With all his resourcefulness, it’s no surprise he managed to escape. He fled to Sweden, where he married Danish-Jewish designer Dagmar Freuchen-Gale. The couple ultimately moved to New York City and lived happily for years thereafter. Freuchen died of a heart attack in 1957, in Anchorage, Alaska. His ashes were scattered just outside of Thule. Over the course of his life, Peter Freuchen married three times. His first wife was an Inuit woman named Navarana Mequpaluk, whom he married in 1911. They had two children together: one son, Mequsaq Avataq Igimaqssusuktoranguapaluk (1916-1962) and one daughter, Pipaluk Jette Tukuminguaq Kasaluk Palika Hager (1918–1999). Peter Freuchen with his wife Dagmar Cohn. The Inuit hunted a variety of arctic animals, ranging from seals and walruses to whales and polar bears, and with the advantage of his substantial size, Freuchen did well at hunting.
Peter Freuchen with his wife Dagmar Cohn. The Inuit hunted a variety of arctic animals, ranging from seals and walruses to whales and polar bears, and with the advantage of his substantial size, Freuchen did well at hunting. An Irving Penn portrait, from 1947, of the hulking Arctic explorer Peter Freuchen and his chic wife, Dagmar, seems made for the coldest days of winter. Read Rachel Syme on why she comes back to this image, winter after winter. Freuchen had a complex and varied love life, with multiple marriages and relationships. His first marriage was to a woman he met after he had started living amongst the Inuit people in Greenland. Peter Freuchen wedded Mequpaluk, an Inuit woman, in 1911. Navarana, Pipaluk, Peter and Mequsaq Freuchen. Their marriage was happy and loving. Peter and Navarana Freuchen had two children, a son Mequsaq (1916–c.1962) and a daughter Pipaluk (1918–1999), who became a writer. Navarana died in 1921 in the “Spanish influenza” pandemic that swept over the world. He met and married his first wife, Mekupaluk, in 1911, and she joined him on several of his expeditions. However, she would die of the Spanish Flu in 1921, and when the church refused to bury her, Freuchen dug the grave himself.
Freuchen had a complex and varied love life, with multiple marriages and relationships. His first marriage was to a woman he met after he had started living amongst the Inuit people in Greenland. Peter Freuchen wedded Mequpaluk, an Inuit woman, in 1911. Navarana, Pipaluk, Peter and Mequsaq Freuchen. Their marriage was happy and loving. Peter and Navarana Freuchen had two children, a son Mequsaq (1916–c.1962) and a daughter Pipaluk (1918–1999), who became a writer. Navarana died in 1921 in the “Spanish influenza” pandemic that swept over the world. He met and married his first wife, Mekupaluk, in 1911, and she joined him on several of his expeditions. However, she would die of the Spanish Flu in 1921, and when the church refused to bury her, Freuchen dug the grave himself. Freuchen stands beside his third wife, Dagmar Cohn, whom he married in 1945. But the beguiling portrait only hints at the surprising life of Peter Freuchen – a deeper look reveals his staggering biography.