. Finsen got his prize for his studies on the healing effect of sunlight. Finsen and Muller: at the same time two world famous pioneers of better health and life quality.
During this time, Professor Saugmann was sculpted by Rasmus Bogebjerg (1859-1921) and when he had finished the artist offered to make a statue of the inspector, as he had a nice body with a beautiful form which was easy to understand. In 1903 Muller took first prize in a beautiful body contest, run by an institution “The Danish Society For Beautiful Body Shapes”. The modelling for the statue took place in the basement of the Sanitarium. In the newspaper COPENHAGEN could be read the following lines:
“It is praised by everyone who has seen it for its similarity in the depiction of the features of Muller’s face. Without doubt the beauty of the form of Mr Muller’s body will attract the attention of the public. And it will not be long before we question who do not use “My System” rather than how many people do use it.
J.P. Muller had developed a home gymnasium system to be used every day by people wearing as few clothes as possible, with open windows, finishing with cold showers and toweling. It took 15 minutes a day, and he had used it himself for several years, and trained his body to be in harmony and had acquired very significant results. He also trained others, mainly sports enthusiasts, with the same success. At the same time strange rumours of a mad man who ran naked around the hills of Vejle began circulating.
“My System” was published in 1904 at a time that was rooted in the Victorian abhorrence of showing the body, even looking at one’s own body. So when he showed off his own 190 cm body appearing in only a tiny loincloth to perform his exercises, he shocked and provoked the public.
J.P. Muller grew up in the Victorian times of a very closed world of disgust at the body and other petty nonsense. J.P. Muller wrote…”You enclosed the body in corsets and high collars and people were shy to show Nature in their own healthy nakedness. People were too shy to use the right names for their body parts, and shook and shivered with the impact of cold water and fresh air.” He did several lectures during which he took off his trousers, and stripped in front of the audience to show off his body and showed how nice and sun tanned he was. He taught the importance of his exercises, and the benefits to be gained from a good bath.
While some people took great interest in his ideas and carried them out, others considered it as pornographic, a type of pornography which was not punishable – that is, legal pornography. Others were deeply upset, and morally affronted, and were supported by the Press. He himself said the naked body was pleasant in the eyes of God because that was the way Man was created, therefore there was nothing dirty about it, and the dirt was hidden in people’s minds. This new approach was seen as anti-Lutheran, where prayer and work were the only things of importance.
J.P. Muller never forgot the Nykobing Rowing Club. Every year he spent his summer holidays training there. He provided the trainer of the club H. Eriksen, with up-dated ideas on modern training methods that had a great impact on the Club. After 1904 he published his pioneering book, on 27 March he went to the “Hotel Royals” Cinema, to demonstrate his system and the profits from his lecture went to the Rowing Club. The next day you could read in the “LOLLAND -FALSTERS FOLKETIDENDE” the following:
“Lieutenant J.P. Muller put on a show last night in the Hotel Royals Salon 3 in front of an audience of 400 people of both men and women, even with several from the countryside. All sportsmen and others in Nykobing followed Lieutenant Muller and his work, because it was in this town that Muller had pioneered his work by which he himself had obtained health and strength. It is through his efforts that he has now brought his book “My System” to us and offered it to all others, especially members of the Nykobing Rowing Club who are on good terms with the father of “My System”. He showed last night that, due to this friendship the profits of the evening went to the Nykobing Rowing Club.
The evening started with Muller giving examples from “My System” and showing the impact it had had on his muscles. Of these, those around the solar plexus are rightly world famous. He offered to let a gentleman use him as an inner sprung mattress and walk a wheelbarrow over his stomach and body. However, even though these examples were interesting, we think they are almost superfluous, and could have done without them. At the start, Muller went through every single exercise, and explained the use of them, according to the power of the individual person, and finally he demonstrated the whole system, for 15 minutes.
The whole show was rewarded with hand clapping and cheers, led by the head of the Rowing Club, Mr O. Jensen.
Caption. A cardboard chart given to the author by Maro Tandgard whose father exercised according to them.
On 4 July 1909 J.P. Muller participated in the 25th Anniversary of the Nykobing Rowing Club celebrations together with one of his brothers, with an especially built boat with two oars. (inrigger) In that same year he marched through the town in his loin cloth underpants, from the Rowing Club to the house owned by Director Hans Henriksen in Vestergade Street.
