Jens Bjerre

Jens Bjerre was a Danish author, filmmaker and adventurer. He trained as a journalist at newspapers in provincial Denmark before becoming political editor at Aftenbladet in Copenhagen in 1943–1947. During the German occupation of Denmark, Bjerre was active in the resistance group BOPA. In 1947, Bjerre embarked on a lifelong career as a freelance journalist by going to South Africa, where he lived among the San bushmen and studied their culture and customs. The following year, he returned and shot the documentary movie Kalahari, which gives an insight into the lives and rituals of this ancient people. In the mid-1960s, Bjerre spent almost a year among the nomadic aborigines of the Northern Territory in Australia. Jens Bjerre wrote five books about his travels and encounters with primitive people, which have been translated into 15 languages. His latest book was the memories Lost Worlds from (2005). Bjerre was chairman of the Danish branch of the Adventures Club in 1977.