Heil Schicklgruber

Hopefully not an urban legend 

This is a review of a Swedish book titled “101 Historiska Myter”. The authors, Åke Persson and Thomas Oldrup are two history nerds who previously edited, respectively, the Swedish and Danish editions of the magazine “Allt om Historia”. Their book, published in 2010, busts (or supposedly busts) 101 historical myths, urban legends and misconceptions. Or supposed myths, urban legends and misconceptions! Inevitably in a book of this type, some claims are stronger than others, many are nit-picking, and a few are flat-out wrong. Conversely, some popular urban legends about history are not covered, such as the claim that Sweden and the micro-nation of San Marino have been technically at war for the past 400 years or so. Is there a sequel somewhere? Still, the book *is* good and I recommend it both as light bedtime reading or as a passage way to more serious research on the topics covered. And no, I haven´t double-checked every claim by ÅP and TO, so I presumably have something to do this summer, as well…

Some of the tall tales covered are well known and apparently still quite common, such as claims about Napoleon´s diminutive height, Marie Antoinette´s splendid recommendations concerning finer pastry (actually a double tall tale, since the statement falsely attributed to her wasn´t originally about cake!), the existence of Pope Joan, Mussolini´s expertise in making trains go on time, or the idea that people during the Middle Ages assumed that the Earth was flat. Others strike me as more “nerdy”, such as the claim that Hitler´s real name was Schicklgruber (used to believe that myself – imagine the comedy if Nazis at Nuremberg would shout “Heil Schicklgruber”). I was disappointed to learn that Henry VIII only executed two of his queens – he has nothing on George R R Martin! It also turns out that Greek and Roman art wasn´t all white marble, nor did most Romans wear white togas. Wow, does this mean that all of Neo-Classicism is based on a ridiculous misunderstanding? Another red pill: ÅP and TO claims that Albert Einstein, wait for it, was *good* in school! Blasted. I *did* know that you can´t see the Chinese Wall from the Moon, or that Vikings didn´t have horns on their helmets.

The book becomes more problematic when claiming that no matriarchy has ever existed, as if the term “matriarchy” only means one thing, or archeological excavations could only be given one possible interpretation. The authors take a surprisingly positive view of the Viking Age, claiming that the Old Norse were really a bunch of rather nice chaps all things considered, a claim I think could be problematized by some competing archeology nerd. Their foray into the morass of Bible interpretation also strikes me as perhaps a bit too daring, since the source material (the Bible itself) is highly contentious in its own right. But the biggest howler is surely the bizarre claim that the US Civil War wasn´t for or against slavery! No?! What was it about, then? And why did the slaves mysteriously become emancipated at Union-held territory? Of course it was about slavery. Only Kluxers and ultralefts deny it. Another howler can be found in the chapter discussing Muhammad´s supposed pedophilia. There are indeed different ideas within Islam about when Muhammad consummated his marriage with Aisha, but the authors end up claiming that pedophilia is essentially a social construct. (Perhaps slavery and trafficking are other ones?) Ahem, no guys, pedos are pedos…

Finally, I noticed that since the book was written, Sweden has gotten another “real” saint: Elizabeth Hesselblad, properly canonized in 2016.

With that I leave you for now. Almost. I already mentioned that the book, surprisingly enough, doesn´t mention the “state of war” between San Marino and Sweden. Here are some other claims which may or may not be true, but which certainly merits a mention in a book exploring urban legends about our past: Lenin or Stalin called pro-Soviet fellow travelers “useful idiots”, Khrushchev threatened to nuke Amerika hard by saying “we will bury you”, Hitler was an occultist and Satanist, George Orwell was anti-socialist, Alexander the Great was homosexual (or Greek), the Roman Empire collapsed in 476 AD, the Soviets defeated Hitler all by themselves, Swedish king Karl XII brought the Travelers to Sweden, St Erik led a Swedish crusade to Finland, Karin Söder was the first female party leader in Sweden, well, you get the drift…