Cold Case Hammarskjoeld
by Karen Pecota
Danish journalist, television host, author and film director, Mads Bruegger, along with the Swedish private investigator, Goeran Bjoerkdahl, collaborate to solve the mysterious death of Dag Hammarskjoeld in their documentary Cold Case Hammarskjoeld. Their time consuming investigation has not been easy but the more they uncover circumstantial evidence their findings reveal more truth that fiction of the untimely death of Dag Hammarskjoeld on September 18, 1961, in Ndola, Zambia. He was 47 years old. Hammarskjoeld was the youngest Secretary-General of the United Nations at the time of his appointment several years earlier.
Bruegger comments, "A journalist should not wish for his journalism to be flawed, but due to the horror of what I discovered, while working on this film, I have secretly been hoping that it all would turn out to be a misunderstanding." He adds, "Unfortunately, that is not the case."
Bruegger's unique style of journalism is ideal for this cold case because of his tenacity to get to the truth. He's relentless but at times so frustrated with leads that end in a wild-goose chase. At one point he seriously contemplates abandoning the project but if it weren't for that one more lead and research from the help of Bjoerkdahl this exhilarating documentary would have not seen the light of day.
In 1961, United Nations secretary-general Dag Hammarskjoeld's plane mysteriously crashed, killing most on board including Hammarskjoeld. Fifty-years later the case is still unsolved but the two Scandinavian professionals are on the hunt to revisit the reasons the investigation went cold. After years, months, days and hours of research and several misleads, the two begin to open up a 'pandora's box' of crucial evidence to the case never realized that involved government secrets and dedicated mercenaries. Bruegger notes that they began to discover 'something more monumental' than they could have imagined and pieces to their puzzle so critical sending shockwaves around the world.
