Tragedy In Europe: Abraham Ulrikab
In 1880, Abraham Ulrikab, an Inuk man from Hebron, Labrador, made a desperate decision to join a human zoo tour in Europe to pay off debts and secure a better life for his family. What followed was a harrowing tale of exploitation, cultural erasure, and preventable tragedy. Despite his literacy, multilingualism, and leadership, Abraham was forced to perform in degrading conditions, mocked and abused by his captors. The Inuit families, unvaccinated and unprepared for European climates and diets, were decimated by smallpox—contracted due to a German law violation. Within months, seven of the eight Inuit participants died, including Abraham’s two young daughters. Even in death, they were desecrated: their bodies exhumed, skulls displayed, and brains removed for study. The man who orchestrated the tour, Norwegian trader Adrian Jacobson, showed fleeting remorse but immediately planned his next expedition. Decades later, researcher Frans Revere uncovered the truth and launched a campaign to repatriate the remains. Though the return of Abraham’s family to Labrador remains ongoing, their story stands as a powerful indictment of colonialism, racism, and the commodification of human lives. This episode reveals not just a forgotten tragedy, but a living legacy of injustice that continues to demand reckoning.
Abraham Ulrikab kept a diary, making him one of the few Inuit individuals in a human zoo to leave a first-person account of the trauma.
The Inuit families were not vaccinated against smallpox before being exhibited, leading to a deadly outbreak that killed seven of eight participants.
Abraham’s three-year-old daughter Sarah and infant daughter Maria died within days of each other in December 1880 and January 1881.
After death, the Inuit remains were exhumed, their skulls and brains removed, and displayed in European museums for decades.
Jacobson, the trader who brought them to Europe, kept the skull of Pengu, the wife of Teganiak, and used it for study.
…and 3 more takeaways available in PodZeus
Podcast Intro and Sponsorship
Craig Baird introduces the podcast, invites listeners to support via Patreon, Amazon Music, and donations, and issues a content warning for violent and disturbing material.
The Inuit Family in the Human Zoo
“People would gawk at the Inuit family from behind a fence as they went about their day-to-day activities while wearing traditional Inuit clothing.”
The Rise and Fall of Human Zoos
Craig draws a parallel between modern animal captivity and historical human zoos, explaining how 35,000 people from colonized regions were displayed in Europe from the 19th to 20th century.
Colonial Spectacle and Cultural Erasure
“The exhibit made of grass huts was nestled between the monkey and the savannah exhibit.”
Abraham Ulrikab: The Only Journalist in a Human Zoo
“He kept a journal. And thanks to this, we're able to get a glimpse of what things were like on the other side of the fence, so to speak.”
“Knowing he would not live long, he wrote in his diary, quote, I do not long for earthly possessions, but this is what I long for, to see my relatives again who are over there.”
“Abraham wrote, There is one of us, Deganec's daughter Nugasak, who stopped living very fast and terribly, greatly suffering.”
“Jacobson, the man who brought the Inuit families to Europe, wrote after their deaths, Did I really have to drive these poor brave people to die in a foreign country? How has it come to pass so differently from my intentions?”
Host
Abraham Ulrikab
person
smallpox
other
Adrian Jacobson
person
Moravian missionaries
organization
Carl Hagenbeck
person
Frans Revere
person
Hebron
place
Hagenbach Zoo
place
Museum Nationale de Historie Naturel
organization
Berlin Zoo
place
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