Carl Immanuel Krebs (11February 188915May 1971) was a Danish medical doctor, humanitarian aid worker and explorer. In addition to his professional career, he competed at the

1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad () and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 6 July and 22 July 1912. The opening ceremony was he ...

, winning a bronze medal.

Early life

Krebs was born 11 February 1889 in

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

. He was the third child of First Lieutenant (later Major General) Frederik Christian Krebs (1855–1930) and Johanne Margrethe Busch (1858–1911). He was also the brother of ceramicist Nathalie Krebs and the grandson of Dr. Frederik Christian Krebs (1814–1881) a physician, writer on political and social reforms, and editor of the

Berlingske Tidende ''Berlingske'', previously known as ''Berlingske Tidende'' (, 'Berling's Times'), is a Danish national daily newspaper based in Copenhagen. It is considered a newspaper of record for Denmark. First published on 3 January 1749, ''Berlingske'' is ...

. He graduated from the Metropolitanskole in 1907 and completed his medical studies in 1913. He was then a resident in the surgical department of St. Joseph's Hospital. As a student, he competed in the

as part of the Danish team that won the bronze medal in the men's free system team gymnastics event.

Career

In 1914, he joined the

Danish Army The Royal Danish Army (; ; ) is the land-based branch of the Danish Armed Forces, together with the Danish Home Guard. For the last decade, the Royal Danish Army has undergone a massive transformation of structures, equipment and training method ...

, not as a medical officer but as a recruit, and was promoted to Second Lieutenant in The Royal Life Guards a year later. Krebs worked for the Danish Red Cross and the Danish Foreign Ministry in Russia from 1916 to 1920 monitoring conditions in Russian POW camps. While there, he participated in an expedition to Central Asia (Mongolia and

Tannu Uriankhai Tannu Uriankhai (, ; , ; ) was a historical region of the Mongol Empire, its principal successor, the Yuan dynasty, and later the Qing dynasty. The territory of Tannu Uriankhai largely corresponds to the modern-day Tuva Republic of the Russian F ...

), and in February 1918 was sent on a secret aid mission to

Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark) Maria Feodorovna (; 26 November 1847 – 13 October 1928), known before her marriage as Princess Dagmar of Denmark, was Empress of Russia from 1881 to 1894 as the wife of Emperor Alexander III. She was the fourth child and second daughter of ...

in Crimea, mother of the last Russian monarch,

Emperor Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until Abdication of Nicholas II, hi ...

. In 1921 he was with the Danish Ambulance service in Poland during the

Polish–Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (14 February 1919 – 18 March 1921) was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, following World War I and the Russian Revolution. After the collapse ...

. In 1922, he returned to Russia as leader of the Danish Red Cross delegation in Fridtjof Nansen's efforts to alleviate the Russian Famine of 1921-22. In 1922, Krebs organized and led an expedition to establish a farming, mining and fur trading settlement near Erdenebulgan in the Khövsgöl province of northern Mongolia, however the enterprise never prospered. The other expedition members, including Henning Haslund-Christensen, left by 1928, and Krebs remained to raise horses and practice medicine. Subject to increasing harassment by the communist authorities in the 1930s, he was eventually forced to leave in 1937. After his return to Denmark he published his memoir ''En Dansker i Mongoliet''. Krebs worked as a war surgeon in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, from 1939 to 1940 with the Danish Ambulance service in Finland and later from 1941 to 1943 with the

Finnish Army The Finnish Army ( , ) is the army, land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces. The Finnish Army is divided into six branches: infantry (which includes armoured units), field artillery, anti-aircraft artillery, Combat engineering, engineer ...

. In 1940 he was employed by the (then neutral) United States at their Berlin Embassy to monitor conditions of Allied Prisoners held in German camps. In 1945, he served as Denmark's representative for the Red Cross in the evacuation of Danish and Norwegian prisoners in Germany with "the

White Buses White Buses was a Swedish humanitarian operation with the objective of freeing Scandinavians in German concentration camps in Nazi Germany during the final stages of World War II. Although the White Buses operation was envisioned to rescue Sc ...

", a transport organization that brought Danish and Norwegian concentration camp prisoners from Germany to Sweden during the last months of World War II. From 1950 to 1951 he led the second part of the 3rd Danish Central Asian Expedition, which included travelling through the

Rupshu Rupshu is a high elevation plateau and valley and an eponymous community development block in southeast Ladakh. It is between the Startsapuk Tso and Tso Moriri, and west of Mahe. The Salt Valley and the Puga Valley to its north are also part o ...

region of the Indian Himalayas. From 1952 to 1959 he served as a medical officer at the Danish naval base at

Kangilinnguit Kangilinnguit ( Danish: Grønnedal), is a settlement and location of a former naval base in Greenland's Sermersooq municipality, located at the mouth of Arsuk Fjord in southwestern Greenland. The settlement had 160 inhabitants in 2010, most of w ...

(formerly Grønnedal)

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

. During his stay on the island of

New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...

from 1960 to 1961, he gathered material for ''New Britain: A Geomorphological Study in the Continental Drift'' (1961), which supported

Alfred Wegener Alfred Lothar Wegener (; ; 1 November 1880 – November 1930) was a German climatologist, geologist, geophysicist, meteorologist, and polar researcher. During his lifetime he was primarily known for his achievements in meteorology and ...

's then-controversial theory of

continental drift Continental drift is a highly supported scientific theory, originating in the early 20th century, that Earth's continents move or drift relative to each other over geologic time. The theory of continental drift has since been validated and inc ...

. His final expedition to the

Sula Islands The Sula Islands are an archipelago of Indonesia. They consist of islands of the Taliabu Island Regency Taliabu Island Regency () is a regency in the North Maluku province of Indonesia, consisting primarily of the island of Taliabu, the most ...

of Indonesia was cut short for financial reasons. He died in 1971.

Works

* ''Fra Mongoliet og Urjan-Chai'', 1921 * ''En Dansker i Mongoliet'', 1937 * ''New Britain: A Geomorphological Study in the Continental Drift'', 1961

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Krebs, Carl 1889 births 1971 deaths Danish male artistic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 1912 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts for Denmark Olympic bronze medalists for Denmark Olympic medalists in gymnastics Medalists at the 1912 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Aarhus