Muller was also interested in swimming in an open air pool in Copenhagen. In 1904 the Danish Athletic Foundation carried out the first swimming competition, which took place in this open air complex.
Lieutenant J.P. Muller and Hoger Nielsens gave a lecture and a swimming exhibition, which was unique. The public was amused to see how they swam around after plates. Through the clear water you could see the young people swimming and picking up 12 plates, thrown previously and collected in two and a half a minutes. The variable programme was constructed around water events, including water polo, backstroke, life-saving and many other activities. Even more successful were the events some days later at the Charlottenborg Complex, including several new things, such as shadow swimming, seaweed hopping, (Tallhopper? Misprint?) as well as swimming with their hands and feet tied up together.
In 1908, a young Englishman named Mr Berry came to Copenhagen to see J.P. Muller the fame of whom had reached him across the North Sea. The interview resulted in a contract for him to publish “My System” overseas. As a result of this, when Berry left. J.P. Muller went with him and made a long overseas tour.
Later Mr Berry was knighted and became Lord Camrose. He owned the “Daily Telegraph” and controlled a third of the English press. He sponsored J.P. Muller and was also his friend. Berry and J.P. Muller made a lot of money from “My System”. J.P. Muller got a commission in the army, (Lieutenant). From being ridiculed in his home country he was now internationally famous as an authority on health.
In 1910-11 Muller lived in Zurich and from 1911 to 1912 in St Moritz. During the winter, those two towns in Switzerland were the home of sports people from all over the world. They appointed him an “Honorary Citizen”, and offered to provide him with a castle for accommodation, if he would just stay. From this time there are many photos showing him in the snow in his famous loincloth.
In 1912 J.P. Muller published another book, “Morals, Sex, and Happiness”, wherein he said pre-marital sex was all right as long as the couple was in love, and had the intention of marrying. This book was a best seller, but was not popular with the church – there was a campaign against it. This made J.P. Muller move to England, where, with the help of Mr Berry, he set up the “Muller Institute” in London.
Not until he arrived there did he take the umlaut from the “u” of his name, and became Muller because Germany was not popular in England during and after World War I and he wanted no one to mistake him for a German.
The Gymnasium Institute was a success. Many famous people attended it. The Duke of Windsor, the Prince of Wales, and Lord Baden-Powell all visited. Over a million students visited the Institute. “My System” was compulsory in the British Army and Navy during World War One. Even at the Front, soldiers were supposed to “Muller” in the trenches.
Supported by his wife, “Mille” J.P. Muller succeeded in his unique programme. He was very much into sport, he taught sport, and gave over 2000 lectures around the world. He travelled and he wrote a lot. He published book after book about health. “My System For Women”, “My System for Children”, “My System of Breathing”, and “The Daily Five Minutes” are some.
During World War 1 something happened which gave Muller the first shake up of his soul. His son Per was killed in the war, and another son, was killed tragically in 1919.
In 1924 Muller retired as manager and his son (Ib) took over the Institute in London for ten years. Muller enjoyed triumphant success. He went on a four-day visit to Paris with his “System”, and it was recognised to the point where even the French army’s “Military Athletic School” near Paris introduced it. We do not know how many people in Denmark practiced the “System”, but over 2 million copies of the books were sold worldwide.
In 1993 I had an interview with an 84 year old, Maro Tandgard, in a town north of Copenhagen at Rungsted Kyst. His father was another keen “mullerist”. He was at that time, (about 1920) a taxi driver and lived in a small flat in Copenhagen. He practiced the Muller System everyday, in the kitchen following the book strictly, with windows open, and washed himself with cold water. Later when he got a shower he took cold showers. This was typical of many people. So there is no doubt that the system to a certain degree had an impact on the installation of bathrooms. And Muller is said to have “invented” the cold shower.
One of J.P. Muller’s many diplomas. Visiting the Muller Institute in London was a young Danish Lieutenant, Jesper Peder Jespersen… He was very intrigued and fascinated by his meeting there with Muller, and he promised to take care of his interests in Denmark. This young Danish Lieutenant was born in 1883, and died in 1958. He was well known by the name Captain Jespersen. He writes in his memoirs: “My Life Experiences” of J.P. Muller:
“During a study visit in London after the First World War, I first met J.P. Muller, who was then at the peak of his career. We developed a friendship. This led to his asking me to take care of his work with the Institute in Denmark.
I consider J.P. Muller to be amongst our greatest Danes. Core elements in his life were his irrepressible need to tell the truth and his fiery spirit. He had the courage of his convictions and was very honest, and whatever he did was directed by his sense of duty.
My life work here was to continue to promote the physical body culture of our nation”.
Captain Jespersen lived up to this commitment, and in September 1927 he started a radio programme of daily “Morning Gymnastics”. The manager of the radio station Mr Holm declared “You should not ask listeners what they want, you are obliged to tell them what they need, and your duty is to give it to them.”
In this way Captain Jespersen introduced Muller’s Home Gymnasium system. It enjoyed a formidable success for more than 25 years, until 1952. According to a listener’s survey it was calculated there were 90,000 men listeners, and 170,000 women listeners, but only 6000 people actually took part in it every morning.
In 1930 Muller’s wife, Marie (“Mille”) died, aged only 65 years, which was more tragedy because he had predicted people could live to the age of 140 years old if they stuck to his System. She had cancer of the spine.
For many years, Muller was the target of much vicious and malicious criticism. This picture shows one of the more humorous pictures of him, published in the annual satiric magazine “The Octopus”.
He tried to treat her in the best “Muller” way, with walking, exercising, and vegetarian food. The cost was very high. She suffered increasingly as further exercising was not good for her. He could not see that. He suffered for her suffering. Combined with the previously mentioned loss of two sons then this third loss, it was a tragedy his soul could not cope with so he turned to the occult. From Spiritualism he obtained strange theories about angels and devils. He developed a theory that there was a heaven over the North Sea.
So now he became more concerned about the soul rather than the body, which culminated in 1936 with his discovery of a healing spring close to Moesgaard near Arhus – “Kristuskilden”, (The Well of Christ) a new Lourdes! People were attracted to the spring, and some claimed cures, drank the water, collected it and took it with them back home. Some people even got the water delivered by mail.
On the 4th April 1936 you could read in the newspaper, “The Social Democrat”:
The Arhus City Councillors visited the so-called holy spring, near Moesgard to inspect the situation. Mr J.P. Muller who has made the spring famous gave a presentation, which caused the Council to form the impression that this spring could be a great tourist attraction. As usual there were many people making their pilgrimage to this place. They collected water in bottles and buckets. Not many drops of this miraculous water were allowed to be wasted. People kept queuing up, and as soon as one bottle was filled the next in line took over.”
They immediately set out to design a plan to make a new “Lourdes” and attract tourists. The city council changed it into a tourist resort idea and attraction. There was a sketching out of a whole plan including a water reservoir and a parking lot, and even a licensed café.
With all the eagerness and passion of his youth by which he had been successful he now turned to Spiritualism. He lived at the Hotel Regina in Arhus He was totally absorbed in the spiritual world when he met a young woman from Arhus, Emilie Jensine Berg (1889-1966) They married on the 1 September 1937 (when he was 71 and she was 48). She had a good influence in him, giving him a new more balanced life. However by then Muller was ill with a bronchial infection and inflamed kidneys, and he was forced by need to go very unwillingly to a doctor. However he died on 17 November 1938. Upon his death, all plans relating to the sacred spring were put aside.
Obituaries.
Of the many obituaries available two are included below.
Niels Bukh:
“Well I have always had a great sympathy and admiration for this man. He had meant so much to his contemporaries. He taught them to value fresh air, water, and exercising. He was one of those people who never compromised their ideas, but always carried them out, and lived his life according to those ideals. This had a great effect on people so the message that he had passed away filled me with sadness even though he was an old man, who had done his life’s work, and therefore he could now afford to rest, so we should not feel sad.”
Captain J.P. Jespersen:
“Too many elderly people have now forgotten and too few younger people know that J.P. Muller, only one generation ago, was the soul of the Danish Sports movement. He, more than any other person, formed the foundations upon which we now build. His honesty, courage and simple masculinity opened our eyes to a world of unlimited possibilities: the world of Sport. It was J.P. Muller who with sparkle and energy created the new ideal of Dannelse: the culture of the body as an equal, parallel to the culture of the intellect. Sport today derives from a basis J.P. Muller had created, in the flowering of his life’s work. I lower my rapier, I propose a toast of homage to him. For the love of Truth and of Mankind, he was the essential trigger and driving force. He had the face of a rock whereas we others are small and full of doubt.”
The Statue
Before the death of J.P. Muller plans were made to erect a statue. Naturally Capt. Jespersen was the one who took the initiative. Even Muller had shown interest in the previously mentioned sculpture made by the artist Bogebjerg. He did not want a statue erected as a memory of himself. However with Muller’s death, the old plans were considered again.
Because of Captain Jespersen’s persistence a committee was formed, of 42 members. He was himself was its head, and others included the Prime Minster Thorvald Stauning, Minister C. Th. Zahle, Minister of Education Jorgen Jorgensen, Mr Niels Bukh, and from London Lord Camrose, and the head of the Muller Institute in London, Paula Thygesen. They designed a pamphlet, which was promoted and distributed all over Denmark to raise funds, and it was also distributed in England,
It was calculated that between 50,000and 60,000 Kroner would be needed. They would make a competition to design a new statue. However, because he went into Spiritualism for many years a lot of supporters turned their backs on him. That was the main reason only a total of 15,000 Kroner was raised, and this was too little to make a complete statue. Therefore they went back to the original statue from 1904, a plaster cast head, and had it cast in bronze. There was a very strong process. The committee was disbanded. The statue was criticised as being of a very poor quality, rubbish without any artistic value, and Peter Freuchen suggested a better use of the money was that it be put towards a public bathing facility with showers. However everyone knew J.P. Muller was very fond of the statue. So, a statue it was to be, they decided. However then people could not agree about where to erect the statue.
The first discussion was about whether to erect it on a special lawn, named after Stauning, by the beach at Belle Vue. This application was rejected by the local authorities and similarly the suggestion to erect it at Frederiksberg Swimming Club in the Copenhagen Main Stadium. They all rejected it. Arhus was also mentioned but the city Council did not even recognise the application.
Because all this was taking such a long time, the then consul of Nykobing, J.P. Jeppesen contacted Captain Jespersen. A meeting was held with the Mayor of Nykobing A.V. Jensen, and these three together agreed to construct the statue in Nykobing, as a present to the town.
Lauritz Rasmussen, of the Copenhagen Royal House was commissioned to cast the statue in bronze in a form slightly larger than life size. It was created in 1941.
On 18 May 1941 the statue was unveiled on Codans Square, at the entrance to the old pavilion in the presence of several hundred people. The next day, the LOLLAND-FALSTERS VENSTREBLAD newspaper wrote:
Over 700 people gathered to watch the unveiling of the statue of J.P. Muller. The place was encircled by Danish flags, and next to the statue was erected a temporary stage, equally adorned with Danish flags. Shortly before the unveiling was to commence, all the sports people of the town paraded and this made a glorious sight for the occasion. There were rowers with their oars raised high, and members of the Kayak Club with their kayaks, swimmers and athletes, wrestlers, boxers, badminton players, and gymnasts performing. In front of the dais, were some rows of seats for those especially invited, and among these were J.P. Muller’s widow, his three brothers and his sister, and the widow of the Sculptor Mr Bogebjergs Enke, and there was the doctor Mr Borgbjerg. Captain Jespersen and several other members of the committee and representatives of sports clubs also attended. Many speeches were made.
Then the Mayor made his speech of welcome on behalf of the city. Captain Jespersen was next to give his speech on behalf of the committee. After this came the very ceremonial moment of the unveiling. Everyone rose from their seats and applauded when J.P.’s well formed body appeared.
Captain Jespersen then presented the statue to the city of Nykobing, starting with these words: “I congratulate the town in having this lovely and thoroughly beautiful statue, the beauty of which cannot be questioned. You cannot miss it, and this is the true representation of the man.”
After this he thanked the committee and other speakers. Then others had the opportunity to speak. Among them A.V. Jensen, who, as the final speaker ended his speech saying the town of Nykobing would, in the future feel an obligation to take care of this memory of a man who made Denmark known all over the world.
There then ensued much controversial discussion about the statue. All afternoon and evening many people thronged about the statue, wanting to see the new memorial of Nykobing. Even here there was a lot of discussion for and against Mr Bogebjerg’s statue, but these exchanges of opinion have now been settled.
Even today it could be argued whether or not the statue would benefit from a better location.
As stated in the introduction, it has been my task to bring J.P. Muller out of the shadows of obscurity. He deserves that, and I hope that when you in the future pass Codans Square you also will think of J.P. Muller.
Translation by Helle Vilkjaer, of Helsinore, and Adrian Muller, Bay of Plenty New Zealand December 1999.
Note: There are three statues, including one at the Copenhagen Rowing Club.